The Glenn Miller Story - tour extends due to exceptional demand
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FOLLOWING a triumphant 11 week tour which opened in August 2015, The Glenn Miller Story extends into 2016, opening in Peterborough on Tuesday, December 29, before continuing to Canterbury, Aylesbury, Edinburgh, Dublin, Aberdeen, Eastbourne, Bristol and Liverpool.
Check out the trailer at www.youtube.com/.
Previously Posted: Full casting has been announced for the UK tour of The Glenn Miller Story, which kicks off at New Wimbledon Theatre, where it runs from August 28 to September 5, 2015.
Joining previously announced Tommy Steele are Ashley Knight (I Can’t Sing!, High Society) as Chummy MacGregor and Sarah Soetaert (The Sound of Music, Chicago) as Helen Burger.
They in turn are joined by Jon Bonner, Mike Lloyd, Kieran Kuypers, Tim Maxwell-Clarke, Jessica Ellen, Zoe Nicole Adkin, Siobhan Diffin, Nathan Elwick, Alex Tranter and Jordan Oliver.
Previously Posted: From Friday, August 28, 2015, for 11 weeks only, music legend Tommy Steele will take to the stage in a spectacular new imagining of the extraordinary tale of the world’s most famous big band leader, The Glenn Miller Story.
Accompanied by a live 16-piece authentic Glenn Miller orchestra, as well as a full supporting company of singers, dancers and actors, the story of one of the most iconic musical figures of the 20th century will be told as never before.
The tour kicks off at New Wimbledon Theatre (August 28 to September 5) before continuing to Southampton, Mayflower Theatre, Newcastle, Theatre Royal, Stoke-On-Trent, Regent Theatre, Blackpool Opera House, Swansea, Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, Grand Theatre, Manchester, Palace Theatre, Cardiff, New Theatre and Milton Keynes Theatre.
For the past 15 or so years, Bill Kenwright, the show’s producer, and his idol Tommy Steele have had supper two or three times every year to talk about the past (mainly Tommy’s past, as Bill can never have enough of Tommy’s stories about rock ‘n roll’s golden era!) the present (Scrooge or Doctor Dolittle) and the future (“we’ve got to find a show for Tommy which I can produce for more than 10 weeks in the year like Scrooge!”).
The “let’s find another show” conversations have been long and varied. And have possibly included adaptations of every screen musical ever written. It was when discussing a particular favourite of theirs – the James Stewart box office smash The Glenn Miller Story – that Bill discovered that his all-encompassing love for Elvis was equal only to Tommy’s adoration for Glenn Miller and his Orchestra.
Bill learned that Tommy is a true devotee; travelling all over the world to hear what remains of the original Orchestral Sounds, and is steeped in the knowledge and the glory of what Glenn Miller did for popular music. Tommy enthused that Glenn changed the face of it from 1939 – 1943 when he was the most popular recording artist in the world – similar, some might say, to what Elvis did from the mid 50’s when he too was the most popular recording artist in the world.
The thought of Tommy Steele and The Glenn Miller Story was a wonderful opportunity to create something special in the mind of a producer like Bill. However, as Tommy told him, there was an obvious problem! Although he’s still one of this country’s greatest “eight shows a week” song and dance man, Tommy was too old to play Glenn!
It was three years later – at a dinner party celebrating Tommy’s award as the Most Popular Entertainer of All Time at the London Palladium – that they came up with what they believed to be the answer!! What was it? You can see for yourself when The Glenn Miller Story is at a theatre near you. But here’s a clue – Tommy Steele will not be the Narrator.
Tommy Steele was Britain’s first rock ‘n’ roll star. Dubbed the UK’s answer to Elvis Presley, he landed his first UK No.1 with Singing the Blues in January 1957, reaching the top spot before Elvis, whose first UK No. 1, All Shook Up, wasn’t until June that same year.
The film, The Tommy Steele Story, dramatised his rise to fame and was one of the first British rock ‘n’ roll movies. A soundtrack of the same name was released to coincide with the film’s opening and became the first album by a UK-based act to reach No.1.
Steele’s legendary career includes over twenty hit singles, twelve hit movies and countless award-winning stage musicals such as Half a Sixpence, Hans Andersen and Singin’ in the Rain.
In recent years, he has starred as Christmas miser Ebenezer Scrooge in Bill Kenwright’s spectacular production of the festive musical, which enjoyed two successful runs at the world-famous London Palladium. It was a role that also made Steele the theatre’s all-time record breaking performer, having headlined more performances than any other star in the history of the Palladium.
It’s been seventy years since Glenn Miller vanished over the English Channel as he flew to Paris to entertain the troops during the Second World War. Did he crash? Was he shot down? Will the mystery ever be solved?
His music defined an era; his disappearance stunned the world, and now the story of one of the most iconic musical figures of the 20th century will be brought to spectacular life in this brand new production. It promises to have audiences on their feet jiving, swinging and jitterbugging as it takes them back to the big band days of the 1940s.
The Glenn Miller Story is directed and produced by Bill Kenwright, who also directed Whistle Down the Wind, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Blood Brothers and recently Evita at the Dominion Theatre. Choreography is by Olivier Award-winner Bill Deamer (Evita, Save The Last Dance For Me and Top Hat).