Announcing ...
Me and My Girl
This is a great Company show which boasts a large cast, a large number of character roles, uplifting songs and plenty of comedy. It will provide a great opportunity for new and existing members of the society alike.
Singing rehearsals will start on Monday, January 14 and floor rehearsals on Tuesday, February 26.
Joseph Rowntree Theatre 9 - 13 April 2013
Book revised by Stephen Fry
Contributions to revisions by Mike Ockrent
Music by NOEL GAY
Want to see a local production?
The show is being staged by Northallerton Musical Theatre Company at Hambleton Forum, 22nd to 27th October 2012. Ticket Hotline Tel. No. is 01609 770936.
Me and My Girl Preview Event
R.S.V.P. if you think you can come along on November 14th so we have an idea of numbers.
Wednesday, Nov 14, 2012, 07:30 PM
Thomas's Wine Bar 3 Museum Street York, North Yorkshire YO1 7DT
About the show
In 1983 Richard Armitage, the son of the composer, started to revive the show for the West End. It opened at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre in December 1984 and at the Adelphi Theatre London in 1985.
Production History
Me And My Girl still holds the record as the most performed musical comedy in the history of West End theatre. In 1985 it won the Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Musical and Best Performer In A Musical (Robert Lindsay).
In 1986 it opened at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway starring Robert Lindsay and Marianne Plunkett. Running for three and a half years, winning Tonys and Critics Circle awards. Jim Dale took over the lead from Robert Lindsay. A two-year touring production around the USA with Tim Curry in the part of Bill was staged concurrently, visiting nearly 30 US cities.
In addition, the show was produced in Australia, Mexico, South America, Hungary, Sweden, Poland, Holland, Finland, Belgium, Germany, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, as well as an all-female cast of over 90 by the amazing Takarazuka Review Company in Japan.
In 1993 the amateur license was released to Samuel French where it became the most performed amateur musical ever with over 100 productions in one year.
Plot
Act I
In the 1930s, the Harefords, a family of haughty aristocrats, are seeking the legitimate heir to the title of Earl of Hareford. Bill Snibson, a Cockney from Lambeth is found and named as the long-lost “Earl of Hareford”. It seems that the 13th Earl had secretly and briefly wed a girl from a bad neighborhood. But Bill's rough Cockney ways do not satisfy the Will of the last Earl: In order to gain his inheritance of the title and estate, Bill must satisfy the very proper executors (Maria, Duchess of Dene, and Sir John Tremayne) by learning gentlemanly manners. The Duchess thinks that she can make Bill “fit and proper” but not his Cockney girlfriend, Sally Smith. The Duchess plans a party in Bill's honour, but Sally is not to be invited. Sir John tells Sally that she and Bill ought to return to Lambeth, but he is moved by Sally's heartfelt declaration of love for Bill.
At the party, Bill puts on airs and tries to please his new-found upper-class lawyers, family and servants, but his everyman roots quickly begin to show. Sally shows up in inappropriate garb, with her Lambeth friends, saying that she is going back to where she belongs. Bill seconds this at first but then teaches the nobility The Lambeth Walk.
Act II
Bill must make a speech in the House of Lords in coronet and “vermin”-trimmed peer's robes. Sally leaves, telling him to marry someone with good blood, and, in a scene inspired by Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore, the portraits of Bill's ancestors awaken to remind him of his noblesse oblige.[6] Bill and Sally have gained an ally in Sir John, who offers to help them by engaging a speech professor who will help Sally impress the Duchess.
Bill constantly bemoans his separation from Sally. Preparing another party for Bill, the Duchess realises how much Sally means to him. This puts her in a romantic mood, and she accepts an offer of marriage from Sir John. Bill, dressed in his old outrageous Cockney clothes, declares that he's going home and goes upstairs to pack. Just then, Sally astonishes everyone by arriving in an elegant gown and tiara and speaking with a perfect upper-crust accent. When Bill returns downstairs, Sally conceals her identity. When she reveals it, Bill is relieved and the couple gain the acceptance of the family.
Characters
- Bill Snibson - a cockney costermonger who inherits Lord Hareford's land and titles.
- Sally Smith - Bill's sweetheart.
- Sir John Tremayne - an older gentleman, who is kind to Sally and Bill. He is in love with the Duchess.
- The Duchess of Dene - an intimidating aristocrat. Bill's Aunt.
- Gerald Bolingbroke - an attractive young man. He is in love with Jackie.
- Lady Jacqueline (Jackie) Carstone - breaks off her engagement to Gerald to pursue Bill.
- Herbert Parchester - the family solicitor.
- Lord Jasper Tring - an elderly and hard-of-hearing nobleman.
- Charles - a manservant
- Lord and Lady Battersby, Lady Brighton, The Honourable Margaret Aikington, Charles Boulting-Smythe - other members of the family who are mostly interchangeable.
- Mrs Brown - Sally's landlady.
- Bob Barking - a friend of Bill and Sally.
Musical Numbers
ACT ONE
Overture
A Weekend At Hareford
Thinking of No-one But Me
The Family Solicitor
Me And My Girl
An English Gentleman
You Would If You Could
Hold My Hand
Once You Lose Your Heart
The Lambeth Walk
ACT TWO
Entré Act
The Sun Has Got His Hat On
Take It On The Chin
Song of Hareford
Love Makes The World Go Round
Leaning On A Lamp-post
Finale
The action takes place in the late 1930s’ in and around Hareford (Hampshire), Mayfair and Lambeth.
York Musical Theatre Company
Email: info@yorkmusicaltheatrecompany.org.uk
Website: yorkmusicaltheatrecompany.org.uk
Phone: 01904 612961
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Twitter: @YorkMusicalThCo