Stage Door Records will release of the 1980 Original London Cast Recording of the musical COLETTE by John Dankworth on February 22nd. The release will be the first time the recording has been available on CD. The musical starred Cleo Laine in the title role. The show originally opened at The Stables Theatre, Wavendon in 1979 and transferred to the Comedy Theatre, London in September 1980.
'Colette' is based on the life of one of France's most celebrated writers. Tracing her career from childhood through three marriages and two World Wars, 'Colette' gives an insight into the life of this fascinating personality, the centre of many a scandal. The score by Sir John Dankworth gives ample opportunity to demonstrate the incredible talents of Dame Cleo Laine. The three husbands (and the woman) in Colette's life are played by Kenneth Nelson ('The Fantasticks'); John Moffatt narrates the story. 'Colette' opened at London's Comedy Theatre in September 1980.
Laine began her career as a singer and actress when she played the lead in a new play at London's Royal Court Theatre, home of the new wave of playwrights of the 1950s such as John Osborne and Harold Pinter. This led to other stage performances such as the musical Valmouth in 1959, the play A Time to Laugh (with Robert Morley and Ruth Gordon) in 1962, and eventually to her show-stopping Julie in the Wendy Toye production of Show Boat at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1971. Important recordings during the 1970's were duet albums with Ray Charles (Porgy and Bess) and Mel Tormé (see Nothing Without You), as well as Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire which won Laine a classical Grammy nomination.
Laine's relationship with the musical theatre, started in Britain, continued in the United States with starring performances in Sondheim's A Little Night Music and The Merry Widow (Michigan Opera). In 1980 Cleo Laine starred in Colette a new musical penned by John Dankworth. The show originally opened at The Stables Theatre, Wavendon in 1979 and transferred to the Comedy Theatre, London in September 1980. The cast album was released on CD for the first time in 2010 by Stage Door Records. In 1985 she originated the role of Princess Puffer in the Broadway hit musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, for which she received a Tony nomination, and in 1989 she received the Los Angeles critics' acclaim for her portrayal of the Witch in Sondheim's Into the Woods.
To order the CD from Stage Door Records, visit www.stagedoorrecords.com.
