BWW Flashback: DEAR WORLD, Starring Betty Buckley and Paul Nicholas, Closes in the West End Today
By: BWW Special Coverage Mar. 16, 2013
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The British premiere of Jerry Herman's musical Dear World, starring Betty Buckley and Paul Nicholas and directed and choreographed by Gillian Lynne, opened on 13 February and closes two weeks early today, 16 March 2013, at Charing Cross Theatre. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos and video from the show's run in the West End!
Katy Treharne and Stuart Matthew Price star as 'Nina' and 'Julian', the two young lovers. Peter Land, Robert Meadmore and Jack Rebaldi star as the 'Presidents', Ayman Safia plays the 'Mute'. The cast also includes Anthony Barclay as the 'Prospector', Brett Brown as the 'Waiter', Michael Chance as the 'Sargeant', Annabel Leventon as 'Constance', Rebecca Lock as 'Gabrielle', Joanna Loxton, and Craig Nicholls.
Based on Jean Giraudoux's play The Madwoman of Chaillot, Dear World centres around the Countess, living in the basement of a Parisian bistrot in 1945, driven mad by a lost lover and bemoaning her past. When oil is discovered under the streets of the city, she and her motley crew of acquaintances must band together to stop rapacious businessmen from destroying her home, and indeed all of Paris. This surreal musical fable of Good versus Evil (ahead of its time in 1969), with its themes of environmental degradation, corporate greed, evil and human folly, is a resonant and cautionary tale in a post-Enron world.
The cast of Dear World began rehearsals over the 2012 Christmas break and stopped to pose after a talk by Ann Hould-Ward on their costumes and the research that she and Gillian Lynne did into the history and period of the piece. See below!
DEAR WORLD officially opened on Wednesday 13 February, and BroadwayWorld UK TV was there to capture the excitement of opening night, including a show preview and interviews with Betty Buckley and Gillian Lynne. watch, then scroll down for photos of the cast in action!
DEAR WORLD premiered on Broadway in 1969 starring Angela Lansbury, who went on to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of the 'Countess Aurelia', and Milo O'Shea as the 'Sewerman'.
The Charing Cross Theatre's production was the first ever to have been staged outside the United States.Videos