West End star John Barrowman (Putting It Together) and the Chichester Festival Theatre Cast can be heard in the world premiere cast recording of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe's Just So, which was released on June 26th.
Based on Rudyard Kipling's
Just So Stories and featuring a cast of (mostly) animal characters,
Just So features music by Stiles and book and lyrics by Drewe (
Honk!, additional songs for
Mary Poppins). Written in 1985 and the winner of the Performing Rights Society's Vivian Ellis Prize, the musical was produced at the Barbican Theatre in 1985 by
Cameron Mackintosh. Four years later, Julia McKenzie directed the musical at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, and it was then produced at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn. While the prospect of an animated movie version fell through,
Just So was produced at Goodspeed Opera House in 1998, at North Shore Music Theatre in 2001 and then at the Chichester Festival in 2004, where it was directed by Drewe.
"Based on the immortal short stories of Rudyard Kipling, Just So takes
you on a fantastic journey along the banks of Africa's great,
grey-green, greasy Limpopo River to meet an amazing collection of
strange and wonderful creatures," state notes on Stiles and Drewe's website.
Recorded in 2005, the
Just So cast album stars Barrowman (who was not in the Chichester cast) as the Eldest Magician. Among other performers heard on the recording are Richard Dempsey, Julie Atherton, Andrew Spillet, Alexis Owen-Hobbs, Ahmet Ahmet and Anthony Drewe.
Just So features musical direction by David Shrubsole and orchestations by
Christopher Jahnke.
Visit
www.stilesanddrewe.com for more information.
