Finborough Theater Presents THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT

The long overdue London premiere of the Broadway musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, directed by acclaimed West End and RSC director Ian Judge, and designed by three time Olivier Award winner Tim Goodchild, opens for a four week limited season at the Finborough Theatre on Tuesday, 7 June 2011 (Press Night: Thursday, 9 June 2011 at 7.30pm).

With a score packed with standards including A Wonderful Day Like Today, The Joker, Who Can I Turn To? (a hit for Tony Bennett), The Beautiful Land and Feeling Good (a hit for Michael Bublé), The Roar of The Greasepaint, The Smell of The Crowd presents the follies of the irrepressible Cocky and the imperious Sir as they play the comical Game of Life in this timely allegorical satire on the British class system. As they play, demonstrating how the working class can't get ahead because of the rules set and constantly changed by the ruling classes, they encounter a dizzying array of bizarre and colourful characters who lead them to an unexpected conclusion...

Originally seen for a 1964 pre-London British tour starring Norman Wisdom, The Roar of The Greasepaint was championed by Broadway impresario David Merrick who presented it on Broadway in 1965 starring Anthony Newley and Cyril Ritchard. This production marks the show's long-overdue London professional premiere.

Award winning writer, composer and lyricist Leslie Bricusse has been nominated for ten Academy Awards, nine Grammys and four Tonys, and has won two Oscars, a Grammy and eight Ivor Novello Awards. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Award for consistent excellence in British songwriting, bestowed by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and was inducted into the American Songwriters' Hall of Fame. Stage musicals include Stop The World - I Want To Get Off (1961), Pickwick (1963), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Good Old Bad Old Days (1974), Scrooge (1970), Victor/Victoria (1982), Sherlock Holmes - The Musical (1989) and Jekyll And Hyde (1997). Songs and/or screenplays for films include Goldfinger (1964), Doctor Dolittle (1967), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), Scrooge (1970), Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory (1971), Superman (1978), Santa Claus- The Movie (1985), Home Alone (1990), Hook (1991), Tom and Jerry - The Movie (1992), Victor/Victoria (1995) and various Pink Panther movies. Hundreds of Bricusse's songs have been recorded by major artists including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis, Jr. (who recorded sixty Bricusse songs), Tony Bennett, Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Petula Clark, Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Andy Williams, Rex Harrison, Elaine Paige, Michael Feinstein, Bette Midler, The Moody Blues, Nancy Sinatra, Lena Horne, Sergio Mendes, Nina Simone, Dionne Warwick, Robert Goulet, Matt Monro, Ray Charles, Ethel Merman, Placido Domingo, Jennifer Holliday, Danny Kaye, Robbie Williams, Mariah Carey, Linda Eder, Diana Krall, Maroon 5, Michael Bublé, The Black-Eyed Peas and Celine Dion.

Writer, composer and lyricist Anthony Newley (1931-1999) was also an actor, singer and director in a career that spanned more than 50 years embracing film, repertory theatre, rock and roll, comedy revues, music hall and television. He was born in Hackney and leaving school at 14 he found success as a child actor, most notably as the Artful Dodger in David Lean's 1948 film Oliver Twist. He became a hit recording artist including I've Waited So Long which took Newley to the top of the British charts and started a three year run of hits which included two number ones with Why and Lionel Bart's Do You Mind? His film appearances included Doctor Dolittle and The Cockleshell Heroes. His collaborations with Leslie Bricusse included writing and starring in the hit musical Stop The World - I Want To Get Off which included the songs Gonna Build A Mountain and What Kind of Fool Am I? which sold more than a million records and became his signature tune.

Director Ian Judge first joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1975. His productions there include The Wizard of Oz, The Comedy Of Errors, Love's Labour's Lost, Twelfth Night, A Christmas Carol, The Relapse, Troilus And Cressida and The Merry Wives Of Windsor. Other productions include The Rivals and King Lear (The Old Vic), Banana Ridge, One For The Pot and Peter Pan (Shaw Festival, Canada), Macbeth (Sydney Theatre Company), Henry VIII and Love for Love (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Macbeth (Sydney Theatre Company, Australia). Musicals include Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along (Bloomsbury Theatre), The Swan Down Gloves and The Wizard Of Oz (Royal Shakespeare Company), Oh Kay! (Chichester Festival Theatre), Bitter Sweet (Sadler's Wells and UK tour), A Little Night Music (Piccadilly Theatre), Show Boat (London Palladium and UK Tour) and West Side Story (Australia and New Zealand). His Opera repertoire includes Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Le Nozze Di Figaro, Don Carlos, Roméo et Juliette, Tannhäuser, Die Gezeichneten (Los Angeles), The Tales Of Hoffmann (Sydney Opera, Houston, Opera Pacific), Faust, The Merry Widow, Cav/Pag, La Belle Vivette, Don Quixote, Mefistofele (English National Opera and also at the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires), Der Fliegende Holländer, Simon Boccanegra (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Macbeth (Cologne) and Faust, Tosca, Macbeth, Boris Godunov, Acis and Galatea and Attila (Opera North), Norma (Scottish Opera and Buhnen Graz), La Bohème (Marinsky Theatre (Kirov), St Petersburg), The Mikado (Savoy Theatre), Salome (New York City Opera) and Falstaff (Theatre du Châtelet, Paris) and Tannhäuser (Madrid). His work has been nominated for nine Olivier Awards.

Designer Tim Goodchild, three times Olivier Award-winner, has designed for stage, television and film. He has designed over seventy one productions for West End theatre, twenty of which are musicals. He has also designed many productions for the New Shakespeare Company. In 1988, he designed the first Anglo-Soviet production of Swan Lake for the Moscow Classical Ballet, which made theatre history and was seen worldwide. He also designed the ballet A Simple Man for BBC2, which was the winner of the 1987 BAFTA Award. Tim also designed Bert Bacharach's The Look of Love for BBC2, directed by Gillian Lynne, and Don Quixote for the Northern Ballet Theatre. West End theatre includes Henry IV starring Richard Harris (Wyndham's Theatre), Bus Stop starring Jerry Hall (Lyric Theatre), Chapter Two starring Tom Conti and Sharon Gless (Gielgud Theatre), Someone Like You, Brief Lives, Killing Jessica, Richard II starring Ian McKellen, Hadrian VII and Our Song starring Peter O'Toole. For Cameron Mackintosh, revivals of Oklahoma! (also in Australia), My Fair Lady, The Card, Little Shop of Horrors, Blondel, Café Puccini and Five Guys Named Moe (also on Broadway and Australia). Other musicals include Wonderful Town, Pump Boys and Dinettes, Hello Dolly!, The Two Ronnies, Hans Andersen, Gone With the Wind, Phil the Fluter, Salad Days, Thomas and the King, Sing a Rude Song starring Barbara Windsor, Colette and Cowardy Custard with Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine. Designs for Chichester Festival Theatre include Robert and Elizabeth, R Loves J, The School for Scandal, Love for Love and Blithe Spirit. For the Royal Shakespeare Company, his designs include The Taming of the Shrew, The Relapse, Xenobia, Three Hours After Marriage and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Operas include work for The Los Angeles Opera, Houston Opera Pacific, Lyric Opera Chicago, Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, English National Opera, London Coliseum, Theatre du Chatelet and New York City Opera. More recently projects include La Bohème (Marinsky Theatre, St Petersburg) for the Kirov Opera, Falstaff (Châtelet Theatre, Paris), The Tales of Hoffman (Sydney Opera House), Boy George's musical Taboo (London and Broadway), Five Guys Named Moe (UK Tour), the opera Salome (New York City Opera) and Catherine Johnson's play Suspension (Bristol Old Vic). In 2001, he designed the costumes for We Will Rock You, which celebrates its tenth anniversary later this year. In October, he returns to Los Angeles Opera for a production of Romeo and Juliet.

Lighting Designer Mark Doubleday trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art where he won the Richard Pilbrow Prize. Mark worked for a year and a half with London Contemporary Dance Theatre before getting his first position as Lighting Designer at the Redgrave Theatre where he lit over fifty productions. Opera includes Tannhäuser, Teatro Real, Madrid, Kaspar Hauser, Le Nozze di Figaro (Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and New Athenaeum Theatre Glasgow), A Midsummer Night's Dream, La Finta Giardiniera (Royal College of Music and Britten Theatre), The Cumnor Affair, Tête à Tête, Flight, La Rondine (British Youth Opera), The Cunning Little Vixen (Royal College of Music), The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, Mikado, Carl Rosa and Raymond Gubbay (Gielgud Theatre), Blind Date (a new opera for Tête à Tête), Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots (Wilton's Music Hall), Hansel and Gretel (Opera North (education)), Tannhäuser (Los Angeles Opera), Lysistrata (New York City Opera), Odysseus Unwound, Tête à Tête, La Vie Parisienne (D'Oyly Carte) Eugene Onegen, (Music Theatre London), Die Fledermaus, Orlando Finto Pazzo, Shorts, Six-Pack, Family Matters (Tête à Tête), Falstaff (Royal Academy of Music), Le Nozze di Figaro, Opera Zuid (Netherlands), Hansel and Gretel (Scottish Opera on tour), Manon, Die Fledermaus (English Touring Opera), Ariadne auf Naxos, Albert Herring (Aldeburgh Festival), Le Torreador, Messalina, Amadigi, Jonathan Dove's Le Porte di Bagdad, The Lady and the Sweep (Batignano, Italy), La Fanciulla del West, Norma (Opera Holland Park), The Rape of Lucretia, Cosi fan Tutte (Royal College of Music), Nitro (Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House Covent Garden), Lysistrata (Houston Grand Opera), The Knot Garden (Istituto di Musica di Montepulciano). London Theatre includes Salad Days (Riverside Studios), Kurt and Sid (Trafalgar Studios), Family Man (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Fast Labour (West Yorkshire Playhouse and Hampstead Theatre), Elling (Trafalgar Studios), The Birds, The Colonel Bird (Gate Theatre), Retreat, Each Day Dies with Sleep, House Among The Stars, Lips Together Teeth Apart (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), The Danny Crowe Show (Bush Theatre), On The Piste, The Garrick, It Runs in the Family (Playhouse Theatre), Kit and the Widow (Vaudeville Theatre and Ambassadors Theatre), Gogmagoggs (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith), Shadow of a Gunman (Tricycle Theatre), Easter (Riverside Studios (Oxford Stage Company)), Out of Our Heads (ATC). Regional Theatre includes The Daughter-in-Law (New Vic Theatre), Behzti (Birmingham Rep), Tall Phoenix (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry), Broken Glass, How The Other Half Loves, The Deep Blue Sea, Get Ken Barlow (Palace Theatre, Watford), A Chorus of Disapproval, The Beggars Opera, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 (Bristol Old Vic), Privates on Parade (New Vic Theatre), Present Laughter, A Streetcar Named Desire, Misery (Mercury Theatre, Colchester) and Forty Years On (West Yorkshire Playhouse). Mark has also lit plays in many other regional theatres including: Derby Playhouse, Nottingham Playhouse, York Theatre Royal, Wolsey Theatre Ipswich, Greenwich Theatre, Churchill Theatre Bromley, Queens Theatre Hornchurch, Everyman and Playhouse Theatres Liverpool, Nuffield Southampton, Northcott Exeter, Salisbury Playhouse. His future plans include Albert Herring (Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama), Little Platoons and The Knowledge (Bush Theatre) and Circus Tricks (a new opera for Tête à Tête).

The Celebrating British Music Theatre series at the Finborough Theatre
In 2006, the Finborough Theatre began the Celebrating British Music Theatre series with sell-out productions of Leslie Stuart's Florodora, Lionel Monckton's Our Miss Gibbs, Harold Fraser-Simson's operetta The Maid of the Mountains, A "Gilbert and Sullivan" Double Bill featuring Gilbert's Sweethearts and Sullivan's opera The Zoo, Dame Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate, Sandy Wilson's The Buccaneer, and Oscar Asche's Chu Chin Chow. Future productions in 2011 include Ivor Novello's 'musical romance', Perchance to Dream.

The Press on Director Ian Judge
"If you want an evening which constantly sends tingles down the spine and makes you grip your seat, hurry along to Ian Judge's virile production." The Daily Telegraph on Attila
"Ian Judge's new production of The Flying Dutchman for the Royal Opera is a brilliant display of stagecraft...a series of breathtaking dramatic coups." The Observer on The Flying Dutchman
"ENO's Mefistofele is the most astonishing night in London!" Time Out on Mefistofele
"This is the best production of Tosca since the Zeffirelli production was new at Covent Garden over a quarter of a century ago." The Times on Tosca
"A new production by Ian Judge which is at once as brilliant, tragic and funny as Massenet could have ever imagined it to be." Evening Standard on Don Quichotte
"Theatrically this ranks among the most striking shows in London, colourful, fast-moving, fizzing with invention, beautifully lit and with a vivid use of the chorus." Evening Standard
"Ian Judge's exquisitely judged Twelfth Night ...marvellous and memorable." The Daily Mail on Twelfth Night
"This is as sure-fire, gilt-edged a hit as anything seen this year." Evening Standard on The Wizard of Oz
"Ian Judge's production strikes me as infinitely superior to Harold Prince's 1975 version at the Adelphi. The show emerges as an exhilarating testament to the power of sheer craftsmanship in the musical theatre." The Guardian on A Little Night Music
"Ian Judge's great success. A superb evening." Financial Times on A Little Night Music
"A great and inspiring evening." The Times on Show Boat
"Ian Judge's superlative production makes this Show Boat a show-piece." The Independent on Show Boat
"Best of all is the sheer wit and exuberance of Ian Judge's fresh-as-paint production, brilliantly designed by Tim Goodchild." The Daily Telegraph on The Mikado
"Ian Judge's production has a freshness and gaiety that puts many West End musicals to shame. It sends you away a much happier being." The Guardian on The Mikado

PRESS NIGHT: THURSDAY, 9 JUNE 2011 AT 7.30PM
PHOTOCALL: TUESDAY, 7 JUNE 2011 AT 1.00PM-1.30PM

Finborough Theatre, The Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652 Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Tuesday, 7 June - Saturday, 2 July 2011
Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm. Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm. Saturday matinees at 3.00pm (from the second week of the run).
Prices for Weeks One and Two (7 June- 19 June 2011) - Tickets £18, £15 concessions, except Tuesday evenings £15 all seats, and Saturday evenings £18 all seats. Previews (7 and 8 June) £11 all seats.
£5 tickets for under 30's for performances from Tuesday to Sunday of the first week when booked online only.
£10 tickets for residents of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on the first Saturday of the run only.
Prices for Weeks Three and Four (21 June - 2 July 2011) - Tickets £20, £17 concessions, except Tuesday evenings £17 all seats, and Saturday evenings £20 all seats.
Performance length: Approximately 2 hours with one interval.

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