Anita Dobson Stars in CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS at Riverside, Beg. Tonight

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS is a new musical which will premiere at Riverside Studios in London from tonight, 4 to 14 July for 10 performances only.

The French composer Camille Saint-Saens wrote his short orchestral suite The Carnival of the Animals as a work of fun for his friends, and did not permit a public performance during his lifetime. Since his death, the piece has become a firm family favourite in the concert hall, with many of its melodies, such as The Elephant, The Aquarium, Fossils and The Swan, achieving popular recognition. Composer Gavin Greenaway, lyricist Roger Hyams and book writer Andrew Marshall, along with director Thom Southerland and producer BrIan Eastman, have now taken this music and worked it into a new stage musical, capturing the family appeal Saint-Saens first created.

The new musical is set in a quiet square in today's Paris, where The Carnival of the Animals is still being performed, over ninety years after its first outing. Under the patronage of the infamous fashion designer, Mademoiselle Parfait, played by Anita Dobson, the legacy of Saint-Saens only just survives. The animals that now make up the show have lost their enthusiasm for the daily performances and are at odds with each other over the updating the show clearly needs. However, oqwHoHHhh the squabbling animals, led by Odette the Swan and Henri the Lion, are soon united by the arrival of four new animals, a Chimpanzee, Zebra, Parrot and Lioness, who are determined to revive the show and create Paris's newest musical sensation. No less disconcerted is Mademoiselle Parfait, who has a dark secret.

Anita Dobson, whose most recent theatre credits include playing Bette Davis in Bette and Joan at the Arts Theatre and on tour and Mistress Quickly in Merry Wives of Windsor for the Royal Shakespeare Company, leads a cast which includes Allyson Ava-Brown, Bronte Barbe. Alastair Brookshaw, David Burt, Jacob Chapman, Cassandra Compton, Liam Doyle, Jonny Fines, Matthew Gent and Stephen Webb, playing the roles of the various animals.

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS is directed by Thom Southerland, with sets and costumes designed by John Risebero, lighting designed by Howard Hudson and sound designed by George Dennis. The Musical Director is David Randall. Casting is by Will Burton CDG for David Grindrod Associates.

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS is produced at Riverside Studios by BrIan Eastman and Christabel Albery.

For more information, visit: riversidestudios.co.uk

Director Thom Southerland began his career by assisting Tony Award winner John Doyle, before becoming director in residence at the Union Theatre, where productions included Annie Get Your Gun, The Pajama Game, and the all-male productions of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore and The Mikado. He went on to win the Off West End award for Best Director for Me and Juliet at the Finborough Theatre in 2011, and was nominated for an Evening Standard award for Parade in 2011 and Mack and Mabel in 2012, both at the Southwark Playhouse. Thom most recently directed the highly successful Victor/Victoria at the Southwark Playhouse, and the touring version of The Lion King.

Gavin Greenaway is a composer and conductor whose credits include conducting over 50 film scores, including The Hunger Games, Sherlock Holmes, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, The Bourne Ultimatum, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Batman Begins, Madagascar 1, 2 & 3, Shrek, Chicken Run, Gladiator, The Road to El Dorado, The Prince of Egypt and Antz, and conducting orchestras for Sir George Martin, Josh Groban, Shania Twain and Sir Paul McCartney (as conductor); the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in 2012 in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the score for Disney's fireworks show IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, and the title music for the TV series The Fragile Heart and Bugs (as composer); co-writing credits include the score of Spy Kids, Il Gladiatore (sung by Luciano Pavarotti, from the film Gladiator) and It Is You (from the film Shrek).

As a script editor, Roger Hyams contributed to films such as Lee Hall and Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot, Jimmy McGovern and Stephen Frears's Liam, Tony Grounds and David Evans's Our Boy, and Jack Rosenthal's final TV films Eskimo Day and Cold Enough for Snow. He worked on a number of mini-series, including Debbie Horsfield's Sex, Chips and Rock'n'Roll and Tony Grounds's Births, Marriages and Deaths; and on long-running series Playing the Field and Bugs. Between 2000 and 2002 Roger was Head of Development for Film & TV Drama at TalkBack Productions. He has written the book and lyrics for two musicals.

Andrew Marshall's writing career began on BBC Radio 4's Week Ending. For television, he and his scriptwriting partner, David Renwick, wrote Whoops Apocalypse (LWT for ITV), Alexei Sayle's Stuff (BBC) - also with Alexei Sayle, There's a Lot of It About (BBC) - also with Spike Milligan, If You See God, Tell Him (BBC) Hot Metal (LWT), and for film Whoops Apocalypse and Wilt. As a solo writer, his credits include 2point4 Children (BBC), Strange (BBC), Dad (BBC) and he contributed to Agatha Christie's Poirot (LWT).

Producer BrIan Eastman's West End theatre credits include A Round-Heeled Woman starring Sharon Gless, Shadowlands (and on Broadway), Misery, Up on the Roof and Juno and the Paycock. On television, his productions include Rosemary and Thyme, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Bugs, The Fragile Heart, Jeeves and Wooster, Traffik, Porterhouse Blue, Blott on the Landscape, and the films Shadowlands, Under Suspicion, Wilt and Whoops Apocalypse.

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