Performances are 3rd and 17th November.
Fresh from critically acclaimed runs at the Union Theatre and Wilton’s Music Hall – and in response to popular demand – Frank’s Closet, the cult hit musical, is making its West End debut, for two nights only. Â
Andy Moss (Hollyoaks) reprises his role as the titular character. Luke Farrugia gives a tour-de-force performance that brings to life the Divas who have inspired and guided Frank - including Julie Andrews, Judy Garland and Agnetha Fältskog - to hilarious, uncanny and often touching life. Accompanying Moss and Farrugia are a quartet of captivating Gaiety Girls (and a Sailor).
Frank - often bemused, always dashing - teeters on the edge of matrimony. As eve-of-wedding jitters start to unnerve him, and he prepares to donate his collection of frocks to the V&A, seven Divas visit Frank in turn, to soothe his brow and steady his hand. Will they save the day? Â
As the dilemma unfolds, Stuart Wood's music – as dazzling as the Divas’ dresses – straddles the Great British, Broadway (and Swedish) song books, as he takes us on an irreverent – and ultimately touching – journey from Frank’s beginnings as a closet Abba fan in Cleethorpes to the man about to walk down the aisle. Frank faces his own feelings and fears as he looks back on the journey out of his own personal closet, and reflects with affection on those who held - and steadied - his hand along the way. Frank’s Closet explores the conflict between liberty and conformity with wit and heart, in a way that will chime with anyone who’s pondered a lifetime of commitment.Â
Frank’s Closet was conceived in 2009, when composer Stuart Wood was commissioned to write a new show for Hoxton Hall, one of the last living Victorian music halls in England. Amidst the louche beauty of the faded music hall, Stuart’s words and music wove a surreal fantasy of 20th century vaudeville, the ‘golden age’ of show business, and 21st century pop abandon. Fast forward to 2024 when, after a hugely successful run at the Union theatre in Southwark - where it garnered 5 Offie nominations, including Best Musical Production - Frank's Closet returned to its roots at the incomparable Wilton's Music Hall. The journey now continues to the West End.
Helmed by acclaimed director, Sasha Regan, Frank’s Closet is a glittering, eccentric and high-camp paean to love and musical theatre; a queer reimagining of a Dickensian opium dream - with the Divas the spirits of Love past, present, and future.
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