''Miss Littlewood'' is a

stage musical Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

with music, lyrics and book by Sam Kenyon. It is based on the life of theatre director

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

and the formation of the

Theatre Workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West ...

which found residency at

Theatre Royal Stratford East Stratford East (formerly known as Theatre Royal Stratford East) is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with di ...

Production history

World premiere: Stratford-upon-Avon (2018)

The musical was produced by the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

and made its world premiere at the

Swan Theatre Swan Theatre may refer to: * The Swan (theatre), an Elizabethan playhouse * Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, a theatre belonging to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England * Swan Theatre, Worcester The Swan Theatre is a t ...

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

on 3 July 2018 (with previews from 22 June) for a limited 6 week run until 4 August 2018. The production was directed by

Erica Whyman Erica Whyman, OBE (born 27 October 1969) is an English theatre director who became deputy artistic director at the Royal Shakespeare Company in January 2013. Background Whyman was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, but lived in Barnsley until aged eig ...

with design by

Tom Piper Thomas Stephen Towry Piper MBE (born 24 November 1964) is a British theatre designer who regularly collaborated with director Michael Boyd. He became an associate designer with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2004. Early life Tom Piper was bo ...

, lighting design by Charles Balfour, musical supervision and orchestrated by

Sarah Travis Sarah Travis is a British orchestrator and musical supervisor for theatre and film. She received the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations for the 2005 revival of Stephen Sondheim's ''Sweeney T ...

, musical direction by Tarek Merchant, sound by Jonathan Ruddick and movement by Lucy Hind. The musical was developed in collaboration with

. The full cast was announced on 13 April 2018. The playtext was published by Samuel French Limited on 21 June 2018. A cast recording, featuring 13 tracks and produced by Gareth Cousins, was recorded at the Swan Theatre during the musical's preview period and is available from the RSC shop and Spotify

Cast and characters

Musical numbers

; Act I * "Joan All Alone" - Joan Littlewood and Joan 1 * "The Trouble With Theatre" - Joan 1 and Women * "My Father's Eyes" - Joan 1, Joan 2 and Company * "Paris Is A Woman" - Joan 2 and Company * "The Trouble With Theatre: RADA Reprise" - Joan 2 * "The Wanderer's Lament" - Jimmie Miller and Company * "Goodbye" - Joan 2 and Women * "The Theatre Workshop Story 1: Fuente Ovejuna" - Company * "The Theatre Workshop Story 2: Last Edition" - Company * "Now" - Joan Littlewood and Gerry Raffles * "The Theatre Workshop Story 3: Uranium 235" - Company * "Goodbye: Ormesby Reprise" - Joan Littlewood, Joan 1, 2 and 3 ; Act II * "In Stratford East" - Joan Littlewood, Joan 4, Company, Avis Bunnage and Gerry Raffles * "Top Of The Morning" - Jimmie Miller * "A Taste Of Honey" - Shelagh Delaney * "A Taste Of Honey: Frank Norman Reprise" - Frank Norman and Lionel Bart * "A Taste Of Honey: Hal Prince Reprise" - Hal Prince and Company * "Change" - Joan Littlewood, Joan 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and Gerry Raffles * "A Little Bit of Business" - Barbara Windsor * "Where Have You Been All My Life?" - Joan 6 and Barbara Windsor * "The Theatre Workshop Story 4: Oh What A Lovely War" - Company * "Nothing Much Happened After That" - Joan Littlewood, Joan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 * "A Decent Day" - Joan Littlewood and Company

Orchestrations

The production, orchestrated by

, uses 7 musicians, including 1 reed player (clarinet/bass clarinet/flute), 1 brass (trumpet), 2 strings (violin/viola and cello/double bass), a percussionist and 2 keyboards (keyboard/accordion and keyboard programming).

External links

Page on RSC website

References

2018 musicals Musicals inspired by real-life events British musicals {{UK-theat-stub