The Horror! The Horror! The Final Curtain
Music & Lyrics by Jeffrey Mayhew
Song Book
The Horror! The Horror!
Published to coincide with a new run of performances the song book is printed & distributed by Creighton's Collection.
The final curtain hangs like a guillotine over Alfred Brownlow's variety troupe. Creditors are at the door, the death of music hall is just round the corner and a terrible revelation is waiting in the wings. But there's always time for one last show...
"A home grown Little Shop of Horrors" ***** Exeunt
"Oozes wicked glee" The Times
"A rambunctious mixture of Victorian variety theatre and eerie magical malady" Time Out
Further information & audio clips at Creighton's Collection
Also available
The Horror! The Horror!
Original Cast Recording
Further information & audio clips at Creighton's Collection
2014 TOUR DATES
25th & 26th July 2014 (7.30pm) - Wilton’s Music Hall, London
4th-24th August 2014 (7.45pm) - Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh
4th-24th August 2014 (7.45pm) - Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh
For ticket information please go to the Theatre of the Damned web site
THE CAST
Music and Lyrics: Jeffrey Mayhew
Book: Tom Richards and Stewart Pringle
Dramatis Personae Original cast in order of main appearance
Mr. Alfred BROWNLOW (Bass) – Low Comedian and Manager – Tom Richards
Mr. ARCHIE Cox (Tenor) – Light Comedian – James Utechin
Miss SALLY Summerill (Soprano) – Ingénue – Alicia Bennett
Miss NANCY Quick (Mezzo) – Soubrette – Kate Quinn
Professor Harold CLOSE (Baritone) – the Pianist – Jeffrey Mayhew
CASSANDRA Fay (Mezzo) – the Medium – Stephanie Walls
Mr. ARCHIE Cox (Tenor) – Light Comedian – James Utechin
Miss SALLY Summerill (Soprano) – Ingénue – Alicia Bennett
Miss NANCY Quick (Mezzo) – Soubrette – Kate Quinn
Professor Harold CLOSE (Baritone) – the Pianist – Jeffrey Mayhew
CASSANDRA Fay (Mezzo) – the Medium – Stephanie Walls
Musical Numbers
The Little Button Hook – Brownlow
Here We Go – The Company
The Horror! The Horror! – Nancy, Archie, Close, Cassandra
Keep Your Hand On Your Penny – Sally, Nancy
The Old Song – Sally, Nancy
Take A Good Look At The Mother – Brownlow, Archie
Chung Lee’s Chinese Brew – Brownlow, Archie and Company
No More A Home – Sally
One Knock For Yes – Archie, Cassandra, Nancy, Brownlow
We Never Stood A Bloomin’ Chance – Sally, Brownlow
Finale – Sally, Nancy, Cassandra, Archie, Close
Here We Go – The Company
The Horror! The Horror! – Nancy, Archie, Close, Cassandra
Keep Your Hand On Your Penny – Sally, Nancy
The Old Song – Sally, Nancy
Take A Good Look At The Mother – Brownlow, Archie
Chung Lee’s Chinese Brew – Brownlow, Archie and Company
No More A Home – Sally
One Knock For Yes – Archie, Cassandra, Nancy, Brownlow
We Never Stood A Bloomin’ Chance – Sally, Brownlow
Finale – Sally, Nancy, Cassandra, Archie, Close
A Word From The Writers
The Horror! The Horror! began with a battered paperback passed between the two of us, and the opportunity to produce a show for one of London’s most exciting venues. The book was J. B. Priestley's magnificent Lost Empires, recommended to us by the writer of these songs Jeffrey Mayhew, and the venue was Wilton’s Music Hall, which had invited us to create a performance to take place in its nooks, crannies and hidden corridors while the main house underwent renovation. Having previously worked largely in the ‘Grand Guignol’ tradition of gruesome naturalist short plays, Priestley’s book and Wilton’s itself suggested a very different approach.
We started putting together the story of a music hall company gradually absorbed by dark invisible forces, and Jeffrey began to write the score. From the first draft of ‘Keep Your Hand on Your Penny’ that Jeff played for us, we were bowled over. It’s a song that could easily have fallen through time from those days before the Empires were lost, when great halls up and down the company played to packed crowds twice-nightly and the best of the bill-toppers were true household names. Jeff has an enviable knowledge of late 19th and early 20th century popular music, but it’s his ability to not only emulate the tone and the rhythms of that period, but to create wickedly clever, extremely naughty and irresistibly catchy new compositions which blend the traditional with the slyly arch that makes his score for The Horror! such a joy to listen to.
This score represents a brand new version of the show, subtitled The Final Curtain, with six new songs, revised lyrics for several of those that return, and a completely reconceived book. The production is travelling up to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer via a brief stop-off at Wilton’s, and it’s packed with superb numbers from start to finish. There are peppy up-tempo pieces, saucy rabble-rousers and tender ballads, unfolding the story of a tragic romance caught in the calcium glare of the footlights.
We hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we do.
Tom & Stewart
May 2014
May 2014
