AUGUST 2014 Taylorian Production!
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AUGUST 2014 A HHHHH Taylorian Production! Non-stop BECAUSE THEATRE showings all over MATTERS the Island... Star treatment every time you shop! PROUD TO BE MAIN SPONSORS OF SUNSET BOULEVARD FEBRUAJANUARY SEPTEMBER Book by Arthur Laurents Music by Leonard Bernstein Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim AUGUST OCTOBER RY MARCH MANX OPERATIC SOCIETY PRESENTS AUDITIONS APRIL WILL BE HELD AT THEIR REHEARSAL ROOMS, FINCH ROAD FRIDAY 5TH SEPT MEET &GREET WITH DIRECTOR ANTHONY WILLIAMS SAT 6TH/SUNDAY 7TH WORKSHOP AND AUDITIONS. Are proud to present JUNE AUDITION PIECES ARE AVAILABLE AT THE COPY SHOP - EVERYONE WELCOME For further info contact Secretary [email protected] MOVE IT THROUGH THE YEAR NOVEMBER GAIETY THEATRE 26 SEPTEMBER 2014 MANX Operatic Society ALL SINGING ALL DANCING EXTRAVAGANZA! A WONDERFUL PERFORMANCE SUITABLE FOR ALL THE FAMILY AND NOT TO BE MISSED! BOOK NOW AT WWW.VILLAGAIETY.COM OR CALL 600555 TICKETS £11.00DECEMBER TAYLORIAN PRODUCTIONS PRESENT SMP Partners is proud to be Gold Sponsor of.... Best wishes to everyone involved! Director/Choreographer & Concept JOHN CUMBERLIDGE SMP Partners is delighted to announce that the proceeds of all its Musical Director Set Design fundraising activities in 2014 will be donated to Manx Cancer Help. KELVIN TOWSE NICK MURLEY SMP Partners is one of the Island’s leading corporate and trust service providers offering private, corporate and institutional clients Music by a comprehensive portfolio of professional services. trusted to deliver... ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER • Trust Services SMP Partners Book & Lyrics by Clinch’s House • Corporate Services Lord Street DON BLACK & CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON Douglas Isle of Man IM99 1RZ • Fund Administration Tel: + 44 (0) 1624 683 242 Based on the film by BILLY WILDER Fax: + 44 (0) 1624 612 624 • Accounting & Tax Email: [email protected] AN AMATEUR PRODUCTION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE REALLY USEFUL GROUP LTD www.smppartners.com • e-gaming Solutions The SMP Partners Group of Companies: SMP Partners Limited, SMP Trustees Limited, SMP Fund Services Limited and Amber Business Limited are licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission; SMP Accounting & Tax Limited is a member of the ICAEW Practice Assurance Scheme; SMP Capital Markets Limited; SMP Yacht and Aircraft Limited. 1 MATT JAMES | CO-FOUNDER MR PATRICK TAYLOR | OUR FOUNDER As the Island celebrates its year of culture, I am honoured have a visually magnificent show on our hands. Just seven years after being formed, it’s pretty easy Sunset Boulevard promises audiences yet another to welcome you to the Gaiety Theatre for a gold-plated Once again this is a close-knit team and it gives me to imagine how Patrick Taylor would have reacted spectacular theatrical experience to rival the record- slice of Hollywood culture. great pleasure to welcome renowned West End musical when Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s own production team breaking and innovative productions of CATS and Evita A British Isles amateur premiere and an Isle of Man director Kelvin Towse to the Island. Musical director for approached us last autumn. over the past two summers. premiere in this very special 2014, you could say it’s The the UK and Ireland national tour of Blood Brothers, it For Taylorian Productions to have been personally As we complete our trilogy of Andrew Lloyd-Webber Perfect Year! has been a pleasure to see his work with the company invited to stage this British Isles amateur premiere shows with this stellar movie themed musical, it is As we complete our trilogy of Lloyd-Webber shows and his enthusiasm and flair for the project is obvious speaks volumes for how the company which bears his Mr T’s joy and simple passion to throughout. with the musical masterpiece he name has developed. produce quality theatre that considers arguably his greatest, As co-founder of Taylorian Productions, we are thrilled Quite a coup for Taylorian Productions. Quite a coup remains the company’s so returns our simply to have been awarded the licence to stage such a inspiration. wonderful creative and tremendous musical and I would personally like to thank for the Isle of Man. design team under the the whole cast, crew and members of the production On occasions like this, our thoughts invariably turn to We hope he has majestic direction of John company for their hard work and commitment to this the man who started it all and the joy he would have the best seat in the Cumberlidge. show, all of which is presented with the much-missed experienced from the company he created just over a house! This sophisticated piece Patrick Taylor uppermost in our thoughts. year before he passed away. of theatre required a Finally, on behalf of Taylorian, I thank YOU, the audience, So many people involved in this production, on and sophisticated director for coming along and for your continued support. off-stage, were touched by his support and loyal at the helm and John’s Sit back and enjoy this British Isles premiere in this, the friendship. design, choreography and Isle of Man’s Year of Culture. staging means we This is our ninth show overall and a musical spectacular which again surpasses expectations. PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS 2007 Underneath the Arches 2008 Me and My Girl 2009 King & I 2010 Oliver! 2011 Wizard of Oz Dick Whittington 2012 Evita 2013 CATS 2014 Sunset Boulevard 2015 ? 2 3 SYNOPSIS Hollywood, 1949: Struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis has an out to Schwab’s Drugstore to meet his friends (Every on Salome. Waiting on the back lot, Max discovers it is into her swimming pool. Driven to the point of insanity, appointment to try and find work at Paramount Studios. Movie’s a Circus) and while there he strikes up a working Norma’s classic car that the studio wants for an upcoming Norma mistakes the ensuing arrival of police for the On his way he meets similar young hopefuls all looking for relationship with Betty, which blossoms into a romance movie, not her, and that was the reason for the phone call. studio personnel of her latest movie and her beloved fans. a break in the cut-throat movie industry (Let’s Have Lunch). that has her reconsidering her recent engagement to Artie, Her welcome has been so great, however, that Norma Thinking she is on the set of Salome, with Max as her When he arrives, he finds a producer who has no interest Joe’s best friend. (Girl Meets Boy) leaves the lot convinced she’ll make her director, Norma slowly descends her grand staircase and in his script or in his request for a loan to tide him over and Innocent of this, Norma lavishes Joe with gifts that include return to movies very soon. To this end utters the immortal phrase, “And now, help with his car repayments. While he is there he meets a complete wardrobe makeover. (The Lady’s Paying) she puts herself through a strict health Mr. DeMille, I am ready for Betty Schaefer, an attractive, young script editor who, and fitness regime in readiness for her my close-up.” though disparaging of his current script, proposes they first day on set (A work together to develop one of his earlier projects. As Little Suffering) they chat, Joe is spotted by two thugs looking to repossess his car and makes a quick escape. Joe is still sneaking out to see Betty During the following car chase, Joe turns into Sunset (Too Much in Love Boulevard and evades capture by pulling his car into to Care) when he the driveway of a dilapidated mansion. Curiously, he is can but welcomed into the house by the butler who mistakes him for a funeral director. Inside, Joe encounters Norma Desmond, a silent movie actress once ‘The Greatest Star of All’ but now almost a recluse since the advent of talking Norma pictures left her all but forgotten (Surrender). Recognising eventually realises her, Joe is astounded and says, “You used to be in pictures that they are in – you used to be big,” to which she retorts, “I am big ... it’s She love and calls the pictures that got small!” (With One Look). arranges a party at the younger The large, gloomy house is home only to Norma and Max, which she and Joe are the only guests. woman to her loyal butler and chauffeur. He ensures that Norma They tango (The Perfect Year) and she declares a love confront her. Having believes she is as beautiful and popular as ever, though for him that is bordering on obsession. When he leaves finally had enough, she is decades past her prime and mostly forgotten by the house to attend a friend’s New Year’s Eve party (This Joe grabs the phone once-adoring fans. Time Next Year), she attempts suicide. To placate her, Joe and tells Betty to come When she discovers that Joe is a writer she shows him her reluctantly returns to finish his work on Salome. Their see for herself exactly how magnum opus, a script she’s written for Cecil B. DeMille relationship turns sexual, and Joe ends up becoming her he lives. Accepting that their to direct called Salome. Bizarrely, she informs him of her kept man. affair is over, Joe brutally tells Betty he enjoys being Norma’s intended return to the screen, playing the starring role Joe is now living in the lap of luxury (Sunset Boulevard). kept boy and that she should go of the 16-year-old Salome herself. Reluctant at first, Joe When Norma rushes to tell him that there has been a back to Artie. eventually agrees to work with Norma on the screenplay telephone call from Paramount Studios, she is convinced in exchange for room and board.