A Concert Version of
The
Soap Opera
Louise Gold appeared in this one night concert staging,
at The Piccadilly Theatre on Sunday 29 November 1987.
It should be noted that most of the actors in
the cast were portraying actors playing characters in a soap opera, so both
their characters names and their characters parts in the soap opera within the
show are given below.
Cast (includes)
Mercy Bleet
playing
Tammy Hazel
playing Nurse Crain - Louise Gold
Hildegarde
Edge playing Constance Chessington - Jan Hartley
Anita
Chandos playing Nurse Mendelssohn - Gay Soper
Winthrop
Roberts playing Warren - Steve Devereaux
Van Austin
playing Craig Van Horn - Robert Meadmore
Simon Carp
playing Wallace and Walter Chessington - Berwick Kaler
Glen Bexley
playing Brick Baxter - Dudley Stevens
Brett
Forester playing The Floor Manager - Adam Wide
Hosted by - Christopher
Biggins (but see below)
Production Team
Book
& Lyrics by - Dudley Stevens
Music by - Martin
Yates
Presented by
- Associate Productions Limited
It says on the flyer that the show was hosted by
Christopher Biggins, and this has been confirmed by Martin Yates;
However according to Musical Stages magazine Louise Gold
and Christopher Biggins had never worked together prior to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Mr Biggins
apparently has no recollection of having been in it.
This one night concert performance of The Soap
Opera is so far the only time the show has actually been performed, so
far.
Steve Devereaux, and, Louise Gold had previously appeared in Joseph And The
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Norwich Production).
Rosemary Ashe, Louise Gold, Robert
Meadmore and Dudley Stevens had previously appeared in The Metropolitan Mikado and the Concert Of
Highlights From The Ratepayers’
Iolanthe & Metropolitan Mikado.
Gay Soper and Dudley Stevens had previously
appeared in The Ratepayers’ Iolanthe and the Concert Of
Highlights From The Ratepayers’
Iolanthe & Metropolitan Mikado .
Robert Meadmore may have previously
appeared in Will-Aid. His recording credits include,
The Great Musicals – Dashing
Heroes, Blushing Maidens
Robert Meadmore and Christopher
Biggins went on to appear in Kids At Heart,
their recording credits include Simply Musicals
Robert Meadmore and Louise Gold
had previously appeared together on television in Julia And Company, they went on to appear
together on stage in Side By Side By
Sondehim, the Side By Side By Sondheim 25th
Anniversary Gala, and Hubert
Gregg’s Memorial Service. They also took part in Shopping With The Stars.
Christopher Biggins may have gone on to
appear in Dear Ralph.
Gay Soper and Christopher Biggins went on to
appear in Regents Park 70th
Anniversary Gala.
Gay Soper went on to appear at Dress Circle Grand Reopening, her
recording credits include Cabaret, and, Centre Stage Showtime!.
Martin Yates’s recording credits include:
Stop The World I Want To Get Off
, The Best Of Broadway Musicals, Encore The Very Best From The
Musicals, Great Duets From The
Musicals, Cole Porter - Night And
Day, The History Of The Musical,
Simply Musicals, The Greatest Musicals of
the 20th Century, Centre
Stage Showtime!, The Great Musicals -
Wonderful Tales, The Great
Musicals – Dashing Heroes, Blushing Maidens, The Great Musicals – Glamour And Majesty,
and, The Great Musicals – Laughter And Tears.
Louise Gold went on to return to The
Piccadilly Theatre, this time for a month, in Noises
Off where funnily enough she also played an actress playing a character.
Louise Gold
and Christopher Biggins went gone on to appear together in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as
Baroness and Baron Bomburst respectively.
Louise
Gold, Robert
Meadmore, Gay Soper, and, Christopher Biggins went on to appear
in Side By Side By Sondheim 30th Anniversary
Gala.
Jan Hartley, and, Robert Meadmore went on to appear in A Love Letter To Dan.
Rosemary
Ashe went on to originate the role of Miss Andrew in the
stage version of Mary Poppins,
a role which Louise Gold took over
in the West End.
Links about The Soap
Opera
Composer Martin Yates’s company
