Move over darlings, there’s a new stage musical coming to Croydon next month, when the life and works of Hollywood star Doris Day will be in the spotlight.
Whip crack away: Doris Day as she appeared 60 years ago in the Hollywood movie Calamity Jane
West End performer Claudia Morris is touring the country with the show, Secret Love, and will perform at the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon on November 14.
Morris, who performed in the original West End cast of Buddy, helped to develop the Doris Day bio-play after singing the part of the Hollywood star in a BBC Radio 4 drama last year.
Working with with pianist and musical director Malcolm Edmonstone, and director and writer Phil Wilmott, they have created a new show telling the story of Doris Day’s life through song, with guest actors playing the parts of the men in her life. The show includes new arrangements of Doris Day classics.
They have had plenty of material to work with. In a career lasting more than 30 years, right through the Hollywood golden age, Doris Day sang with the major bands of the time, led by the likes of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller, while on the big screen, where she was the world’s No1 movie actress, adept at playing light comedy or dramatic roles, she performed alongside many of the leading screen actors of the time, including James Cagney (in the acclaimed Love Me or Leave Me), James Stewart and Frank Sinatra.
Together with Rock Hudson she virtually created the rom-com movie formula we know today in a series of films in the 1950s and ’60s, and, of course, she also starred with Howard Keel in the 1953 musical Western, Calamity Jane, in which she sang the Oscar-winning song, Secret Love.
The publicity for the new stage show says, “Taking in both the highs and lows of a life in the limelight, Secret Love is a portrait of a great artist, as told by one of her most dedicated fans, backed by her full live band and two male actors who will play all the key men in Doris’ life, it promises to be a knockout return to the stage for these much-loved songs.”
In addition, to accompany the show, a collection of the top tracks from the production have also been captured in the studio to be released as an album.
Claudia Morris: Performing in Secret Love at the Ashcroft Theatre next month
A stellar performer in her own right, Claudia Morris has previously performed in Camelot at The Liverpool Playhouse and Guys ‘n Dolls at Cheltenham, as well as in the West End. She also has two well-regarded jazz albums to her name.
For more details about Morris and the Secret Love tour visit http://www.claudiamorris-music.com
Coming to Croydon
- Arena academy public meeting: Oct 16
- Crystal Palace Concerts – “I have a dream”: Oct 17
- The Firebird, family concert: Oct 20
- Lakes Playground group’s fundraising Zumba-ween: Oct 26
- PJ’s enterprising look at Black History Month: Oct 29
- Inside Croydon: Croydon’s only independent news source, based in the heart of the borough – 262,183 page views (Jan-Jun 2013)
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