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Love Off the Shelf
Book by Roger Hall, Lyrics by A. K. Grant & Music by Philip Norman
by arrangement with Samuel French
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(For other browsers, click on (Audio) link to hear song)
) The opening number "Love Off the Shelf' (Audio) |
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) David Humphries (as John) and Lena Morgan (as Mary) singing 'What Can It Be Like' (Audio) |
John and his assistant, Mary, are working on a biography of a pre-Raphaelite rogue. A project with great literary merit, prehaps, but hardly a money spinner. They both dream of 'What Can It Be Like' to be famous and successful writers. To keep the wolf from the door, and possibly to exorcise some romantic demons of their own, both John and Mary request, unbeknown to each other, instructions from True Love Publishers on how to write and sell romantic fiction. |
) Wayne Ings (as Jose) and Jane Courtenay (as Clare) (Audio) in 'Hotel Caribeanini' |
) Iain Steele (as Hamilton) singing (Audio) 'Live Life to the Fullest' |
| Love off the Shelf parodies every cliché of the romantic novel genre as the two stories come to life before our eyes, the interactions of their characters mirroring the ever-more-complicated relationship between John and Mary. Occasionally, the fictional characters rebel against the constraints put upon them by their creators. Here, we see two of the characters as skiers in 'The Virgin Slopes of Love'. | ) Gill Jeffery and Wayne Ings performing 'The Virgin Slopes of Love' (Audio) |
) David Wilkins (as Sean) and Gill Jeffery (as Kathleen) in 'You'd Think it was Fine to be Virile' (Audio) |
) Jane Courtenay (as Clare) singing 'What You Mean to Me' (Audio) |
) 'We Want Lovers' (Audio) |
All the characters join the two authors in the finale of the first act, 'We Want Lovers' |
| The second Act starts with a parody of American gospel singing on the theme of the commercial aspects of love and the 'business' of romantic fiction 'Love is Commercial'. | ) The cast performing 'Love is Commercial' (Audio) |
) Natalie Watts (as Sabrina) singing 'The Other Woman' (Audio) |
Sabrina is a sensuous character who attempts to steal the attention of the male characters. Here she performs the Soul number 'The Other Woman'. |
| There are many musical styles in this show. Here the whole cast perform a fast moving 'rap' number 'Deus ex Machina'. | ) 'Deus Ex Machina' (Audio) |
) Lena Morgan and Wayne Ings in 'The Romantic Rogue' (Audio) |
) Jane Courtenay (as Clare) and Iain Steele (as Hamilton) in 'Do As Romantics Do' (Audio) |
 Glynis Norris (as Tanya) catches Clare and Hamilton in a compromising situation |
) David Humphries and Lena Morgan in 'The Play of Love' (Audio) |
| As
the end of the play approaches, John and Mary start to look at each
other in a different way, and romance is in the air. They sing the duet
'The Play of Love'. Eventually, John and Mary and the other characters all come together for a triple wedding. They then receive the news that a publisher wishes to buy John's book. Success at last! |
 Cecilia, played by Shelley Jory, announces that a publisher wishes to buy John's book. |
) 'The Happy Ending' (Audio) |
In
the end, despite the tongue in cheek treatment doled out by the authors,
romance is the winner all round in the blissful send-them-home-happy
finale 'A Happy ending' |
The musical numbers are:-
| Act One | Act Two |
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Our cast was:-
| John - Dave Humphries | Mary - Lena Morgan |
| Lucinda/Kathleen - Gill Jeffery | Hamilton - Iain Steele |
| Clare - Jane Courtenay | Sean - Dave Wilkins |
| Tanya - Glynis Norris | Sabrina - Natalie Watts |
| Cecilia - Shelley Jory | Jose/Lance/etc - Wayne Ings |
Our highly successful production of this 'laugh a minute' musical was directed by Angela Arney, our Musical Director was Ian Peters and our choreographer was Jane Mackinnon. Musical arrangements were by Simon Cryer. Our Phoenix Theatre Company production was staged at the Plaza Theatre in Romsey from Tuesday 3rd to Saturday 7th April 2001. We were delighted that Wayne Ings was awarded the Best Actor in a Musical Award at the Southern Daily Echo Curtain Call Awards for his performance in 'Love Off the Shelf'.
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