Friday 11 December 2015

Blitz! – LONDON CAST****

Our Hotel/Tell Him Tell Her/I Want To Whisper Something/The Day After Tomorrow/We’re Going To The Country/Another Morning/Who’s This Geezer Hitler/Be What You Wanna Be/As Long As This Is England/ Opposites/Bake A Cake/Leave It To The Ladies/The Day After Tomorrow (Reprise)/Ent’racte/Far Away/Petticoat Lane/Down The Lane/So Tell Me/Mums & Dads/Who Wants To Settle Down/Is This Gonna Be A Wedding/Duty Calls/Who’s This Geezer Hitler (Reprise)

The London Cast musical Blitz! starred Amelia Bayntun. It opened in May 1962 at the Adelphi Theatre and ran for 568 performances. Plot is based around a romance that takes place during the London wartime blitz. Music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. (UK:7)

Blitz! was Lionel Bart's follow-up to Oliver! It has since largely been forgotten which is a shame because it is a tuneful musical and very evocative of the blitz era and the people living through it.”

“The score is excellent. Performances are uniformly good too, especially from Amelia Bayntun as the central character, Mrs Blitztein. Best known songs include the children's play song Mums & Dads, and Far Away. I really enjoy The Day After Tomorrow, which was recorded by Vera Lynn especially for the show. The words and music for this song give it such an authentic, wartime singalong feel.”

“I consider it a tribute to the spirit of those who worked and went through the blitz itself, which was concentrated within the East End. Lionel Bart, throughout his troubled career, personified and adapted in music and song so much of the unique character of what London's East End was all about.”

“Terrific music, great lyrics, exceptional singers, especially the lead woman, Amelia Bayntun, who I don't think did anything significant again.”

“Unashamedly an emotion tugger, this spectacular 1962 Lionel Bart musical strives to recreate the East End spirit at the time bombs rained - a community determinedly bouncing back, whatever the damage inflicted.”

“This vividly conjures up the mood of the blitz. Impressively heading the cast is Amelia Bayntun as widowed battleaxe Mrs. Blitztein. She holds everything together, at once raising spirits with Our Hotel as trains rattle past. There are many highlights, including The Day After Tomorrow after a night raid.”

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