The venue will host this one-night-only revue featuring a repertoire made of iconic songs from a bygone era. Produced by theatre company The Salon, the montage goes through the relations (and rumours) of some of the most acclaimed performers of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
He came from nothing and reached the top. Became a God and then fell into decay – plunging into obscurity, into misery. If the ending is what you just really care about, then this is definitely the show you cannot miss. Theatre company The Salon is playing another gig this month, but this time it’s not the cry of an everyday woman that’s been given the limelight, but the lives of those who have always have the spot on. Garbo, Sinatra, Dietrich, Brando, Burton – just to shame a few! Here comes a revue which explores the turbulent (and often deliciously toxic) relationships of Hollywood’s Golden elite.
In a couple of weeks, London’s The Pheasantry will open its doors to Affairs to Remember, a one-night opportunity to reunite with icons that not only belong to the screen but also from the music world – as the production features a repertoire made of famous songs from a bygone era, inclunding I Get A Kick Out Of You or The Man That Got Away. This new montage, is, as the creative team suggests, a fiction that “weaves gossip and history into a cheeky, irreverent and often surprising theatrical evening”. All brought out onstage by West End familiar Luke Baker (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, American Idiot, Billy Elliot) in the role of ‘straight man’ and drag artist Chanel Nº5.
“In the early 90s for The RSC Summerhouse in Stratford, I created my first show, Frankly Sinatra – about his failed romances, his many failed romances. And from there I got to thinking about all of those titans of our industry and that tendency we all have to simulataneously fertishise and demonsise our most beloved celebs”, says writer and director Keith Merrill. “So, here I bring you six of history’s most, shall we say, f*%@’d up couplings, hopefully in order to show you that the proverbial grass ain’t always greener. And, in actual fact, sometimes that lush emerald lawn that we so covet – is all just a bit of expensive astro turf!”.
Originally founded in New York as the Noël and Company (where it played at such prestigious venues as the Lincoln Center, The Players Club and The National Arts Club), The Salon specializes in rehearsed, fully staged readings of great plays and musicals (new and old) performed by internationally acclaimed actors, usually endowed with pre show concerts. Upcoming projects include Wormholes, by Emily Jupp and starring Victoria Yeates (Fantastic Beasts 2,3 and Call The Midwife) and a new adaptation of Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, directed by Scott Schwartz (Prince of Egypt, Dominion).
Affairs to Remember will play at Chelsea’s The Pheasantry on Wednesday October 12th at 8pm. Tickets are available on the following link.
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