Gone With The Wind - London Cast
Added on Thursday, January 23, 2020 Posted by Robert Bettens
A musical of Gone With The Wind? Sounds crazy, no? But in the occasionally crazy world of musical theater, that’s exactly what happened. Premiering in London (after a production in Tokyo), Gone With The Wind had a book by Horton Foote (the playwright, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter of To Kill A Mockingbird) and music and lyrics by the great Harold Rome.
A musical of Gone With The Wind? Sounds crazy, no? But in the occasionally crazy world of musical theater, that’s exactly what happened. Premiering in London (after a production in Tokyo), Gone With The Wind had a book by Horton Foote (the playwright, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter of To Kill A Mockingbird) and music and lyrics by the great Harold Rome.
That London production, starring June Ritchie as Scarlett O’Hara and Harve Presnell as Rhett Butler, opened in 1972 at the Drury Lane Theater. Reviews were, in some cases, surprisingly good, and the show ran a year.
The Evening Standard raved, “Choreography and music are brilliantly blended in a storytelling exercise that never stops for breath. There are no artificially set numbers to halt the momentum of the tale and every precise dance number propels the action forward.” “What a musical! Singing Scarlett is here to stay,” said the Daily Express. Thankfully,
EMI made a cast album of the show, preserving the delightful and tuneful Harold Rome score.
This CD was mastered from the original album masters housed at EMI in the UK.