“BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED” 
THE NEW MUSICAL 
BASED ON THE LIVES OF ZELDA AND F. SCOTT FITZGERALD 
TO OPEN IN LONDON 
AT THE LYRIC THEATRE SHAFTESBURY AVENUE 
ON MONDAY 10 MAY

“BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED”, the new musical based on the lives of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, will open in London at the Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue on Monday 10 May, following previews from 28 April. From an original concept by Roger Cook and Les Reed, “BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED” has music and lyrics by Les Reed and Roger Cook and a book by Kit Hesketh Harvey.

Michael Praed and Helen Anker head the cast as F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, with David Burt and Susannah Fellows playing Zelda’s parents, Judge and Minnie Sayre. Michael Praed and Helen Anker reunite for this musical, having recently starred together in the award-winning “Contact”. Michael’s other credits include “The Pirates of Penzance” at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Aspects of Love”, and he has starred in many television series including “Robin of Sherwood” and “Dynasty”. Helen Anker’s other credits are “Crazy for You”, “Cats”, “Fame” and “Oklahoma!”. David Burt has had leading roles in many West End musicals including “Cats”, “Evita” and “Les Misérables”. Susannah Fellows recently starred in both “Chicago” and “Mamma Mia!”; she played the title role in “Evita” in London, and amongst her other credits are “Me and My Girl”, “Aspects of Love” and “City of Angels”.

Award-winning Roger Cook has had more than eighty Top 30 hits, including the classics “Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart”, “Something Tells Me”, “You’ve Got Your Troubles”, “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing”, “Melting Pot” and “I Just Want To Dance With You”. As the recipient of ten Ivor Novello Awards, Les Reed is the composer behind such classics as “It’s Not Unusual”, “Delilah”, “The Last Waltz”, “There’s a Kind of Hush”, “Here It Comes Again” and “Tell Me When”. As a member of “Kit and the Widow”, Kit Hesketh Harvey had his own radio and television series; his screenplays include “Maurice” and, for television, “The Vicar of Dibley”.

“BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED” has set and costume design by Christopher Woods, lighting by Nick Richings, orchestration by Larry Blank, dance and incidental music arrangements by David Krane and production musical direction by John Owen Edwards. “BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED” is choreographed and directed by Craig Revel Horwood, who worked on the recent West End productions of “West Side Story”, “Hey, Mr Producer!”, “Martin Guerre” and the award-winning “Spend, Spend, Spend”.

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald were the beautiful couple of the 1920’s, famed for their high living, big spending and party going. Scott, who wrote “The Beautiful and the Damned”, “The Great Gatsby”, “Tender is the Night” and “The Last Tycoon”, christened the 1920’s ‘The Jazz Age’ and made Zelda its High Priestess. Riding the waves between America and Europe in a never-ending search for excitement, Scott was the novelist and Zelda the novelty – but beyond the glittering façade lay a tragedy of epic proportions. 

Performance times at the Lyric Theatre will be Mondays-Saturdays at 7.45pm with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 3.00pm. Tickets, priced from £15.00-£45.00, are available from the Lyric Theatre Box Office on 0870 890 1107.

  For more information visit www.beautifulmusical.com

To hear some music from the show check out 

http://www.beautifulmusical.com/musical/the_music/the_music.asp

Buy tickets for events:

Sponsors