Lionel Bart’s epic musical BLITZ! is a celebration of London’s working-class spirit as the Nazis rained down bombs on British cities. You can see it at the Union Theatre, near Southwark tube from February 5th – March 7th - and it’s directed by me!
It’s the story of the redoubtable Mrs Blitztein (Jessica Martin), loved and feared by her neighbours as the “Queen of Petticoat Lane” and based on Bart’s mother.
Initially, determined that her kids won’t marry outside the Jewish faith she’s forced to reconsider as neighbourhood feuds take an unexpected turn in the nightly scrabble for the air raid shelters.
All that and you’re never more than 10 minutes away from a cockney knees-up or a haunting ballade from the writer of Oliver!
The first production of Blitz was one of the most spectacular and expensive musicals ever staged and although it was a hit producers have been intimidated by the cost of a remount ever since. This production is the first ever attempt to reframe Blitz! as a chamber piece; with the intimacy of the Union theatre pulling the characters and relationships into sharper focus than ever before and allowing us to vividly recreate the crowded claustrophobia of the air raid shelter and the bustle of London’s alleyways.
Jessica Martin has performed all over London and the UK in many productions (including hit musicals ME AND MY GIRL, ELF, SPAMALOT, and MACK AND MABEL). She received critical acclaim for her one woman show Sunset Bitch at the new Waterloo East Theatre and was the first artist to perform in cabaret at the newly refurbished Savoy Hotel.
The rest of the cast includes Caitlin Anderson, Anna Robertson, Robbie McArtney, Corinna Marlowe, Michael Martin, Connor Carson, James Horne, Vicki Mason, James Georgiou, Danniella Schindler, Beaux Harris, Eleanor Sandars Charlotte Bradley, Eleanor Griffiths, Jack Slatter, Lorne Taylor and Stephen Hayward.
It’s been announced that UK acting royalty Imelda Staunton will play the title role of Dolly Levi in a NEW production of HELLO DOLLY for the West End.