Lost Musicals began in 1989, and its productions have been presented at London's
Barbican Centre, the
Royal Opera House,
Her Majesty's Theatre and the
Victoria & Albert Museum. The project's current home is the
Sadler's Wells Theatre. Some of the seventy shows presented have included musicals by
George S. Kaufman,
Howard Dietz and
Arthur Schwartz's
The Band Wagon,
André Previn and
Alan Jay Lerner's
Coco,
Herbert and
Dorothy Fields and
Cole Porter's
Mexican Hayride,
Sammy Fain and
E.Y. Harburg's
Flahooley, Cole Porter and S. J. Perelman's
Aladdin,
Kurt Weill and Paul Green's
Johnny Johnson, Rodgers and
Lorenz Hart's
By Jupiter,
S. J. Perelman,
Ogden Nash and Weill's
One Touch of Venus, Herbert Fields, B. G. DeSylva & Cole Porter's
Du Barry Was a Lady and
Jule Styne, Nunnally Johnson and E Y Harburg's
Darling of the Day.
Early years and the Barbican (1989–1998) Lost Musicals has given concert revivals of musicals that have since become more familiar in stagings by other companies. For instance, in November and December 1991 the company gave a performance of Weill's
Love Life at the Victoria & Albert Museum with a cast including David Firth and
Louise Gold. This was followed by a major production of the same show by
Opera North in 1996. Sands and Gold went on to appear in "One Touch of Venus" in August of the same year. The project's final season at the Barbican took place in 1998, when five productions were offered.
Irving Berlin and
Moss Hart's revue
As Thousands Cheer opened the season with a cast featuring Danielle Carson and
Paula Wilcox. This was followed by Alan Jay Lerner and
Burton Lane's first Broadway musical,
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, with
Jessica Martin and David Firth. Later in the year,
George S. Kaufman's
Hollywood Pinafore (based on
Gilbert and Sullivan's
H.M.S. Pinafore) was presented with actors including
Ian Lavender,
Frank Lazarus and
Matt Zimmerman. This was followed by a rare stage performance of
Stephen Sondheim's
The Frogs, starring James Vaughan. Finally, to mark the Gershwin centenary the company presented
Strike Up the Band in the Barbican Concert Hall, with the
BBC Concert Orchestra. The cast included
Barry Cryer and
Sam Kelly.
The West End and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden After this period at the Barbican, in 1999 the project moved to the West End. The first three productions that year took place at the
Fortune Theatre. First, in May the company performed Kaufman, Hart, Rodgers and Hart's ''
I'd Rather Be Right'', with a cast that included
Kenneth Haigh.
Harvey Schmidt and
Tom Jones's
110 in the Shade was presented in July, with four performances of Burton Lane,
Fred Saidy and E. Y. Harburg's ''
Finian's Rainbow'' in September. On 21 and 28 November, the project moved to Her Majesty's Theatre for Cole Porter and Moss Hart's
Jubilee, which featured the BBC Concert Orchestra and was later broadcast on
BBC Radio 3. This was followed in 2000 by a move to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The Kurt Weill centenary was marked in December of that year by a semi-staging of
One Touch of Venus, which included a reconstruction of
Agnes de Mille's original choreography, which was performed by the
Central School of Ballet. The cast included Jessica Martin and Louise Gold, with the
Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. In 2001, Fisher presented a fund-raising gala at the Royal Opera House called
A Lost Musicals Occasion, which featured appearances by Gold,
Kitty Carlisle Hart,
Liza Pulman and Jessica Martin. This was followed later that year by two performances of Porter's
Du Barry Was a Lady at Her Majesty's Theatre, with accompaniment by the BBC Concert Orchestra. The cast included Gold,
Lauren Ward, James Vaughan and
Desmond Barrit. The production was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 27 December 2001. The 2001 season also included three fund-raising performances of Cole Porter's ''Let's Face It'' in New York at the
New York Historical Society in September, while the short 2002 season consisted of two performances of Porter's
Fifty Million Frenchmen at the Royal Opera House, with a cast including
Laura Michelle Kelly,
Dilys Laye and
Alan Cox.
Later years Some of the revivals have been UK premieres or first revivals of the shows. For instance, in 2005 the company gave the stage premiere of
Evening Primrose, a little-known 1967 television musical by Stephen Sondheim, with a cast including
Betsy Blair and
Gary Raymond. The same year saw the company's second production of
Fanny, starring
Liza Pulman and
James Smilie, and Porter's
Silk Stockings. In 2010 Lost Musicals presented the first complete revival of Alan Jay Lerner and
Frederick Loewe's second Broadway musical,
The Day Before Spring, following on from the rediscovery of the full vocal score. It was the first time all the music had been heard since 1946. ==Overview==