Saturday Night Fever (musical)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is an article about the stage musical. For the 1977 film, see Saturday Night Fever
| Saturday Night Fever | |
 |
|
| Logo | |
|---|---|
| Music | Bee Gees |
| Lyrics | Bee Gees |
| Book | Nan Knighton Arlene Phillips Paul Nicholas Robert Stigwood |
| Based upon | Nik Cohn's 1975 New York Magazine article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" and 1977 film Saturday Night Fever |
| Productions | 1998 West End 1999 Broadway 2004 West End revival |
Saturday Night Fever is a musical with a book by Nan Knighton (in collaboration with Arlene Phillips, Paul Nicholas, and Robert Stigwood) and music and lyrics by the Bee Gees.
Based on Nik Cohn's 1975 New York Magazine article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" and Norman Wexler's 1977 screenplay it inspired, it focuses on Tony Manero, a Brooklyn youth whose weekend is spent at the local discotheque. There he luxuriates in the admiration of the crowd and a growing relationship with Stephanie Mangano, and can temporarily forget the realities of his life, including a dead-end job in a paint store and his gang of deadbeat friends. In an effort to make it a family-friendly show, many of the film's darker elements, including references to racial conflict, drug use, and violence, were eliminated from the plot.
Directed and choreographed by Phillips, the £4 million stage adaptation premiered on May 5, 1998 at the London Palladium, where it ran for nearly two years. The original cast included Adam Garcia as Tony and Anita Louise Coombe as Stephanie. Laurence Olivier Award nominations went to Garcia for Best Actor in a Musical, Phillips for Best Theatre Choreographer, and the production for Best New Musical [1]. A cast album was released by Polydor Records.
After twenty-seven previews, the Broadway production, with Phillips at the helm, opened on October 21, 1999 at the Minskoff Theatre, where it ran for 501 performances. The cast included James Carpinello as Tony and Paige Price as Stephanie, with Orfeh as Annette, Paul Castree as Bobby C., and Bryan Batt as DJ Monty.
A London revival opened on July 6, 2004 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre prior to a lengthy UK tour that extended into August 2006 [2]. The cast included newcomer Stephane Anelli as Tony and Zoe Ebsworth as Stephanie, with Kym Marsh from the pop group Hear'Say as Annette and Shaun Williamson of the television series EastEnders as DJ Monty.
[edit] Songs
|
|
