Whistle Down the Wind
Leigh Operatic & Dramatic Society
Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
18th - 21st October 2017
Leigh Operatic & Dramatic Society
Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea
18th - 21st October 2017
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Leigh Operatic and Dramatic Society’s next production is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Whistle Down the Wind. The production had a two year run in the West End in 1998 and Anthony Bristoe who will be playing the part of The Man in the show, reveals that he has a particular fondness for the show.
Anthony, 41, who has most recently performed in Made in Dagenham and Spamalot with LODS, worked for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group for 15 years and was often at the Aldwych Theatre where the musical was performed. |
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I catch up with Anthony during rehearsals for the show, which is on all this week at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff on Sea, where he tells me, “It’s a fantastic show, I remember seeing it a few times when I was working at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. I used to work in hospitality for Andrew Lloyd Webber and I’d get sent over the Aldwych Theatre to do press nights, opening nights and champagne canapé receptions. I used to sneak in and watch it. It’s a lovely, lovely show and it’s got some fantastic music in it.”
Most people will be familiar with the film of Whistle Down the Wind which was directed by Bryan Forbes and based in the Yorkshire Dales where a young girl finds the man, who she believes is Jesus in their barn. Anthony explains that the musical version is not too far away from the film.
“The story for the musical has been set in Louisiana in the 1950s. It centres around a 15 year old girl called Swallow. Her and her siblings are all going through hardship as they have just lost their mother to cancer and are being brought up by their father. It’s a rough time for them - the dad’s drinking a little bit heavily and he’s a bit hard on them.”
“They’re very God fearing people and they believe that the second coming of Christ will come, so that’s where these innocent childrens’ minds kind of get confused because there’s this man who Swallow finds in the barn and he’s out cold. He’s got wounds on his feet and his hands which make the kids think that it might be Jesus."
The Man, of course, is not Jesus but an escaped convict on the run from prison who realises that these children could be his salvation and Anthony feels that his character is not all bad.
“He’s an escaped convict, he’s trying to hide away and he kind of uses them (the children) to survive and live. He does have a heart and soul because he knows what he’s doing is wrong but he can’t go back to prison. He’s just killed two security guards so he’s on the run but he feels really bad about using these children.”
The children of the village are played by two groups of children from local schools, who will alternate performances and Anthony smiles when he tells me, “The kids are adorable and cute and wonderful but when they all get together at rehearsal, it’s a big party with the noise that’s coming out!”
Anthony currently works backstage for the West End show Aladdin but tells me that he has many fond memories of his time working in hospitality and was fortunate enough to come across many famous faces during this time.
“It was a great job because at the time I was a working actor, so I’d go to an audition and then go to work in the evening and pour champagne and serve canapes to the likes of the Royal family, Michael Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, Prince Charles and Camilla. I was actually the first butler in the theatre to look after Charles and Camilla when they went out on an official date at the Lyric Theatre to see Animal Crackers. It was crazy. It was kept quiet but at the interval Shaftesbury Avenue was cordoned off - you couldn’t get through - because the press had heard about them being there. So I was one of the first people to look after them as an official couple. But I’ve got to look after all sorts of people.”
Most people will be familiar with the film of Whistle Down the Wind which was directed by Bryan Forbes and based in the Yorkshire Dales where a young girl finds the man, who she believes is Jesus in their barn. Anthony explains that the musical version is not too far away from the film.
“The story for the musical has been set in Louisiana in the 1950s. It centres around a 15 year old girl called Swallow. Her and her siblings are all going through hardship as they have just lost their mother to cancer and are being brought up by their father. It’s a rough time for them - the dad’s drinking a little bit heavily and he’s a bit hard on them.”
“They’re very God fearing people and they believe that the second coming of Christ will come, so that’s where these innocent childrens’ minds kind of get confused because there’s this man who Swallow finds in the barn and he’s out cold. He’s got wounds on his feet and his hands which make the kids think that it might be Jesus."
The Man, of course, is not Jesus but an escaped convict on the run from prison who realises that these children could be his salvation and Anthony feels that his character is not all bad.
“He’s an escaped convict, he’s trying to hide away and he kind of uses them (the children) to survive and live. He does have a heart and soul because he knows what he’s doing is wrong but he can’t go back to prison. He’s just killed two security guards so he’s on the run but he feels really bad about using these children.”
The children of the village are played by two groups of children from local schools, who will alternate performances and Anthony smiles when he tells me, “The kids are adorable and cute and wonderful but when they all get together at rehearsal, it’s a big party with the noise that’s coming out!”
Anthony currently works backstage for the West End show Aladdin but tells me that he has many fond memories of his time working in hospitality and was fortunate enough to come across many famous faces during this time.
“It was a great job because at the time I was a working actor, so I’d go to an audition and then go to work in the evening and pour champagne and serve canapes to the likes of the Royal family, Michael Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, Prince Charles and Camilla. I was actually the first butler in the theatre to look after Charles and Camilla when they went out on an official date at the Lyric Theatre to see Animal Crackers. It was crazy. It was kept quiet but at the interval Shaftesbury Avenue was cordoned off - you couldn’t get through - because the press had heard about them being there. So I was one of the first people to look after them as an official couple. But I’ve got to look after all sorts of people.”
Anthony as The Man
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Anthony and Rebecca Wallace, who plays Swallow
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*** "There was me, Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller doing a kick line down the Royal Staircase of the London Palladium. That is probably my favourite memory, ever!” ***
His most precious and stagiest moment he confesses, was getting to meet Hollywood legends, Cyd Cherise and Ann Miller, along with Jane Powell, Robert Wagner and Jill St John.
“It was at the Palladium about 15 years ago,” he explains. “Fred Astaire’s daughter put on a show to commemorate her late father as he’d always wanted to do a show at the Palladium. It was a show where she would sit and talk about her father. All the people that were friends with her dad and who had performed in films with him were there. At the after-show party I got to escort Cyd Charisse who was on one arm and Ann Miller on the other. I was escorting these wonderful, but quite elderly, ladies down the staircase and Ann Miller turns to me and says, “This takes me back,” and started singing ‘Stepping Out With My Baby’! There was me, Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller doing a kick line down the Royal Staircase of the London Palladium. That is probably my favourite memory, ever!”
Anthony finishes by saying, “Obviously I’m a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and all those early musicals so being in a position to be one of his dedicated butlers at the theatre was a massive deal.”
Now Anthony gets to perform in one of his former boss’s productions and as an extra boost for Anthony and the LODS cast and crew, the Lord himself has written to wish them all good luck for the week. It really doesn’t get better than that!
If you would like to see Anthony playing the part of The Man in Whistle Down the Wind this week tickets are still available at www.southendtheatres.org.uk but are selling very quickly.
“It was at the Palladium about 15 years ago,” he explains. “Fred Astaire’s daughter put on a show to commemorate her late father as he’d always wanted to do a show at the Palladium. It was a show where she would sit and talk about her father. All the people that were friends with her dad and who had performed in films with him were there. At the after-show party I got to escort Cyd Charisse who was on one arm and Ann Miller on the other. I was escorting these wonderful, but quite elderly, ladies down the staircase and Ann Miller turns to me and says, “This takes me back,” and started singing ‘Stepping Out With My Baby’! There was me, Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller doing a kick line down the Royal Staircase of the London Palladium. That is probably my favourite memory, ever!”
Anthony finishes by saying, “Obviously I’m a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and all those early musicals so being in a position to be one of his dedicated butlers at the theatre was a massive deal.”
Now Anthony gets to perform in one of his former boss’s productions and as an extra boost for Anthony and the LODS cast and crew, the Lord himself has written to wish them all good luck for the week. It really doesn’t get better than that!
If you would like to see Anthony playing the part of The Man in Whistle Down the Wind this week tickets are still available at www.southendtheatres.org.uk but are selling very quickly.
About the show....
Based on the novel by Mary Hayley Bell and subsequent Richard Attenborough-produced film, Whistle Down the Wind follows the fortunes of a fugitive caught between the prejudice of adults and the innocence of the young.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman, together with Patricia Knop and Gale Edwards (co-book writers with Andrew Lloyd Webber) reset the original story in Louisiana in 1959.
Whistle Down the Wind revolves around the time and place where the word teenager was invented. Swallow, a 15 year-old-girl growing up in America’s deep South in the fifties, discovers a mysterious man hiding out in a barn. When she asks who he is and the first words he utters are “Jesus Christ”, it’s as if all her prayers have been answered. Swallow and the town’s other children vow to protect the stranger from the world that waits outside – the townspeople who are determined to catch a fugitive hiding it their midst. As fantasy and reality collide, Swallow is torn between the two and begins to discover who she is and where she is going.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s emotive score combines hauntingly beautiful love songs and explosive rock music with lyrics by acclaimed rock’n’roll songwriter Jim Steinman. The score contrasts the relentless influence of the modern world with the traditional values of the old days – something which the community at the heart of Whistle Down the Wind yearns to return to.
Based on the novel by Mary Hayley Bell and subsequent Richard Attenborough-produced film, Whistle Down the Wind follows the fortunes of a fugitive caught between the prejudice of adults and the innocence of the young.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman, together with Patricia Knop and Gale Edwards (co-book writers with Andrew Lloyd Webber) reset the original story in Louisiana in 1959.
Whistle Down the Wind revolves around the time and place where the word teenager was invented. Swallow, a 15 year-old-girl growing up in America’s deep South in the fifties, discovers a mysterious man hiding out in a barn. When she asks who he is and the first words he utters are “Jesus Christ”, it’s as if all her prayers have been answered. Swallow and the town’s other children vow to protect the stranger from the world that waits outside – the townspeople who are determined to catch a fugitive hiding it their midst. As fantasy and reality collide, Swallow is torn between the two and begins to discover who she is and where she is going.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s emotive score combines hauntingly beautiful love songs and explosive rock music with lyrics by acclaimed rock’n’roll songwriter Jim Steinman. The score contrasts the relentless influence of the modern world with the traditional values of the old days – something which the community at the heart of Whistle Down the Wind yearns to return to.