A major new production of Leslie Bricusse’s enduringly popular Dr Dolittle will take to the road in November 2018 as part of the 1960s film’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
Presented by Music & Lyrics Limited in association with Churchill Theatre, Bromley, the version of the classic story of the doctor with the magical ability to talk to the animals will launch in Bromley ahead of a UK and Ireland tour.
Launching in Bromley from 9-24 November 2018, the show will then visit Salford, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, Hull, Aberdeen Northampton, Nottingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Bradford, Dublin, Canterbury, Cardiff, Southampton, Blackpool and Birmingham. Further venues will be added at a later date.
Casting will be announced at a later date for the new production which will feature puppetry and a reworked book by multi award-winning writer Bricusse. One of Britain’s most successful writers and composers, Bricusse has written the book, music and/or lyrics for more than 40 musical films and plays.
The winner of eight Ivor Novello Awards, two Oscars and a Grammy, Bricusse’s impressive CV features stage musicals such as Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, Pickwick, Harvey, Scrooge and Victor/Victoria and songs including Bond themes ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘You Only Live Twice’, as well as classics like ‘What Kind of Fool Am I’. ‘On a Wonderful Day Like Today’ and ‘The Candy Man’.
The creative team for the show will be headed by director Christopher Renshaw, whose previous work includes hit shows We Will Rock You and The King and I, and designer Tom Piper, the former RSC associate designer who designed the installation for the breathtaking Tower of London poppies. Musical supervision for the tour will be by Mike Dixon (The Bodyguard, We Will Rock You).
Based on the books by Hugh Lofting, first published in 1920, the musical Dr Dolittle arrived on screen in the 1967 Twentieth Century Fox film in the shape of Rex Harrison. The stage musical version features the same songs including the Oscar winning ‘Talk to the Animals’.
Dr Dolittle has also been played on screen by Eddie Murphy and on stage by Philip Schofield. Earlier this year it was announced that Robert Downey Jnr would be the latest big screen incarnation of the good doctor in The Voyage Of Doctor Dolittle.
Angela Thomas
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