A major musical version of the 1980s classic movie An Officer and a Gentleman will receive its world premiere at Leicester Curve next year ahead of a UK and Ireland tour.
Directed by Curve’s artistic director Nikolai Foster [pictured below] and produced by Jamie Wilson and Curve, the show will make its debut in Leicester on 6 April 2018 before heading off on tour from 24 April until 15 September.
Three years in the making, the musical has a book by the writer of the movie’s screenplay Douglas Day Stewart, co-written with Sharleen Cooper Cohen.
As well as featuring the film’s romantic anthem ‘Up Where We Belong’, the production will feature 1980s pop classics including ‘Alone’, ‘Don’t Cry Out Loud’, ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ and ‘Material Girl’.
Announcing the production Foster said: “An Officer and a Gentleman delicately charts the lives of working-class, military folk in America in the early 1980s; important lives, often pushed to the margins of society.
“We are proud to be working alongside the film’s creator Douglas Day Stewart, producer Jamie Wilson and an incredible creative team to present this beautiful and inspiring story. This brand new adaptation includes iconic 80s songs which create an entertaining, uplifting and original piece of musical theatre, we are excited to share this world premiere with our audiences here in Leicester and across the UK.”
Wilson (lead producer on the current production of Crazy For You, the forthcoming world premiere of Nativity! The Musical and Curve’s production of Sister Act) commented: “I am thrilled to be presenting An Officer and a Gentleman – The Musical and working once again with Chris Stafford, Nikolai Foster and the team at Curve.
“For the last three years we have been working on bringing this memorable and iconic story to the stage and I hope that this new adaptation becomes as loved as the film.”
Foster will head a creative team that includes ZooNation founder Kate Prince, musical supervisor Sarah Travis, and designer Michael Taylor, with lighting design by Ben Cracknell and sound design by Tom Marshall.
Following on from the premiere run at Curve which will end on 21 April 2018, the tour will visit Leeds, Southampton, Wycombe, Birmingham, Liverpool, Dublin, Sheffield, Newcastle, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Bristol, Canterbury, Manchester, Plymouth, Ipswich, Bradford and Glasgow.
With an iconic and much-parodied romantic finale, that belied the dramatic grit of the bulk of the film’s content, An Officer and a Gentleman captured the imagination of audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Directed by Taylor Hackford, the film was one of the biggest movies of 1982, a hit with both the critics and audiences. The film featured a career-defining performance from Richard Gere and an Oscar-nominated performance from his leading lady Debra Winger.
Angela Thomas
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