Valmouth
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Music By Sandy Wilson
Lyrics By Sandy Wilson
Type of Musical: West End
Opened: October 2, 1958
Theatre: Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, (London)
Synopsis
The scene of Valmouth is an imaginary Edwardian watering-place where air is so bracing that its heroines-ancient Roman Catholic ladies of extreme natural gaiety - continue to explore the obsessions of youth. They live draped on jaguar-skin couches, appareled in billowing silks, breathing incense in sinister Gothic rooms; or else out of doors, under the heavy midsummer greenery, they consider the antics of Hardy-esque local rustics while the peacocks' strident screech joins the clangor of the chapel bell.
There is the remarkable Mrs. Hurstpierpoint, who once for a few minutes was the mistress of a king, who in delicious remorse has since turned voluptuously to religion and who now, a centenarian, wears holly inside her luxurious petticoats to mortify the flesh.
Even less usual is Mrs. Yajnavalkya from the Orient, local masseur and chiropodist and much else besides, with her dusky skin and duskier morals, in whose parlor strange assignations are discreetly arranged.
A talkie of glittering idiocy recounts how Mrs. Yaj's lovely niece has a child while her young sailor lover is absent at sea. Mrs Hurstpierpoint sets out at once to convert the pretty infidel in the hope of winning a soul for the church; but the sailor lad returns to claim his love, and a disreputable cardinal is brought in to perform the ceremony.
Alas, the unorthodox priest is excommunicated for having once christened a dog. Angry fire from heaven descends upon Valmouth and destroys the inhabitants, priests, rustics, eccentrics and all, leaving only the primitives to escape to eternal bliss in the South Seas.
Song List
- Valmouth
- Magic Fingers
- Mustapha
- I Loved A Man
- All The Girls Were Pretty
- What Do I Want With Love?
- Just Once More
- Lady Of De Manor
- Big Best Shoes
- Niri Esther
- Cry Of The Peacock
- Little Girl Baby
- The Cathedral Of Clemenza
- Only A Passing Phase
- Where The Trees Are Green With Parrots
- My Talking Day
- I Will Miss You
- What Then Can Make Him Come So Slow
Cast List
Aubrey Woods, Cleo Laine, Peter Gilmore, Fenella Fielding, Doris Hare, Marcia Ashton, Denise Hirst, Patsy Rowlands, Gordon Whiting, Barbara Couper, Geoffrey Dunn, Alan Edwards, Betty Hardy, Roderick Jones
Misc. Show Information
Transferred to The Saville Theatre, London on January 27, 1959
A Snarl of Protest Greeted Valmouth when it was tried out at a Liverpool theatre. When Valmouth reached London, some of the stodgier critics were annoyed and offended by it. 'Tasteless', they grumbled, 'Depraved', they bumbled. The new musical was called perverse, profane, repulsive, sniggering and, inevitably, 'decadent.'
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Added: Wed Apr 06 2005
Last Modified: Wed Nov 15 2006