Minstrel Show Opens In City On August 6

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30178, 9 July 1963, Page 15

Minstrel Show Opens In City On August 6

The Black and White Minstrel Show, which will open its Christchurch season on August 6, is claimed to have set a precedent in theatrical history. It is the first time that a television show has been successfully transferred to the "live” theatre. The idea of this transfer came from an English impresario, Robert Luff, and his business partner, George Mitchell. They were prepared to take the gamble that the Black and White Minstrel Show would bring with it to the theatre at least part of the huge audience it had attracted to television —and, as it has proved, the gamble succeeded.

Early in 1960, when the show was less than two years old, the partners asked the British Broadcasting Corporation’s agreement to their presenting a stage version of the Minstrels for an experimental summer season at Scarborough. The experiment was a success. The following year the Minstrels returned to Scarborough, and later that year they packed the Royal Court

Theatre in Liverpool for an eight weeks Christmas season. In between these two

appearances they had played a number of other theatres in provinces and suburban London, each time with the same success.

At this point Leslie Macdonnell. managing director of Moss Empires. Ltd., proposed to Robert Luff that he bring the Minstrels for the first time to the West End. By the time the show opened the Victoria Palace had taken over £125.000 in advanced bookings, the sort of money rarely taken in the theatre except by such established American importations as "Annie Get Your Gun," and “My Fair Lady.” The opening performance was a riotous success.

The Black and White Minstrel Show is not a minstrel show in the old sense of the word, but is a speedy modernised version, utilising special lighting effects, and the quickfire presentation of many popular songs. Some £23,000 has been spent on costumes alone for the New Zealand tour.