Producer wants gay young things

Press, 3 August 1976, Page 22

Producer wants gay young things

The Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society’s producer, Penny Giddens, is looking for five goodlooking young men and five attractive young women who can sing, dance and act in a tongue-in-cheek style usually termed “camp”. They are wanted for parts in “The Boy Friend,” Sandy Wilson’s musical recreation of the 19205.

Young people in the late teens to mid-twenties (the girls in the musical are pupils of Madame Dubonnet’s finishing school, near Nice), who may already have had experience in school musicals, are being sought. Auditions (by appointment) will be held on stage at the Repertory Theatre on Saturday and perhaps Sunday.

The musical director is Barrie Shakes and the

choreographer George Williams. There are also roles for more mature males and females, singing and nonsinging, in the cast of 20.

“The Boy Friend” will be presented from November 4 to 13 after a dip into the more distant past with “The Brontes”, scheduled for September 11 to 18. Sandy Wilson meant his musical as a serious reproduction of the period, and not as a burlesque. It was originally staged at the Players, a private theatre club in London, in 1953. It caught popular fancy there and was transferred to the West End for a 2084performance run. It was presented on Broadway in the 1954-55 season when it ran for two years with the then unknown Julie Andrews in the lead. It was revived in London in 1968 and New York in 1970.