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Actress HY HAZEL's annotated, working-copy script of the musical play
Expresso Bongo
A Play with Music
by
Wolf Mankowitz & Julian More
(From an original story by Wolf Mankowitz)
Music by David Heneker and Monty Norman
Lyrics by Julian More, Monty Norman and David Heneker
Later developed into the 1959 film of the same title – Directed by Val Guest and starring Cliff Richard, Laurence Harvey, & Sylvia Sims – the play featured music by David Heneker and Monty Norman with Lyrics by Julian More, Monty Norman and David Heneker.
The plays opening night was at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham - 24 March, 1958, and its London debut, at the Saville Theatre 23 April, 1959. The original cast was led by Paul Scofield, Millicent Martin and Hy Hazel.
Described as ‘one of the first of the hard-nosed British musicals', the play is set in London's famous Tin Pan Alley, where the character Agent Johnnie discovers Herbert Rudge, a bongo player, and signs him to his record label as ‘Bongo' Herbert, making him an overnight sensation. The first act, aside from showing Bongo's rise to fame, has received much critical acclaim for its treatment of East End and Soho ‘types' in the emerging Realist style of the 1950's. In the second act, Bongo meets a famous actress and breaks his management deal with the agent (Johnnie) who gave him his big break. Agent Johnnie is left poverty stricken whilst Bongo goes from success to success,
Youth, sex and violence are all here in ‘a marvellous time capsule of Britain's pre-rock pop-music scene', and for Monty Norman, it was the beginning of a series of remarkable hits.
The script is annotated in pencil by Hy Hazel - the actress who played the character DIXIE COLLINS - and initialled ‘H.H' in pencil above the typed title of the play (on red paper on front cover). The script is in good condition and contains no missing pages, although there is a stain on the page listing the characters. The script is hand-typed (pre word-processor) and bears the embossed silver stamp of the May Hemery Ltd Typewriting Service. London SW1.
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