word - image - story
From New York to the Sussex Downs, by way of Surrealist Paris and Hitler’s bathroom, Lee Miller witnessed close up the best and worst of the twentieth century. She was Man Ray’s muse, Picasso’s friend, danced with Chaplin and acted for Cocteau. Her own photographs include Vogue fashion spreads and the first images of Dachau. Her many lives and many loves inspired this kaleidoscopic musical.
Book - Edward Kemp
Director – Anthony Van Laast
Design – Sue Blane
Musical Director – Jonathan Williams
Lighting – Paul Pyant
Sound – Paul Arditti
Lee – Anna Francolini, Theodore/Picasso/Roland – Brendan O’Hea, Man Ray/Brilla – Teddy Kempner, Gertrude Stein/Audrey Withers – Beverley Klein, Cocteau/Dave – Mark Meadows, Eluard/Magee – Gary Milner, Aziz/Spiros – Melvin Whitfield, Alice B Toklas/Nimet/Cynthia/Ariane – Anna Lowe
Music and Lyrics - Jason Carr
Clarinet – Mark Lacey
Violin – Megan Pound
Cello – Natalie Rozario
Double Bass – Kate Saxby
Piano – Jonathan Williams
Now that I have discovered Lee Miller I need to know more. I now feel I have to read the book and visit the farm – it’s that sort of show! – Sheila Ann Connor What’s On Stage
Jason Carr's music and lyrics are busily inventive and the show is done with great brio ... there is much in the show to savour. Carr's score has a darting, feverish urgency that reminded me of Sondheim ... Anthony van Laast's production whisks us crisply through the decades, and Sue Blane's design, with its solarised back-canvas, evokes the impending burnout in Miller's life. And Anna Francolini is remarkable as Miller: she gives us the heroine's caustic wit, erotic zest and spiritual restlessness. – Michael Billington, The Guardian
Kemp’s book boasts flashes of wit and pathos … Infinitely more alluring than most of the mindless jukebox musicals that have cluttered up the West End for so long – Charles Spencer Daily Telegraph