SUMMER IN THE CITY
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Ovation are thrilled to have been awarded 'Best Production' (Musical Theatre) at the 2023 London Pub Theatre Awards for SUMMER IN THE CITY
INTRODUCTION
Summer in the City is a new Sixties compilation (jukebox) musical. The show can be produced with a five piece band (arrangements can be supplied by Ovation) or can be produced using backing tracks (also can be supplied by Ovation).
Written by Jennifer Selway
Music by various composers
Musical arrangements by Kevin Oliver Jones
Devised and originally directed by John Plews
Cast comprises 2 male & 4 female roles.
Act 1: 55 mins / Act 2: 45 mins (plus an interval)
SETTING
The action takes place in a Carnaby Street coffee bar.
Act One is set during the Summer of 1965 and Act Two – the Summer of 1967.
STORYLINE
Summer in the City is set in a Carnaby Street Coffee Bar and follows the lives of the Coffee Bar owner, her singing waiter and four of her groovy customers. The waiter is American, a former G.I., who is looking for a new career as a pop music manager. His boss, Hetty is a ‘Jewish Mama’ who takes everyone under her wing.
Enter Joanna, a Junior Reporter on the Evening Standard, Vera – a Traffic Warden and Cassie – whose father arrived in the UK on the Windrush. It turns out that all three girls can sing and are set to become an ‘all girl pop group’ by the end of the decade.
Into their lives comes Liverpudlian Bobby, friend of the Beatles, guitarist and would-be song writer.
Chart failures, love affairs and memories are thrown into the mix before the girls eventually hit the top of the charts in 1967 – the Summer of Love.
SUMMER IN THE CITY - CAST BREAKDOWN
(all ages are approximate playing ages)
Bobby: Just arrived in London from Liverpool looking to make his name as a photographer in the sixties style of David Bailey. Cheeky scouser who name drops (“big mates with Ringo”) plays acoustic guitar, writes songs, has a Beatle haircut.
Playing Age (1965): 22/23
Sam: American, ex US serviceman from Detroit who was stationed at the US Air Force base in High Wycombe. Did his three years and stayed in the UK, conveniently missing the Vietnam draft. He’s the coffee bar waiter and wannabe pop manager. Playing Age: 23/24
Joanna: Junior journalist on the London Evening Standard. Privileged upbringing raised in the home counties (Beaconsfield). University educated but dropped out after a year. Very bright and self-assured, Singer in a covers band.
Playing Age: 24/25
Cassie: Black Londoner, lives in Brixton, she works in a boutique in Carnaby Street but has ambitions to be a fashion designer. Born in Jamaica but arrived, aged 4, in London with her mother in 1951. Her Dad arrived on the Windrush in 1948.
Playing Age: 19 (Act 1) / 21 (Act 2)
Vera: Arrives from Leeds and ends up as one of the first female Traffic Wardens. Totally ‘lost in London’ she desperately wants to become a singer like her idols Dusty and Cilla. Starts the show looking frumpy and in uniform, but ends up a glamorous pop singer.
Playing Age: 22/23
Hetty: A Jewish widow in her early forties who owns the ‘Four Eyes’ Coffee Bar. Vocalist with the big bands before and during WW2. Her husband didn’t make it back from the 1944 Italian campaign. She never remarried and is a mother figure to all her regulars.
Ensemble: There is the option for an ensemble to play ‘other customers’.-
SUMMER IN THE CITY - STAGE SET
1960’s Carnaby Street Coffee Bar with coffee machine, bar stools, three tables (two chairs or low stools to each table). Three entrances/exits: one leads out to the street, one to a store-room and one upstairs to the flat above the coffee bar.
The band ‘rehearsal space’ must be located within the coffee bar (the coffee machine can be supplied by Ovation).
WORDING FOR THE PROGRAMME
The action takes place in the Four Eyes Coffee Bar, Carnaby Street, London.
Act I: Scenes 1-3 August 1965
Scenes 4-8 Autumn 1965
Act 2: Scenes 1 – 3 Summer 1967
RECORDED MUSIC
WALK IN: Pirate Radio Station – Radio London (‘the Big L) the No.1 songs from 1965 (January – August).
WALK OUT: A Lovely Way to Say Goodnight (The Symbols)
SUMMER IN THE CITY - MUSICAL NUMBERS
UK performance rights for all songs can be obtained from PRS
ACT ONE – SONGS
P5. Downtown…..………………………………………..……….Hetty BVs: Joanna
P6. Boys………………………………………………………………….Joanna BVs: Hetty
P8. Big Time Operator……………………………………Sam
P11. Will You Love Me Tomorrow……………….Cassie BVs: Hetty & Joanna
P13. For What it’s Worth…………………………..…….Sam BVs: Joanna & Cassie
P16. Dedicated Follower of Fashion………..Bobby with Cassie & Joanna
P21. The Shoop Shoop Song………………………Joanna BVs: Hetty & Cassie & Vera
P26. The Clapping Song (rehearsal)…….Cassie & Vera & Joanna
P28. Ferry ‘cross the Mersey……………………….Bobby
P29. The Clapping Song………………………………..Cassie & Vera & Joanna
P29. Because………………………………………..…………….Joanna with Cassie & Vera
P32. Love In London (the chorus)…………… Bobby
P34. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy …………………Hetty with Joanna & Vera
P36. Nut Rocker…………………………………………………….The Band
P36. Summer in the City…………………..……………Joanna BVs: Vera & Cassie
P39. First Cut is the Deepest………………..……….Cassie
P42. S.O.S. Stop Her On Sight………………………..Sam BV’s: Bobby
P43. Don’t Worry Baby…………………………..…………Vera BVs: Sam & Bobby
P45. I’m a Believer………………………………..…………….Bobby BVs: Hetty & Joanna
P46. Love In London (chorus+one verse).Bobby
P47. Bobby’s Girl…………………………………..……………..Vera BVs: Joanna & Cassie
P49. Don’t Throw Your Love Away………………Hetty
P50. I Only Want To Be With You…………………Vera BV’s: Cassie & Joanna
P52. It Takes Two………………………………………..…………Cassie & Sam
P53. Love In London……………………………………………Vera BV’s: Cassie & Joanna
P54. Land of 1000 Dances………………………..……..Company
P55. Encore: Hi Ho Silver Lining ……………………Company
RECORDED MUSIC - DESCRIPTION
SOUND FX / ORIGINAL SONG
SOUND FX: 1960’s Telephone Ring / Street Ambient Noise (during the wedding) / Voice Off (A&R Man) / Trumpet Intro to Boogie Woogie.
Original Song: ‘Love in London’ – the music will be supplied for this song – the only number in the show that was not a Sixties hit. ‘Love in London’ was written by ‘Bobby’ and it becomes the girl’s hit record at the end of the show.
MICS
BAND
Minimum required is a five piece band:
Piano / Keyboards
Guitar
Reeds (alto sax & tenor sax)
Bass
Drums
In addition, second keyboard and second guitar would be useful. The actor playing Bobby MUST be an accomplished guitarist. The trumpet introduction for Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy can be a track.
RIGHTS
“Summer in the City” is available for both professional and amateur companies in the UK and the rest of the world.
If you would like to produce “Summer in the City” please contact John at Ovation’s London office on: 44 (0) 7973 502 189 email: john@ovationproductions.com