CLARA - by Brian Langtry and Steve Andrews

 


A musical play for 6 men and 4 women ( some possible interchange available in dancing and chorus arrangements). The running time is 2 hours.
Teenager Danny is a playstation afficionado. One evening he is drawn through the screen of his PC to enter the virtual world of his heroine Clara and her peaceful people "The Packs". The welcoming celebrations turn to anguish as Clara is captured by the ferocious Cybernets and imprisoned by Queen Virella the ruler of Cyber City. Danny sets off to rescue her accompanied by a reluctant and nervous group of "Packs". Ultimately the rescue is accomplished and, after several perillous encounters, Clara, Danny and his accomplicies return to their joyful home.
Will Danny stay in the digital world of his heroine or return to his "real" world? Did all this happen or was it just a dream?
Clara is a fast moving musical with elements of drama, dance, comedy and pantomine, perhaps best described as "Wizard Of Oz" meets "Grease". The music is modern and the work offers enormous scope for characterisation, sets and a great night for audiences from 5 to 95.

 

A big production for companies thinking big and a clear alternative to the seasonal pantomine


CLARA is now published by Jasper Publications for all details go to

 


www.JasperPublishing.com or telephone 01604 497703

 

 

Scenes from recent
productions of Clara



Mack's Place by Brian Langtry

 


Mack`s Place is a cafe now bypassed by a new road and is slowly dying on its feet. The cafe landlord, Mr.Grabber, has eyes on the property with a lucrative new out of town shopping centre development in mind.

Mack`s daughter, Suzie, her lover Jimmie and her friends come up with the idea of attracting a new young clientele and hosting weekly music sessions. To start the ball rolling they form their own band.
A stranger, Nomad, arrives. He is enigmatic, distant and appearas to have dark and mysterious powers. He appears to be able to predict and, more worryingly, amend the future. He sees a way to help the Cafe survive and prosper but, inevitably, there is a price. The payback is that Suzie must leave family and friends and journey with Nomad to unknown places.
Who is Nomad and where has he come from? Where is he intent on taking Suzie and will she go? What of her love for Jimmie?
Ultimately the regular performances are a triumph and Mack`s Place is renamed 'Cafe Rock' as new faces flock to the latest 'hot spot'.

Mack's Place is a musical play set in the 1950's for 5 people , 3 male and 2 female with opportunities for extra cast in dance scenes. The work lasts for 1 hour 45 minutes. There is great scope for innovative staging and effects. Appropriate songs are suggested but they can be substituted.

 

Mack's Place can also be performed as a comedy

 

 

Romeo and Juliet- The Musical by Brian Langtry


 

 

A new musical version of the original love story using an edited version of the original Shakespearean text.
16 new and original songs including segments where the original dialogue is incorporated into the music. The work uses varied musical styles across ballad, rock, blues and showtime culminating in a gospel inspired finale. The music is supplied on professionally produced CD backing tracks. There are 14 principal parts with unlimited opportunities for choral, dance and crowd scenes. The running time is a 2 hours; two one hour segments.
The show, where Romeo is a DJ and Juliet a ballet dancer, incorporates all those timeless Shakespearean qualities and layers them across a different modern and exciting setting losing none of the essence or power of the original.
Romeo and Juliet is especially suited to youth and college settings but equally at home within an operatic or musical drama environment.

 

 

 

 

A Cupful of Sugar by Brian Langtry

 


"A Cupful of Sugar" is a new play written for performance by amateur and professional groups alike. This is a love story, deceptively simple in some ways whilst touching many of the feelings, thoughts and dilemmas, hopes and fears of a 1950's Midlands environment.
Two families, neighbours and friends, share their upbringing and are delighted when their respective children, Susan and David, announce their love and intent to marry. This news however stirs in the two mother's deep rooted anxieties from the past. In David's mothers case it is the long overdue need to tell him that he was in fact an adopted child whilst Susan's mother, Mary, relives the shame and trauma of a teenage pregnancy and the removal at birth of her baby, lost so she believed for all time.

Is there a connection, is there a solution? The drama builds towards what could be a potentially unthinkable outcome.
The play is set in an industrial town in the West Midlands during the late 1950's. The primary story line is entwined with several subplots which explore the emotions, characteristics, attitudes and regrets of the players involved.
The music, accompanying the drama, is diverse and sympathetically layered onto the story line in the styles and rhythms of the mid 1950's. It is immediately accessible and at the same time lyrically mature providing a musical backcloth to the changing emotions experienced by the players and audience.
8 principal characters are involved and all but 2 of those have a least one singing part. There are 8 major characters ( 4 women and 4 men ) and 3 supporting characters ( 1 woman and 2 men ).
Complete backing tracks are provided on the format of tape, mini-disc or CD
.

 

 

"A Cupful of Sugar"

 

- a recent performance