A “fun, high-energy” new musical that tells the story of how dreary, post-war England was transformed by American rock ‘n’ roll is to have its première at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre.
Roll Over Beethoven is the latest work by writer/director Bob Eaton, best known to Coventry audiences for Three Minute Heroes, his musical about the 2tone genre. Roll Over Beethoven relocates Shakespeare’s Hamlet to Britain in the 1950s.
He said, “my idea was always to tell the story of the coming of rock ‘n’ roll to the UK and how the music gave an energy to the rebellion of youth against the old, grey, black-and-white world of 1950s austerity England.
“The play takes place against the backdrop of a typical, English suburban town in 1956, in my mind the crucial year when rock ‘n’ roll first exploded onto the scene in this country and, incidentally, the year in which ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ by Chuck Berry was released.
“This was a whole generation before The Beatles. These were the original young ones, trailblazers who took the music that was setting America alive and made it their own.”
The cast of actor-musicians includes Michael Fletcher in the role of Johnny Hamlet, Chloe Edwards-Wood as Ophelia, Niall Kerrigan as Waltzer, Oliver Beamish as Claud, Al Twist as Ronny Rozencrantz and The Vicar, Matt Devitt as The Ghost, Georgina Field as Gertie, Steve Marwick as Henry Polonius, Adam Langstaff as Guy Guildenstern and Horace, and Joe Eaton-Kent as Larry who appeared in Eaton’s 2014 production of Three Minute Heroes.
Roll Over Beethoven runs at the Belgrade from Saturday (3 September) until Saturday 17 September. Press night will be Tuesday 6 September.