New Adventures has announced the revival of Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man for a limited 16-week UK tour. The tour opens at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley on 14 April 2015, with a four-week summer season at Sadler’s Wells from 14 July to 9 August 2015.
Loosely based on Bizet’s popular opera, it features Rodion Schedrin’s powerful Carmen Suite and new arrangements of Bizet's score by New Adventures Associate Artist, Terry Davies.
First seen in 2000, winning the Evening Standard Award for Musical Event of the Year and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Choreography, this revival will be the first time the production has been staged in eight years and will feature a new generation of New Adventures dancer / actors in the challenging roles of Luca, Lana, Angelo and Rita.
The familiar 19th century Spanish cigarette factory becomes a greasy garage-diner in 1960s America, where the dreams and passions of a small-town are shattered by the arrival of a handsome stranger. Fuelled by heat and desire, the inhabitants are driven into an unstoppable spiral of greed, lust, betrayal and revenge.
Inspired by classic European and American Film Noir cinema and the pulp fiction novels of James M Cain and Raymond Chandler, Lez Brotherston’s design, Chris Davey’s lighting and Matthew Bourne’s storytelling, create an uncompromising vision of small-town America.
Matthew Bourne said: “The return of The Car Man is always an exciting time for the New Adventures Company. It is probably the most popular of our shows amongst the dancers, who relish the chance to visit this dark and gritty world, so different from many of our other productions.
"On a personal note, it is also a wonderful opportunity to re-watch many of the dozens of movie classics that inspired the creation of this piece and to introduce these to our young company. The Car Man has always been a training ground for the finest New Adventures actor / dancers and I look forward to helping our next generation meet the challenges of this most dramatic of productions.”