Original London Cast - 'Oh What A Lovely War' album flac

Redirected from Oh, What a Lovely War). Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical developed by Joan Littlewood and her ensemble at the Theatre Workshop in 1963. It is a satire on World War I, and by extension on war in general. The title is derived from the music hall song "Oh! It's a Lovely War", which is one of the major numbers in the production.

As I recall, Richard Attenborough's masterful 1969 film version fared poorly at the box office as well. But then, audiences seldom, if ever, find favor with shows with anti-war themes. Kurt Weill's "Johnny Johnson" ran for only 68 performances when it premiered back in 1936. At any rate, I love this show and am grateful to Must Close Saturday Records for an excellent remaster of the original Decca London Cast Recording. Just another example of small labels taking up the slack for the mega-labels, because this kind of a recording, as important as it is, will never go platinum. Those of us who care need to spread the gospel of the independent labels.

It was Oh What a Lovely War and its originality lay in the fact that it viewed the first world war from the perspective of the common soldier, and that it counterpointed songs from the period with grim battle statistics that appeared in a running newsreel tape above the stage. I remember rushing down from Lincoln, where I was working, to see it and being bowled over by the genius of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop production: its ability to captivate with its fluidity and grace, and to arouse one's anger at the attritional strategy of the military top brass. If any living person can explain the work's impact, it is Murray Melvin. He was in the original 1958 cast of both A Taste of Honey and The Hostage at Stratford East, and was a key player in Oh What a Lovely War.

Oh! What a Lovely War was a theatrical expression of the legitimate anger that developed over time for the utterly pointless slaughter. The Death of Private Chilton. The genesis of the production can be found near the French town of Arras on March 21, 1918. Oh! What a Lovely War opened in London in March 1963 to critical acclaim. The cast were customed a Pierrot players, a common feature of seaside entertainment at the start of the 20th century. Each actor played several roles – generals, infantrymen, clergy, sufragettes, profiteers, politicians, etc. As Pierrot pantomime performers, their aim was to contrast the we’re all having a merry time with the blood-curdling horror of the story line.

Title: Oh! What a Lovely War (1969). It points up, in ironic scenes, the class differences in the English Army. It also shows how long and how much tragedy had to occur before the troops turned cynical.

Oh What a Lovely War. · 5 May 2015 ·. Just one more chance to see Oh What a Lovely War! The tour comes to Birmingham Repertory Theatre for our final week. Oh What A Lovely War at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Joan Littlewood's legendary and ground-breaking musical.

Oh! What a Lovely War plot summary, character breakdowns, context and analysis, and performance video clips. Oh! What a Lovely War was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London on March 19, 1963. The idea for a satirical critique of the First World War emerged out of Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop and it was developed by Littlewood, her partner Greg Raffles, Charles Chilton, and the cast. The title of the musical was inspired by the old music hall song, Oh It’s a Lovely War, which features as one of the main songs in the show. The musical uses traditional music hall songs from the era, often changing their lyrics, and has a cast of around 12-15 men and women. Traditionally, they are all dressed in pierrot costumes (as commonly seen in commedia dell’arte) as Joan Littlewood hated the idea of khaki uniforms on stage.