University of Birmingham's musical theatre society, GMTG, proudly present the multi award winning City of Angels, playing from 23 - 27 February in the Debating Hall at the Guild of Students.
While City of Angels won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1990, it remains the rarest of musical comedies; one that is not only loaded with music and written in the contemporary jazz idiom, but also filled with sidesplitting comedy. Set in the glamorous, seductive Hollywood of the 40’s, the world of film studios and flimsy negligees, the show chronicles two parallel story lines interwoven at every turn. When Hollywood comes calling for a New York novelist, the offer is too good to refuse: writer Stine must adapt the private detective protagonist of his books into a big-screen hero. The siren song of Los Angeles is a dangerous temptation and while his movie plays out in black and white, his new life in the City of Angels is all-too colourful. As the eccentric array of people he encounters in his day-to-day life begin to inspire the characters in his screenplay, the line between fiction and reality begins to blur. This story-within-a-story leads to many unique production values, the most notable being the fact that City of Angels is perhaps the only “color coded” show any theatre audience is likely to see. The movie scenes appear in shades of black and white, and the real life scenes are in technicolour. The show boasts two musical scores. One provides the cast with numbers to help reveal certain emotions or to celebrate particular moments in the way that only music can. The “other” score was written to emulate pure movie soundtrack music, 1940’s vintage. It is entirely appropriate, then, that the final curtain comes down on two happy endings! GMTG are the University of Birmingham’s only Musical Theatre society, and are absolutely dedicated to putting on three full-scale musical productions each year, all of which are directed, produced and performed by students at the university. With a long and successful history as a group, some alumni move onto drama school and professional theatre careers after graduating. With a sensational jazz score by Cy Coleman, sizzling lyrics laced in sophisticated innuendo from David Zippel and book by acclaimed comic screenwriter Larry Gelbart, City of Angels is a witty and glorious celebration of the classic film noir. Make sure to book your tickets now for what promises to be a show like you have never seen before. City of Angels plays from 23 - 27 February. Tickets are just £12, with student tickets available at £7 and GMTG Society Members £5 and can be purchased by clicking here. For more information on GMTG, click here. Please note this production is not suitable for those under the age of 12.
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