Zipp! The Musical with Gyles Brandreth at Duchess 23 Jan 03

Zipp! The Musical with Gyles Brandreth at Duchess 23 Jan 03

Zipp! The Musical, written and performed by ex Tory MP Gyles Brandreth will open at the Duchess Theatre on 4 Feb 03, following previews from 23 Jan 03

Booking is now open!!

This musical revue was voted by audiences as Most Popular Show at the 2002 Edinburgh Festival.

Gyles Brandreth, who devised and wrote the show (and appears in it in a range of guises, from Henry Higgins, Mame and Elvis to Jesus Christ Superstar) said; 'We are the Ryanair of musical theatre. No frills, but incredible value for money. We give you the complete works of Andrew Lloyd-Webber in sixty seconds. We give you the showstoppers without the tedium of the intervening show. And if you don't like one musical, don't worry. Another will be along in just a minute.'

With ZIPP! the Pocket Musical Theatre Company (P.M.T. 'highly talented highly strung') climb aboard an hilarious high-speed musical roller-coaster that does for the world of musical theatre what the Reduced Shakespeare Company did for the works of the Bard. From Floradora, the hit of 1900, to Bombay Dreams and Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang in 2002, ZIPP! covers a century of Broadway and West End musicals every show you'd expect to find and quite a few that time forgot (e.g. Sideshow, the musical about Siamese twins, and Twang!!, Lionel Bart's most celebrated flop.)

Brandreth added; 'The show is changing all the time. We've got several surprises for the West End. As a new musical opens somewhere in the world we check it out to see if it needs to feature in ZIPP! This is an evening for people who love musical theatre. They get to hear all their favourites. It's also an ideal evening for people who hate musical theatre. They can get through 100 shows in one night. They need never go to a musical again.'

The Pocket Musical Theatre Company includes Andrew C Wadsworth (whose West End musical credits include Les Miserables, Sweeney Todd, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, Oklahoma! and Kiss Me Kate), Amand Symonds (Godspell, One Mo' Time and Stepping Out), newcomer C J Johnson .

Zipp! is directed and choreographed by Carole Todd (whose credits include Elvis The Musical and Ferry Cross The Mersey in the West End, UK, Australia and Canada; Me & My Girl, Chicago, Grease and recent concerts for Elaine Paige, Jane McDonald and Gary Wilmot) and the producers are Chris Davis, Laurie Mansfield and Greg Smith for Pocket Music Theatre Co Limited with Rick Senet, in association with Julius Green and Ian Lenegan.