VALENTINE’S DAY

Music by Denis King - Lyrics by Benny Green - Book adapted by Benny Green and David William.

Music Publisher: Eaton Music

Based on the romantic comedy “You Never Can Tell” by George Bernard Shaw, and following on the success of their earlier Shaw adaptation, BASHVILLE.

PERFORMANCES

First performed at the Minerva Studio Theatre, Chichester 8 August, 1991 with Brian Brolly for ROSC Theatre co-producing. First performance Globe Theatre (now the Geilgud), London, 7 September 1992

CAST (6M, 3W, 2-6 chorus)

Edward Petherbridge, Steven Pacey, Robert Hands, Gemma Lowy, Judy Parfitt, Fiona Fullerton, Jonathan Elsom, Jonathan Adams, John Berlyne, Ruthie Henshall, Helen Way, Lucy Harmer, Zillah West, Ruth Paton, Tina Martindale

MUSICAL NUMBERS:

• I’M A PROFESSIONAL MAN
• THE TWINS’ SONG
• ANSWER ALL YOUR CHILDREN’S QUESTIONS
• I’VE NOTICED THIS BEFORE
• STEP BY STEP
• NICE MORNING
• YOU NEVER CAN TELL
• LUNCHEON CHORALE
• THE WORLD WAS CHANGED THIS MORNING
• DON’T TELL ME - LET ME GUESS
• THERE WAS A TIME
• AFFAIRS OF THE HEART
• HE IS NOTHING TO ME NOW
• BRIGHTEN UP THE NIGHT
• OH, THE THINGS THAT I DO
• I KNOW MUCH BETTER THAN YOU
• WHO WOULD HAVE DREAMED
• VALENTINE’S DAY

KINGS’ COMMENTS:

The headline in the London Evening Standard following the demise of the show was “Valentine’s Day Massacre”. Our reviews were savage. The lesson here is that a small, gentle, not unpleasant chamber musical that works successsfully in the Minerva Theatre in Chichester should probably be left alone to find its own audience, and not expanded or “improved” to accommodate the so-called demands of the West End.

For the transfer, Benny Green and I were called upon by the producer and the director to restructure most of the score, so what eventually arrived on the London stage was not the show we had created for Chichester. It sat most uncomfortably on a large stage on Shaftesbury Avenue. Until his dying day, whenever the subject of “Valentine's Day” arose, Benny’s face would darken, his lips go white, the mood of the festive evening would come to an abrupt halt, and whoever had mentioned the show was extremely sorry he or she had opened their mouths.  Denis King