Howard Goodall - The Kissing-Dance

The Kissing Dance 
Music: Howard Goodall
Libretto: Charles Hart
Based on 'She Stops To Conquer' by Oliver Goldsmith

The Kissing-Dance is a joyful comic opera with libretto by Charles Hart (lyricist of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera). Based on Oliver Goldsmith's irreverent romp, She Stoops to Conquer, it lampoons the English class system, a musical, farcical Downton Abbey, complete with frantic elopements, mistaken identities and - of course - a right royal fisticuffs over inheritance. 

Instrumentation: trumpet - piano - keyboard - accordion - violin - cello - double bass

SYNOPSIS
It is All Fools’ Eve.  In the great hall at Nonesuch, home to the Hardcastle family, the servants are preparing to receive two important guests: an old friend of Mr Hardcastle’s from his military days, Sir James Marlow, and travelling separately, his son Charles.  Both fathers hope that Charles will offer his hand in marriage to Kate and unite the families.  But Charles suffers from the mysterious affliction of “the Englishman’s Malady”.  While gallivanting amongst working-class girls, he is a notorious womaniser, but with girls “of his own station”, he is turned into a tongue-tied idiot.  Charles has a problem: he is on his way to meet his intended, Kate Hardcastle, but knows that her presence will render him painfully shy and speechless.  He is nonetheless riding to Nonesuch with his friend George Hastings and all goes well until they lose their way and stop at the “Fur and Feathers” (an inn) to ask for directions...

MATERIALS
Score

VIDEO
Click here to watch a trailer

PHOTOS

 


REVIEWS

The Guardian: "...this one he made earlier is a reminder that he remains one of the most distinctive and undervalued composers in British theatre of the last 25 years." 

Broadway World: "Goodall's music for the piece extends from raucous pub songs to witty ditties to beautiful, lyrical ballads..."

Gareth James Blog: "Goodall’s score is rich in lovely tunes."

Rageoffstagereview: "Goodall’s composition absorbs the structure of the story, changing its tone mid-song in line with the dramatic action." 
 

For more information about this and other musicals by Howard Goodall, click here.

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