Thursday 7 Sept - 15 October 2000
at
The New End Theatre
27 New End
LONDON
NW3 1JD
Box Office: 020 7794 0022
Tuesday-Saturday evenings: 7.30pm
Saturday Matinee: 3.30pm
Sunday Matinee: 3.30pm
TICKETS £15 (£12 concessions)
Richard Swerrun will be playing Lucifer in this new musical,
a chaqnge from his normal boyish/good guy parts of recent years.
Below is the story of the show, so be a devil and have a read.
THE STORY
In the Beginning a voice said I'M GOD, and the world was created - and there's been nothing but trouble ever since. God thinks He has made a perfect universe but God's right hand angel, Lucifer, reckons IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO. Adam and Eve declare WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD IT IS TODAY, unaware that God has made a bet with Lucifer.
Lucifer has wagered that, if God gives the humans free will, His handiwork will be ruined, and with nothing less at stake than the right to create the next universe, matters quickly get out of hand. Adam and Eve live in a garden of delight and innocent eroticism until they experiment with their newly found free will and nibble the forbidden fruit, thus precipitating THE FALL. God is still hopeful for His creatures but Cain realises that Creation is a golden opportunity for the entrepreneur and invents SUPPLY AND DEMAND, which leads directly to the murder of his own brother.God admits that this is taking freedom too far and agrees to destroy the world, but drops Noah a few unspoken hints which lead to a last minute rescue. The Angel of Light becomes more entrenched in his fury and declares HERE COMES LUCIFER, his own mission statement of revenge.
The citizens of a famous town are mesmerized by Frank Lloyd Beelzebub who persuades them to build a shopping mall up to heaven - but then BYE BYE BABEL, and it all comes tumbling down. God calls on his Prophet Moses to confront Pharoah and the grateful Israelites, together with Mrs. Moses, declare YOU'LL NEVER LET US DOWN. But Lucifer is hot on the trail of his prize and God is obliged to re-invent himself as Jesus in order to declare the DAWNING OF THE AGE OF PISCES. By the end of Act One the dark forces seem to be on top: Jesus has beeen crucified and his disciples lament ONE MORE DAY IS OVER.
Act Two opens with Lucifer lording it over his own creation, Hades, claiming I'M
GOD (UNAUTHORISED VERSION). When Jesus pays him a surprise visit to point
out that He is winning, Lucifer nurses his rage in the darkness, vowing NEVER
AGAIN. Jesus reassures Mary Magdalene that DEATH IS NOT SOMETHING TO
FEAR and enrols St Paul as his spokesman. Paul, proudly proclaiming MY BADGE IS
BRIGHT, has an encounter of the spiritual kind, changes his name and re-words his
song to I'VE SEEN THE LIGHT. He then invents the Church and enrols his followers
loyally announce WE'VE SEEN THE LIGHT.
LONG LIVE CONSTANTINE THE GREAT! ushers in a powerful manifestation of
God's Church on Earth, and Carolus and Mauritius demonstrate how they can SPIN!
SPIN! SPIN! the truths of religion into politically useful dogma. Constantine realises
that IT'S THE WILL OF THE LORD that he should rule the world and the Holy
Roman Empire is born. Despite the Lord's will, not everyone is prepared to LISTEN
TO THE BISHOP OF ROME, but the Pope sends his Crusaders to MARCH!
MARCH! MARCH!, intending to knock six bells out of the Infidels, and when the
coffers are empty, sets up THE VATICAN SALE, selling tickets for entry to the
Pearly Gates. He also hires Torquemada to host the I.N.Q.U.I.S.I.T.I.O.N!, The
Spanish Inquisition Game Show!
By now the humans are tiring of hell fire and damnation and turn to more enlightening
matters: Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant concentrate their FOUR GREAT MINDS
to solving the mysteries of a universe which may or may not be managed by a god. The
industrialists invent manufacturing and the peasants are set to WORK! WORK!
WORK! in the factories. The woman who declares she is FILLED WITH ANGELS is
packed off to the asylum, while St. Peter is still hard at work deciding whether any of
the great and famous Victorians should have a place in heaven: you are the jury and
your decision will prompt the content of the NEWS VENDOR'S SONG. The
madwoman is examined by Freud who declares there is no purpose to human existence
and that she is suffering from
PSYCHOSOMATICIDIOPATHICRELIGIOHYSTERIOSIS. At the end of a century
dominated by disastrous wars, Lucifer delivers his presidential speech and mankind is
left with a momentous choice... God or Lucifer, or maybe a vogue third way?
© Adrian Hilton Ltd. All rights reserved
Story taken from Roll Over Jehovah's Web Site
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