Play On Words: A musical celebration of P. G. Wodehouse on Broadway
at Subscription Rooms, Stroud
£12.00
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Beloved comic novelist P G Wodehouse, who died 50 years ago this year, perfected his inimitable turn of phrase during his early career as Broadway’s first lyricist. The musicals he wrote with Jerome Kern, the Gershwin brothers and Cole Porter helped define the Broadway musical and pave the way for many who came after him. At one point Wodehouse had five musicals running simultaneously on Broadway, a record that remains unbeaten to this day.
This 70-minute show starring Wodehouse’s step-great-grandson, composer and lyricist Hal Cazalet, along with pianist Simon Beck, celebrates Wodehouse’s songwriting legacy in a marvellous meld of stories, anecdotes and song.
The performance will transport us back to the Golden Age of Broadway and Hollywood, bringing us works by Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Alan Jay Lerner, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Noel Coward, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber and others, as well as Wodehouse himself.
Co-devised and directed by Hugh Wooldridge.
Sponsored by Stroud Arts Festival
Play On Words: A Musical Celebration of P. G. Wodehouse on Broadway
P. G. Wodehouse once had a record-breaking FIVE musicals playing on Broadway at the same time. Today his step-Great Grandson Hal Cazalet, with pianist Simon Beck, transports us back to the Golden Age of stage and screen through stories and song. One of our greatest comic writers, ‘Plum’ Wodehouse said he wrote his stories like "musical comedies, without the music". His musicals between 1915-1935 not only defined the American Musical, but informed the way he crafted his novels and characters. Celebrate the birth of the American musical with theatrical writing highlights of the last 120 years from Gershwin, Kern, Rogers & Hammerstein, Noël Coward, Stephen Sondheim and many more. Directed and Devised by Hugh Wooldridge.
See Play On Words: A Musical Celebration of P. G. Wodehouse on Broadway tour dates
Hal Cazalet
Acclaimed British tenor opera singer Hal Cazalet, who has performed at nearly all operatic venues in the world, including the Kennedy Center & Carnegie Hall, trained at the Juilliard School, New York, where he won the Shoshana Foundation Award. Hal has been part of Philip Glass Les Enfants Terribles (USA, European Tours), Roxanna Panufnik The Music Programme (Polish National Opera, Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House) and Death and the Powers (Chicago Opera Theatre & Dallas, Boston and Monte Carlo Operas).
See Hal Cazalet tour dates
Simon Beck
Simon has played the piano for many leading stars from London and the USA, including Hal Cazalet, Barbara Cook, Lorna Dallas, Sophie-Louise Dann, Lorna Luft, Karen Mason, Sally Mayes, and Liz Robertson. Simon, the singer, has headlined at The Crazy Coqs, The Pheasantry, Jermyn Street Theatre, Pizza On The Park (all London), plus Jazz On Top (Osaka, Japan), Haymarket Theatre (Leicester), Hazlitt Theatre (Maidstone) and sung backing vocals in Maria Friedman’s Re-arranged (Trafalgar Studios, London). Simon's album 'The Courage of a Dreamer' is available on CD (Amazon), all digital platforms, and from simonbeckmusician.com. He made his conducting début at the age of 20 as the assistant conductor of the German premier production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Sunset Boulevard'. He made his classical debut with the Scottish Pops Orchestra at Glamis Castle, Scotland for the Glamis Prom 2018.
See Simon Beck tour dates
Subscription Rooms
George Street
Gloucestershire
Stroud
GL5 1AE
- Disabled Booking:
- 01453 796880
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Subscription Rooms
George Street
Gloucestershire
Stroud
GL5 1AE
- Disabled Booking:
- 01453 796880
See all events at Subscription Rooms
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on Sun 9 November 2025