LITTLE FISH

Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa
Suggested by the short stories of Deborah Eisenberg
Presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited
Directed by Adam Lenson
Musical Direction and Orchestrations by Richard Bates
Choreography by Nicholas Cunningham
Set and Costume Design by Bec Chippendale
Lighting by James Smith
Sound by Sean Ephgrave

Cast:
Ashley Campbell
Michael Cantwell
Katie Foster-Barnes
Nick Holder
Alana Maria
Laura Pitt-Pulford
Lee William-Davis
Julia Worsley

The European Premiere of a new musical

Finborough Theatre London 

Tuesday, 27 October - Saturday, 21 November 2009

Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm.
Saturday Matinees at 3.00pm (from 7 November 2009).
Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm.
Tickets £18, £14 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £14 all seats, and Saturday evenings £18 all seats.
Previews (27 and 28 October) £14 all seats
Performance Length: Approximately 90 minutes

"I had never known what I was really like until I stopped smoking, by which time there was hell to pay"

When Charlotte decides to give up smoking, she doesn't realise quite how difficult it will be. As she attempts to fill her nicotine-starved days, the events of a troubled past slowly begin to resurface; an abusive ex-boyfriend, a new life in New York, a bizarre roommate and a boss who is a little too hands on. As her emotional debris accumulates, we see Charlotte's vivid memories juxtaposed against her present day life. But even with her friends trying to help, can this Little Fish learn to survive in a pond as big as New York City?

A vibrant new musical from one of Broadway's leading new writers, Little Fish introduces us to a darker New York than that seen in most musicals. Inhabiting the lesser-seen corners of the city, Michael John LaChiusa blends a pulsating, jazzy and resonant score with intelligent and witty lyrics. Combined with a sharply observed book filled with humour, this is a truly modern musical that no one should miss.

Michael John LaChiusa is one of Broadway's most exciting new music theatre voices. A five time Tony nominee, he has written many critically acclaimed productions including The Wild Party (originally starring Toni Colette and Mandy Patinkin), Marie Christine, Hello Again, The First Lady Suite, Bernarda Alba and See What I Wanna See (starring Idina Menzel). His new musical Giant, opens at the Signature Theatre in Washington DC in April.

The narrative of the show is based on two short stories by renowned American short story writer Deborah Eisenberg. She is a writer that The New York Times have called "Nothing less than extraordinary" and John Updike has said that "she strikes me as a writer with really something new to say about female experience" who "writes out of a whirlwind; she has found words for sensations and emotions I have never seen described before". She has written four collections of short stories and is regularly published in both The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books.

Director Adam Lenson returns to the Finborough Theatre with the team that produced last year's sell-out production of the new musical Ordinary Days which featured a West End cast including Julie Atherton. He has assisted Nikolai Foster on the National Tour of Aspects of Love, Rachel Kavanaugh on The Music Man at the Chichester Festival Theatre and Terry Johnson on La Cage Aux Folles at the Menier Chocolate Factory and the Playhouse Theatre in the West End. He is also the Resident Director on the 2009 National Tour of Stephen Daldry's production of An Inspector Calls

The Press on Little Fish
"A stylish new musical. Little Fish translates the sort of neurotic, sidewise narrative associated with The New Yorker's fiction into the terms of musical comedy. A lively musical about what it means to be lifeless in contemporary Manhattan. Mr. LaChiusa's score proceeds to blend the jazzy, noirish feel of what is conventionally called the symphony of the city. Little Fish can be regarded as a direct, latter-day answer to Sondheim's Company." Ben Brantley, The New York Times
"A jittery, engagingly off-kilter chamber piece" The Los Angeles Times
"There is so much wonderful writing in the ninety minutes of LaChiusa's Little Fish - the lyrics are wittily pointed and elegantly formed; the music inventively blends standard melodic patterns into unexpected shapes; LaChiusa is sharp with observation, generous with compassion, and able to evoke volumes of experience in the flick of a single phrase." The Village Voice