Kinks' song inspiration for new Ray Davies musical
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Your support makes all the difference.A musical based on a song by Ray Davies, frontman of the Kinks, and featuring 20 new tracks by the Sixties legend, will premiere later this year.
Davies has written a show based on a bestselling song he wrote more than 20 years ago, "Come Dancing".
The musical, which will be named after Davies, will be performed for the first time at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in the autumn and rumours are rife that Davies will appear in the show – but as a narrator rather than a singer.
The song was one of the band's biggest hits in America and was semi-autobiographical, written from the point of view of a young Davies watching his older sister getting ready to go to the Ilford Palais dancehall in east London during its heyday in the 1950s. Davies, 64, who wrote enduring pop hits such as "Waterloo Sunset", "Lola" and "Apeman", has written new songs for the show, according to The Stage newspaper. The title track will be the only previously released song to be featured.
The musical will be directed by Kerry Michael, Stratford East's artistic director, while the story, musical score and lyrics are by Davies, along with his fellow writers Paul Sirett and Terry Johnson. It will open on 13 September and run until 25 October.
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