Blitz-set musical
Miss Nightingale has been building a tuneful head of steam since 2011. For the past seven years it has toured the UK, playing in venues large and small, including a stint in Waterloo’s subterranean venue
The Vaults. But this month the show, which follows a female cabaret singer struggling in a man’s world and two men struggling in a world that won’t accept their relationship, makes its West End debut at the Hippodrome Casino. Writer and director Matthew Bugg tells us more:
How would you describe the show?
Miss Nightingale is a joyous British musical set during World War Two. It's a spiffing night out with loads of laughter, the odd tear and much food for thought. It challenges you to stand up and fight for what you believe in. But it does this whilst entertaining the socks off you with a gripping narrative, tender same-sex romance and a load of absolutely brilliant songs, some of which are very saucy! The great thing about talking to people who’ve enjoyed the show is that some say they can’t remember having laughed so much, others tell us that they were moved to tears, and some say it made them want to change the world. One of my favourite-ever comments described it as “
Cabaret – as if written by Victoria Wood”. I really love that.
How do you feel about bringing Miss Nightingale to the Hippodrome Casino?
We’re absolutely thrilled not just to be bringing Miss Nightingale to the West End but over the moon that this premiere is at the Hippodrome. This gorgeous venue sits right in the heart of London’s Theatreland on Leicester Square and has a remarkable history. The list of iconic performers who have played there is astonishing – Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey, Charlie Chaplin and Harry Houdini. And if that wasn’t enough, it’s where Julie Andrews, the doyenne of British musical theatre, made her [solo] stage debut in 1947! The theatre at the Hippodrome Casino has a brilliant acoustic. That's why so many top West End and Broadway stars love to perform there. What’s more, Miss Nightingale is set in 1942 and much of the action centres around an intimate cabaret club in the heart of war-torn London’s West End. So the theatre at the Hippodrome Casino is a perfect fit. The audience will sit at cabaret tables and be able to enjoy authentic ’40s cocktails served by waiters in vintage uniforms. There will be lots of other authentic WWII touches to enhance the experience stepping back in time to the 1940s.
Has the show changed since you staged it at The Vaults last year?
Yes, we’ve continued to refine the show for each new outing. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but there are a few new songs and some other surprises specifically written for the Hippodrome Casino. One of the biggest changes is the opportunity to make more of the interactivity of the performance so that audiences get even more of a World War Two experience before, during and after the show. This is something we’ve always wanted to do and the Hippodrome is the perfect intimate venue to do it in.
What does new lead Lauren Chinery bring to the role and the production?
Lauren, like the rest of our cast, is seriously talented. Not only does she act, sing and dance beautifully, but she’s also a great musician playing flute, clarinet, saxophone and piano. There’s something incredibly exciting about working with actor-musicians. They bring such creativity to a process and it’s always thrilling to have inventive people to work with. Sometimes in rehearsals, I feel quite overwhelmed by how talented our cast is. I can’t wait for audiences to see these incredible performers.
Miss Nightingale runs at Hippodrome Casino from 21 March to 6 May.
Matthew Bugg previously spoke to us about Miss Nightingale when the production played at The Vaults in 2017:
“This is where we need to be.” Matthew Bugg, writer and director of Second World War-set musical Miss Nightingale, is excited about bringing the acclaimed show to London’s The Vaults. “In the Second World War, when the show’s set. A lot of the venues literally went underground to keep going during the air raids. It’s set in an underground club, so The Vaults is a perfect location,” he enthuses. “It has that make-do-and-mend aesthetic inherent in the fabric of the building. It’s exactly what these people would be doing, finding this small place which is safe from the bombs and turning it into a venue.” Miss Nightingale is a musical about two men struggling to openly express the truth of their love in the 1940s. It's also about a woman in a man’s world trying to be heard. It’s been around since 2011. This is its sixth production. It began in small venues before touring the UK and collecting a host of four- and five-star reviews. There were even talks about taking it to the West End. But when The Vaults became a possibility, Bugg “abandoned all those conversations”. The story behind the show is almost as intriguing and entertaining as the musical. It takes its inspiration from family histories. Bugg’s family were mining stock, full of “strong-willed Northern independent women”. His partner’s family were German Jewish refugees. They escaped the Holocaust when his grandmother met her future husband in Britain while promoting a film. While the show is in no way autobiographical, characters inspired by these pasts come together with a London aristocrat in the piece that, Bugg says, is “a show about learning to live your life with integrity. It’s about the fantastic relationship that builds up between those three people and how their different experiences enrich each one of their lives. It gives each of them more power as they learn from the people around them.” That Miss Nightingale has made it this far is testament to Bugg’s determination and that of the behind-the-scenes team. “No-one would produce it to start with,” he says. So, after five years trying to find a backer, he and partner Tobias Oliver produced it themselves. They’ve now played to more than 50,000 people. “I think people really underestimate what musicals are capable of and also what audiences are capable of,” Bugg says. “The idea of people creating a musical from scratch, which is about something really important to be discussed in contemporary society… We’ve proved that you can do this extraordinary thing with original work. And we’ve done that through sheer determination and hard work.”
To get a flavour of the musical Miss Nightingale, listen to two songs from the production below:
