Cricket (musical)
Encyclopedia
Cricket, also called Cricket (Hearts and Wickets), is a short musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber
and Tim Rice
. It was commissioned for Queen Elizabeth's 60th birthday celebration, and was first performed at Windsor Castle
on 18 June 1986.
Several of the tunes from the show were later used for Aspects of Love
, so the work was dropped from public performance or recording. Cricket is the last original musical Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote together.
and lyricist Tim Rice
took what was originally intended to be a temporary break from their illustrious theatrical partnership. They did not work together again until the request for this pièce d'occasion came up, and Cricket ended up being their final original musical.
Prince Edward
, the Queen's youngest son, had joined Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Theatre Company
as staff assistant in 1986. He commissioned a short musical from Lloyd Webber and Rice for his mother's 60th birthday celebration. The game of cricket
was Tim Rice's favourite pastime — he had a cricket field on the grounds of his home and had his own cricket team — and Rice had a particular passion for this new comic musical about England's national sport. Rice used actual cricket-related names for his characters, boosting the light-hearted feeling of the piece. He and Lloyd Webber created a 25-minute tongue-in-cheek "musicalette" for the Queen.
Cricket is entirely sung-through
, with no spoken dialogue.
The leads in the cast are Donald, Emma, Emma's father, Vincent, and a West Indian fast-bowler
from the opposing team named Winston B. Packer. The musical's chorus are the rest of the cricket players.
Emma intends to marry Headingley player Donald Hobbs. And at the moment, even though he is Emma's father, the Earl is more approving of Donald than of Emma, because he feels his daughter is not supportive enough of Donald's cricketing. Emma loves Donald, but she thinks he neglects her somewhat for his cricket playing, and she wants more time together. She feels that she will be forever secondary in Donald's eyes until he retires from cricket. ("As The Seasons Slip Fruitlessly By")
Vincent, who is devoted to horse races, overhears Emma, and offers his own rather self-interested solution: leaving for the races in lieu of the cricket match. Emma is reluctant at first, but decides that maybe Vincent is right, and runs off with him. ("The Sport of Kings") The opposing team's fast bowler
, Winston B. Packer, sings about how wonderful it is to be able to hit batsmen when they miss — and he injures several batsmen during the course of the song. ("The Art Of Bowling")
While Donald is batting, he sees Emma leave with Vincent. He's hurt and truly torn — does he stay and bat to help his team win and lose Emma, or does he leave and try to get her back? In the end, sportsmanship prevails: Donald cannot let his team down. But he has been hit a few times during the song, and is suddenly leveled. As he lies dazed on the ground, lines from various people and various moments of the game bombard him — Winston, Emma, Vincent, his team. ("All I Ask Of Life")
During the tea interval, Emma returns, dejected, feeling Vincent has deceived her. Not only has she lost all of her money, but she has lost Donald as well. She blames herself, and doesn't see how anyone will ever love her again. ("Fools Like Me")
Donald and the cricketers return to the game after the interval, but Donald ignores Emma. The Earl, however, lets fly at Emma and Vincent. Because of Emma's gambling debts, the Earl has lost his reputation and is in financial distress. Vincent tries to speak, but the Earl turns his attention, and wrath, onto him. The Earl is a powerful member of the Jockey Club
, and bans Vincent from all racing events for life. Vincent turns to Emma for sympathy, but she accuses him of deceiving her and getting her into trouble with her father. ("A Ban For Life")
Vincent and Emma's conversation is cut off by a scream. Wittering has been injured and can no longer continue in the game. Headingley CC needs 10 more points to win, but there is no one to take Wittering's place alongside Donald. The Earl laments the bad day for Headingley. ("Wittering's Final Innings") Vincent suddenly speaks up and says he will take Wittering's place. ("The Making Of St. Leger") He joins Donald and the game continues — to the amazement of the cricketers, who believed Vincent had no redeeming qualities. Vincent is beaten up badly during the game, but keeps playing.
Donald's and Vincent's scores win the game and they are both proclaimed heroes. The Earl is so impressed by Vincent's bravery (and recovery of a vital match!) that he withdraws the horse-racing ban. And Donald tells Emma he will play less cricket and spend more time with her. She wonders, could they go to the horse races? Vincent says he will spend Sundays playing cricket. Winston vows to try slow bowling
. And to top it all off, Wittering is feeling better. ("The Final Stand")
Donald and Emma finish making up, and vow to stay together with a sweeping love ballad which ends in a crescendo that everyone joins into, proclaiming the triumph of the cricket metaphor for life and love. ("One Hot Afternoon")
and starring Ian Charleson
, Sarah Payne
, and John Savident
. The musicians were members of Colosseum II
and others — the ensemble that had first performed Lloyd Webber's Variations. The men's vocal group Cantabile
played the cricketers' chorus.
The Windsor Castle performance was quite spirited and amusing, and was very well received. Two more performances followed. One was at Lloyd Webber's Sydmonton Festival
on 15 July 1986. Another performance followed in November 1986 at Tim Rice's favourite charity, the Lord's Taverners Ball
, where Rice played the cricketer Wittering, dressed in his own Heartaches Cricket Club uniform.
A segment of the original rehearsals of Cricket was televised on the Andrew Lloyd Webber installment of The South Bank Show
, which aired on November 15, 1986. The segment featured Sarah Payne and Alvin Stardust rehearsing "As the Seasons Slip Fruitlessly By" and "The Sport Of Kings".
There have been no further performances of the musical.
(1989). This meant that Cricket, which had been extremely well received, was a dead item, a fact that greatly distressed Tim Rice. The piece could thus never be expanded into a full theatrical musical. Lloyd Webber used other tunes from Cricket in Sunset Boulevard
.
The Cricket libretto was published in A Breathless Hush ...': The MCC Anthology of Cricket Verse (2004). Cricket has not been recorded for commercial release, although a non-commercial instrumental demo studio
album was recorded on solo piano in 1986. The performance rights for the piece have not yet been made available.
The men's vocal group Cantabile
recorded "The Summer Game", featuring Tim Rice
singing as the Earl, on their 2011 CD Songs of Cricket.
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
and Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
. It was commissioned for Queen Elizabeth's 60th birthday celebration, and was first performed at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
on 18 June 1986.
Several of the tunes from the show were later used for Aspects of Love
Aspects of Love
Aspects of Love is a musical/chamber opera with a book and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart. It is famous for the song "Love Changes Everything."...
, so the work was dropped from public performance or recording. Cricket is the last original musical Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote together.
History
After their collaboration on Evita in 1978, composer Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
and lyricist Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
took what was originally intended to be a temporary break from their illustrious theatrical partnership. They did not work together again until the request for this pièce d'occasion came up, and Cricket ended up being their final original musical.
Prince Edward
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex KG GCVO is the third son and fourth child of Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh...
, the Queen's youngest son, had joined Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Theatre Company
Really Useful Group
The Really Useful Group Ltd. is an international company set up in 1977 by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is involved in theatre, film, television, video and concert productions, merchandising, magazine publishing, records and music publishing...
as staff assistant in 1986. He commissioned a short musical from Lloyd Webber and Rice for his mother's 60th birthday celebration. The game of cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
was Tim Rice's favourite pastime — he had a cricket field on the grounds of his home and had his own cricket team — and Rice had a particular passion for this new comic musical about England's national sport. Rice used actual cricket-related names for his characters, boosting the light-hearted feeling of the piece. He and Lloyd Webber created a 25-minute tongue-in-cheek "musicalette" for the Queen.
Cricket is entirely sung-through
Sung-through
Sung-through refers to a musical or opera with no spoken dialogue, except perhaps for some occasional lines included in some part of a song, but never as stand-alone dialogue...
, with no spoken dialogue.
Summary
Set against the backdrop of the semi-fictional Headingley Cricket Club's matches, the comic and slightly melodramatic plot of Cricket has star player Donald torn between his team and his girlfriend Emma — as she decides to abandon watching cricket for what appears to be a far more exciting life at the race track with the caddish Vincent.The leads in the cast are Donald, Emma, Emma's father, Vincent, and a West Indian fast-bowler
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
from the opposing team named Winston B. Packer. The musical's chorus are the rest of the cricket players.
Synopsis
The show begins during a match of Headingley Cricket Club. The game is watched by the Earl of Headingley, his daughter Emma Kirkstall-Lane, and Vincent St. Leger. The Earl and the cricketers sing the praises of cricket. ("The Summer Game")Emma intends to marry Headingley player Donald Hobbs. And at the moment, even though he is Emma's father, the Earl is more approving of Donald than of Emma, because he feels his daughter is not supportive enough of Donald's cricketing. Emma loves Donald, but she thinks he neglects her somewhat for his cricket playing, and she wants more time together. She feels that she will be forever secondary in Donald's eyes until he retires from cricket. ("As The Seasons Slip Fruitlessly By")
Vincent, who is devoted to horse races, overhears Emma, and offers his own rather self-interested solution: leaving for the races in lieu of the cricket match. Emma is reluctant at first, but decides that maybe Vincent is right, and runs off with him. ("The Sport of Kings") The opposing team's fast bowler
Fast bowling
Fast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
, Winston B. Packer, sings about how wonderful it is to be able to hit batsmen when they miss — and he injures several batsmen during the course of the song. ("The Art Of Bowling")
While Donald is batting, he sees Emma leave with Vincent. He's hurt and truly torn — does he stay and bat to help his team win and lose Emma, or does he leave and try to get her back? In the end, sportsmanship prevails: Donald cannot let his team down. But he has been hit a few times during the song, and is suddenly leveled. As he lies dazed on the ground, lines from various people and various moments of the game bombard him — Winston, Emma, Vincent, his team. ("All I Ask Of Life")
During the tea interval, Emma returns, dejected, feeling Vincent has deceived her. Not only has she lost all of her money, but she has lost Donald as well. She blames herself, and doesn't see how anyone will ever love her again. ("Fools Like Me")
Donald and the cricketers return to the game after the interval, but Donald ignores Emma. The Earl, however, lets fly at Emma and Vincent. Because of Emma's gambling debts, the Earl has lost his reputation and is in financial distress. Vincent tries to speak, but the Earl turns his attention, and wrath, onto him. The Earl is a powerful member of the Jockey Club
Jockey Club
The Jockey Club is the largest commercial organisation in British horseracing. Although no longer responsible for the governance and regulation of the sport, it owns 14 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham and Newmarket, amongst other concerns such as the National Stud and...
, and bans Vincent from all racing events for life. Vincent turns to Emma for sympathy, but she accuses him of deceiving her and getting her into trouble with her father. ("A Ban For Life")
Vincent and Emma's conversation is cut off by a scream. Wittering has been injured and can no longer continue in the game. Headingley CC needs 10 more points to win, but there is no one to take Wittering's place alongside Donald. The Earl laments the bad day for Headingley. ("Wittering's Final Innings") Vincent suddenly speaks up and says he will take Wittering's place. ("The Making Of St. Leger") He joins Donald and the game continues — to the amazement of the cricketers, who believed Vincent had no redeeming qualities. Vincent is beaten up badly during the game, but keeps playing.
Donald's and Vincent's scores win the game and they are both proclaimed heroes. The Earl is so impressed by Vincent's bravery (and recovery of a vital match!) that he withdraws the horse-racing ban. And Donald tells Emma he will play less cricket and spend more time with her. She wonders, could they go to the horse races? Vincent says he will spend Sundays playing cricket. Winston vows to try slow bowling
Spin bowling
Spin bowling is a technique used for bowling in the sport of cricket. Practitioners are known as spinners or spin bowlers.-Purpose:The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ball with rapid rotation so that when it bounces on the pitch it will deviate, thus making it difficult for the...
. And to top it all off, Wittering is feeling better. ("The Final Stand")
Donald and Emma finish making up, and vow to stay together with a sweeping love ballad which ends in a crescendo that everyone joins into, proclaiming the triumph of the cricket metaphor for life and love. ("One Hot Afternoon")
Songs
- The Summer Game – The Earl, cricketers chorus
- As The Seasons Slip Fruitlessly By – Emma
- The Sport Of Kings – Vincent, Emma
- The Art Of Bowling – Winston B. Packer
- All I Ask Of Life – Donald
- Fools Like Me – Emma and cricketers
- A Ban For Life – the Earl and Vincent; Emma
- Wittering's Final Innings – Cricketers, the Earl, Wittering
- The Making Of St. Leger – Vincent; All
- The Final Stand – the Earl and cricketers; All
- One Hot Afternoon – Donald and Emma; All
Productions
The show debuted as planned on 18 June 1986 at Windsor Castle, directed by Trevor NunnTrevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
and starring Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
, Sarah Payne
Sarah Payne (actor)
Sarah Payne is a British actress and singer. She has worked extensively in London’s West End, and has played various roles in theatre, comedy, musical theatre, and opera.Payne initially trained as a musician, and studied music at Durham University...
, and John Savident
John Savident
John Savident is a British actor, best known for playing the part of Fred Elliott in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1994 to 2006. And also was a frequent guest on Soccer AM alongside fellow actor Jack 'The Rigger' Spooner....
. The musicians were members of Colosseum II
Colosseum II
Colosseum II was a British band formed in 1975 by the former Colosseum drummer and leader, Jon Hiseman, following the 1974 demise of his band Tempest. Hiseman announced his plan to form the band eventually named Colosseum II in November 1974, but only Gary Moore was named. Rehearsals were due to...
and others — the ensemble that had first performed Lloyd Webber's Variations. The men's vocal group Cantabile
Cantabile (group)
Cantabile - The London Quartet is a British a cappella vocal quartet.-Biography:They were formed as a student group whilst studying at Cambridge University in 1977...
played the cricketers' chorus.
The Windsor Castle performance was quite spirited and amusing, and was very well received. Two more performances followed. One was at Lloyd Webber's Sydmonton Festival
Sydmonton Festival
The Sydmonton Festival is a summer arts festival presented in a deconsecrated 16th century chapel on the grounds of Sydmonton Court, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Hampshire estate...
on 15 July 1986. Another performance followed in November 1986 at Tim Rice's favourite charity, the Lord's Taverners Ball
Lord's Taverners
The Lord’s Taverners is a thriving club, the official charity for recreational cricket and the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity whose objective is to 'give young people, particularly those with special needs, a sporting chance'.The Lord’s Taverners was founded in 1950 by a...
, where Rice played the cricketer Wittering, dressed in his own Heartaches Cricket Club uniform.
A segment of the original rehearsals of Cricket was televised on the Andrew Lloyd Webber installment of The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show
The South Bank Show was a television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television , presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States...
, which aired on November 15, 1986. The segment featured Sarah Payne and Alvin Stardust rehearsing "As the Seasons Slip Fruitlessly By" and "The Sport Of Kings".
There have been no further performances of the musical.
Original cast
- Ian CharlesonIan CharlesonIan Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
– Donald Hobbs, devoted cricketer for Headingley Cricket Club - Sarah PayneSarah Payne (actor)Sarah Payne is a British actress and singer. She has worked extensively in London’s West End, and has played various roles in theatre, comedy, musical theatre, and opera.Payne initially trained as a musician, and studied music at Durham University...
– Emma Kirkstall-Lane, Donald's girlfriend - John SavidentJohn SavidentJohn Savident is a British actor, best known for playing the part of Fred Elliott in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1994 to 2006. And also was a frequent guest on Soccer AM alongside fellow actor Jack 'The Rigger' Spooner....
– the Earl of Headingley, Emma's father, the solicitous patron of the Headingley Cricket Club, and a Steward of the Jockey ClubJockey ClubThe Jockey Club is the largest commercial organisation in British horseracing. Although no longer responsible for the governance and regulation of the sport, it owns 14 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham and Newmarket, amongst other concerns such as the National Stud and... - Alvin StardustAlvin StardustAlvin Stardust is an English pop singer and stage actor.-Career:...
– Vincent St. Leger, a caddish fellow who spends his time betting at horse races - George HarrisGeorge Harris (actor)George William Harris is a British actor of film, stage, television, radio and musical theatre. His notable roles include Kingsley Shacklebolt in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Captain Simon Katanga in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Clive King in popular medical drama Casualty, where he...
– Winston B. Packer, a lethal fast bowlerFast bowlingFast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
originally from the West Indies - CantabileCantabile (group)Cantabile - The London Quartet is a British a cappella vocal quartet.-Biography:They were formed as a student group whilst studying at Cambridge University in 1977...
– Chorus of cricketers - HRH Prince EdwardPrince Edward, Earl of WessexPrince Edward, Earl of Wessex KG GCVO is the third son and fourth child of Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh...
– Wittering, the gallant last batsman for Headingley Cricket Club
After 1986
Lloyd Webber used at least five of the tunes from Cricket in his musical Aspects of LoveAspects of Love
Aspects of Love is a musical/chamber opera with a book and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart. It is famous for the song "Love Changes Everything."...
(1989). This meant that Cricket, which had been extremely well received, was a dead item, a fact that greatly distressed Tim Rice. The piece could thus never be expanded into a full theatrical musical. Lloyd Webber used other tunes from Cricket in Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (musical)
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...
.
The Cricket libretto was published in A Breathless Hush ...': The MCC Anthology of Cricket Verse (2004). Cricket has not been recorded for commercial release, although a non-commercial instrumental demo studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
album was recorded on solo piano in 1986. The performance rights for the piece have not yet been made available.
The men's vocal group Cantabile
Cantabile (group)
Cantabile - The London Quartet is a British a cappella vocal quartet.-Biography:They were formed as a student group whilst studying at Cambridge University in 1977...
recorded "The Summer Game", featuring Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
singing as the Earl, on their 2011 CD Songs of Cricket.