Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera
Encyclopedia
Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera is an English
musical
with book, music, and lyrics by Vivian Stanshall
and Ki Longfellow-Stanshall
written for the Crackpot Theatre Company aboard the Old Profanity Showboat in Bristol, England. The show is based on a series of tales written by Longfellow about Stinkfoot, a New York City
alley cat
, a bit of a rogue
and more than a bit of a rake
. It had been intended for children, but when told by a New York
literary agent
that “No mother in America would want her child identifying with Stinkfoot the alley cat, never mind its name,” the story went into a drawer for many years. It came out with the meeting in 1977 of Vivian and Ki, at which point the story became bedtime reading for Vivian's son Rupert Stanshall (born 1968), and later for his daughter with Ki, Silky Longfellow-Stanshall (born 1979). In 1985 it “grew up” when Vivian and Ki decided to base a musical on its lead character, Stinkfoot. At that point, it became a melding of two very different visions and two very different musical traditions: Vivian’s days as frontman for the Bonzo Dog Band and his childhood in Leigh-on-Sea
with Ki’s love of America
’s Broadway
.
artiste, the mournful Soliquisto, who believes he has come to the end of his career. Once he headlined halls like the Hackney Empire
, now he’s lucky to play small rooms at the end of pier
s. His act has always consisted of trained animals: a singing parakeet
(Parakeet to Meet You), and two all-dancing, all-singing cats, one male, Stinkfoot, and one female, Persian Moll. Each of these were creations of true brilliance, but all he has left now is Moll, his ventriloquist's dummy Screwy, and his eager nephew and assistant Buster. He and his company ("Soliquisto & His Not So Dumb Friends") have returned for a week’s engagement at the very end-of-the-pier venue
where nine years before he had mysteriously lost his famous songbird
and his most precious creation, the even more famous Stinkfoot. Buster works with him, acting in all capacities: props, costumes, manager, and even as a ludicrous stand-in for the lost Stinkfoot. Buster is ambitious. He knows his uncle was once the best. He is convinced there’s a secret to being a true artist and if only Solisquisto would tell him that secret, Buster too could be a great artist. Soliquisto has told Buster in every way he can what the secret is, most pointedly in the song: Follow Your Nose. But Buster cannot “hear” him.
Aside from his animal act—the Diva
Persian Moll, who, without Stinkfoot, is basically the whole show, and knows it (Ow! Ow! Wasn't I Good Tonight!)—Soliquisto is also a ventriloquist. His dummy, Screwy, never lies. Screwy voices all that Soliquisto cannot or will not say, including terrible truths about himself. (Song of the Saw)
Under the pier is another world of English shale beach and cold sea. Here lives Mrs. Bag Bag, seemingly a bag lady
whose life has been spent collecting “little things.” In actuality, Mrs. Bag Bag is the very essence of magic
and art
, a Muse
. (There are nine muses. Stinkfoot has nine cast members. Stinkfoot himself disappeared nine years earlier. Nine is used symbolically throughout the show. Vivian used the number 9 in all he did after marrying Ki whose favorite number was 9. If not 9 itself, then a number that could be reduced to 9, i.e.: 27 garden gnomes in Sir Henry At Rawlinson End
.) Nine years before one of the things she collected was an egg which had hatched into a parakeet she’d named Polly. Isaiah the Flounder
, a doleful beach-dweller, is enamored of Polly and pleads with her in a show stopping duet (No Time Like the Future), but Polly senses she was meant for more…but what? (Imagination) Mrs. Bag Bag knows, but will not say. Just as Screwy always tells the truth, so too does Mrs. Bag Bag, but Mrs. Bag Bag’s truths are oblique, couched in riddles and rhymes. (Sphinx & Minx) The bane of Mrs. Bag Bag’s existence, Elma the Electrifying
Elver, lives here too. A gorgeous creature of absolute certainty and complete self-absorption, she lives in or out of the sea.
The story begins when Stinkfoot suddenly appears with enormous bravado after going missing for these nine long years. When he does, Soliquisto rejoices. With Stinkfoot, he believes he will rise to his heights once more. Buster is jealous since he believes he will be pushed aside and never recognized for his talent. (Quickchange Artiste) Persian Moll, a true Diva and sure of her stardom without Stinkfoot, still worries that he will reveal that one night she ate Soliquisto’s parakeet (Polly's mother) and tried to do something dreadful to Stinkfoot himself. (Bad Bad Ways) But Stinkfoot had escaped her and run away to become a star of the Broadway stage. By returning, he has not come back to perform with Soliquisto...he's merely passing through to show off his success. (Landing on my Feet Feet)
A complementary story is taking place under the pier. Polly, the daughter of the Solisquito’s murdered songbird, wants to fly, to find her true home. The smitten Isaiah explains life is all doom and gloom, best to accept where she is and who she is. (You Can't Confound a Flounder) But Polly, who has no idea who she is, is desperate to find out. (A Foundling's Song)
Each character, whether animal or human, above or below the pier, is an aspect of the one central character voiced by the aging music hall artiste, Soliquisto. Soliquisto may be lost in memories but he's still canny. (What My Public Wants) The plot is fairly simple and endearingly odd, but the underlying ideas are more complex. Basically, Stinkfoot is a portrait of the artist’s creative heart and mind. Soliquisto believes what he has made must remain in his control or his art is lost. By the end of Stinkfoot he realizes nothing is ever lost, that he can let his creations go, that once he (or she) has created something it takes on a life of its own, and that the artist can always make more. (Only Being Myself) With this lesson learned, Soliquisto, who has made nothing new since Stinkfoot disappeared, sees Elma the Electrifying Elver dancing on the beach. (Drowned Sailor's Dream) Ah! Here is his new creation, his latest work of art. He will make her a star! The act of creation is forever…it goes on and on.
At first it was thought that staging an established musical would do, but this idea was quickly discarded as unworthy of the ship or its crew. In three and a half months (from September to December, 1985), the show was conceived, written, scored, and rehearsed (both actors and musicians) for a Christmas
run. Ki, who ran the ship, booked it straight through the Old Pro's most lucrative season even though she had no expectations of it being a success. At the same time, the Old Pro continued to operate as a daily venue for the usual acts coming and going. Working throughout the night, each part was tailored by Longfellow and Stanshall to accommodate the talents (or lack thereof) of the performers. The show was a huge success, drawing sell-out audiences for its entire Bristol run, with people arriving from all over Britain and as far away as Sweden
and the United States
. The ship could only provide limited seating, but people brought pillows, even sleeping bags, and found space wherever they could in order to see the show.
Vivian’s story can be found in his own wiki article as can Ki Longfellow’s. (See above links.) Together they created Stinkfoot to celebrate the Old Profanity Showboat.
. The first production was a sell-out for its entire run and garnered wonderful national reviews. The second show (partly financed by friend Stephen Fry
) also sold out, but without the participation of either Longfellow or Stanshall, as well as miscast, was a muddle of misdirection.
In late 2008, interest in restaging the show, never flagging, became a reality. The comic opera, trimmed by Ki from three hours to two, is now in pre-production for a British revival, hopefully in 2011. A "Stinkfoot Showcase" played the Thekla in Bristol, England (where it was written and first staged), on July 20, 21, 22nd, and 24th of 2010. This was a showcase of Stinkfoot's songs backed by a full band and selected cast members (including Nikki Lamborn
and Vivian and Ki's daughter Silky Longfellow-Stanshall) plus Tony Slattery
as narrator and singer. It attracted the attention of major press (The Word magazine, Mojo
magazine, BBC
London & BBC Bristol), and theatres like the Bristol Old Vic
. Work goes on to fund it for restaging in its entirety.
’s Sea Urchin Editions
based in Rotterdam
.
Act II
In the original programme the cast list (in alphabetical order) is:
, as well as his love of music hall
. The beach is the typical stony fringe with its cold waves and rainy days. Ki's New York Stinkfoot comes home from (and returns to), the New York of the Great White Way, a hundred theaters and a million lights.
The Old Profanity's unusual stage in the hold of a once timber-carrying cargo ship
was less than thirty feet wide but at least sixty feet deep. The ocean, a series of continually bobbing plywood waves shaped and painted as a Japan
ese seascape, though not wide, seemed to go on forever. This allowed for scenes "far out at sea," such as Stinkfoot's triumphant arrival on The Ocean Liner and his rescue of Elma when she is attacked by A Giant Squid. As The Angry Sea, the whole cast, under painted cloth, came rolling out at the audience to great effect. The end-of-pier backstage theatre scenes were played out before the darkened sea. A hole was cut through the ship's structural steel
bulkhead
to provide a space high above the action for Moll's dreadful deeds and for the right and left sides of Soliquisto's brain to sing to each other. (Murder Living Next Door)
The time is anytime.
theatre critic David Foote wrote in his review of the musical's opening night in Bristol, "Backed artistically by Pamela Ki Longfellow, Vivian has given us an offbeat Christmas show that is funny, bluesy, and loony…the marvel is that here is an original, unusual musical, smelling of the salt sea, with Coward
, Cagney
, and Mae West
around to keep us happily buoyant."
The Times
’s theatre critic Richard Gilbert wrote of the Bristol opening, “…a watery tale set alternatively at the end of a seaside pier and under the ocean, peopled by an angst-ridden music hall artiste, his Faustian apprentice, a tomcat under the influence of James Cagney (Stinkfoot himself), a Mae Westian glamour-puss (Persian Moll) and an oracular ventriloquist’s dummy, Screwy. Under the waves there is more derring-do from a cynical flounder, a giant squid and a partly cooked shrimp. The cast of local singers, fringe actors and musicians seems to have absorbed the complexities of the highly moral plot where regeneration triumphs over evil and all optimists ultimately defeat the pessimists. The story-line is less important than the ambitious and resonant songs and music. The length of the Old Profanity boat is cunningly exploited by the marine set…and deserves to be seen in London on dry land at a larger venue.”
The Bristol Evening Post
’s theatre critic David Harrison said, “Stinkfoot is a joy - a wondrous collection of bizarre characters, eccentric ideas, and at least one top ten contender among the songs. There is unlikely to be another Christmas show as innovative and challenging as this.”
by Ki Longfellow-Stanshall
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
with book, music, and lyrics by Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall
Vivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...
and Ki Longfellow-Stanshall
Ki Longfellow
Ki Longfellow is an American novelist, playwright, theatrical producer, theater director and entrepreneur. In Britain, as the widow of Vivian Stanshall, she is well known as the guardian of his artistic heritage, but elsewhere she is best known for her own work, especially the novel The Secret...
written for the Crackpot Theatre Company aboard the Old Profanity Showboat in Bristol, England. The show is based on a series of tales written by Longfellow about Stinkfoot, a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
alley cat
Feral cat
A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...
, a bit of a rogue
Rogue (vagrant)
A rogue is a vagrant person who wanders from place to place. Like a drifter, a rogue is an independent person who rejects conventional rules of society in favor of following their own personal goals and values....
and more than a bit of a rake
Rake (character)
A rake, short for rakehell, is a historic term applied to a man who is habituated to immoral conduct, frequently a heartless womanizer. Often a rake was a man who wasted his fortune on gambling, wine, women and song, incurring lavish debts in the process...
. It had been intended for children, but when told by a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
literary agent
Literary agent
A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers and film producers and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the same. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwriters and major non-fiction writers...
that “No mother in America would want her child identifying with Stinkfoot the alley cat, never mind its name,” the story went into a drawer for many years. It came out with the meeting in 1977 of Vivian and Ki, at which point the story became bedtime reading for Vivian's son Rupert Stanshall (born 1968), and later for his daughter with Ki, Silky Longfellow-Stanshall (born 1979). In 1985 it “grew up” when Vivian and Ki decided to base a musical on its lead character, Stinkfoot. At that point, it became a melding of two very different visions and two very different musical traditions: Vivian’s days as frontman for the Bonzo Dog Band and his childhood in Leigh-on-Sea
Leigh-on-Sea
Leigh-on-Sea , sometimes called Leigh, is a civil parish in Essex, England. It is part of Southend-on-Sea for administrative purposes. It became a civil parish in 1996. The council tax was increased to support it. A town council was formed. Leigh is the only parish in Southend...
with Ki’s love of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
’s Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
The plot
The plot of Stinkfoot is about a once great music hallMusic hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
artiste, the mournful Soliquisto, who believes he has come to the end of his career. Once he headlined halls like the Hackney Empire
Hackney Empire
The Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney, built in 1901 as a music hall.-History:Hackney Empire is a grade II* listed building...
, now he’s lucky to play small rooms at the end of pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
s. His act has always consisted of trained animals: a singing parakeet
Parakeet
Parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
(Parakeet to Meet You), and two all-dancing, all-singing cats, one male, Stinkfoot, and one female, Persian Moll. Each of these were creations of true brilliance, but all he has left now is Moll, his ventriloquist's dummy Screwy, and his eager nephew and assistant Buster. He and his company ("Soliquisto & His Not So Dumb Friends") have returned for a week’s engagement at the very end-of-the-pier venue
Theater (structure)
A theater or theatre is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance , a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces...
where nine years before he had mysteriously lost his famous songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
and his most precious creation, the even more famous Stinkfoot. Buster works with him, acting in all capacities: props, costumes, manager, and even as a ludicrous stand-in for the lost Stinkfoot. Buster is ambitious. He knows his uncle was once the best. He is convinced there’s a secret to being a true artist and if only Solisquisto would tell him that secret, Buster too could be a great artist. Soliquisto has told Buster in every way he can what the secret is, most pointedly in the song: Follow Your Nose. But Buster cannot “hear” him.
Aside from his animal act—the Diva
Diva
A diva is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music. The meaning of diva is closely related to that of "prima donna"....
Persian Moll, who, without Stinkfoot, is basically the whole show, and knows it (Ow! Ow! Wasn't I Good Tonight!)—Soliquisto is also a ventriloquist. His dummy, Screwy, never lies. Screwy voices all that Soliquisto cannot or will not say, including terrible truths about himself. (Song of the Saw)
Under the pier is another world of English shale beach and cold sea. Here lives Mrs. Bag Bag, seemingly a bag lady
Bag Lady
"Bag Lady" is the first single from singer Erykah Badu's 2000 album Mama's Gun. The song is about a woman trying to begin anew in a relationship, but who has too much emotional "baggage" and can't get close to people. The message of the song is to "pack light" and have hope for the future...
whose life has been spent collecting “little things.” In actuality, Mrs. Bag Bag is the very essence of magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, a Muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
. (There are nine muses. Stinkfoot has nine cast members. Stinkfoot himself disappeared nine years earlier. Nine is used symbolically throughout the show. Vivian used the number 9 in all he did after marrying Ki whose favorite number was 9. If not 9 itself, then a number that could be reduced to 9, i.e.: 27 garden gnomes in Sir Henry At Rawlinson End
Sir Henry At Rawlinson End
Sir Henry at Rawlinson End is a largely spoken-word, solo comedy recording by Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band member Vivian Stanshall. It had its origin in Vivian Stanshall's recordings for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio One in the mid 1970s, and a track on the Bonzo's 1972 album Let's Make Up and Be...
.) Nine years before one of the things she collected was an egg which had hatched into a parakeet she’d named Polly. Isaiah the Flounder
Flounder
The flounder is an ocean-dwelling flatfish species that is found in coastal lagoons and estuaries of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.-Taxonomy:There are a number of geographical and taxonomical species to which flounder belong.*Western Atlantic...
, a doleful beach-dweller, is enamored of Polly and pleads with her in a show stopping duet (No Time Like the Future), but Polly senses she was meant for more…but what? (Imagination) Mrs. Bag Bag knows, but will not say. Just as Screwy always tells the truth, so too does Mrs. Bag Bag, but Mrs. Bag Bag’s truths are oblique, couched in riddles and rhymes. (Sphinx & Minx) The bane of Mrs. Bag Bag’s existence, Elma the Electrifying
Electric eel
The electric eel , is an electric fish, and the only species of the genus Electrophorus. It is capable of generating powerful electric shocks, of up to six hundred volts, which it uses for both hunting and self-defense. It is an apex predator in its South American range...
Elver, lives here too. A gorgeous creature of absolute certainty and complete self-absorption, she lives in or out of the sea.
The story begins when Stinkfoot suddenly appears with enormous bravado after going missing for these nine long years. When he does, Soliquisto rejoices. With Stinkfoot, he believes he will rise to his heights once more. Buster is jealous since he believes he will be pushed aside and never recognized for his talent. (Quickchange Artiste) Persian Moll, a true Diva and sure of her stardom without Stinkfoot, still worries that he will reveal that one night she ate Soliquisto’s parakeet (Polly's mother) and tried to do something dreadful to Stinkfoot himself. (Bad Bad Ways) But Stinkfoot had escaped her and run away to become a star of the Broadway stage. By returning, he has not come back to perform with Soliquisto...he's merely passing through to show off his success. (Landing on my Feet Feet)
A complementary story is taking place under the pier. Polly, the daughter of the Solisquito’s murdered songbird, wants to fly, to find her true home. The smitten Isaiah explains life is all doom and gloom, best to accept where she is and who she is. (You Can't Confound a Flounder) But Polly, who has no idea who she is, is desperate to find out. (A Foundling's Song)
Each character, whether animal or human, above or below the pier, is an aspect of the one central character voiced by the aging music hall artiste, Soliquisto. Soliquisto may be lost in memories but he's still canny. (What My Public Wants) The plot is fairly simple and endearingly odd, but the underlying ideas are more complex. Basically, Stinkfoot is a portrait of the artist’s creative heart and mind. Soliquisto believes what he has made must remain in his control or his art is lost. By the end of Stinkfoot he realizes nothing is ever lost, that he can let his creations go, that once he (or she) has created something it takes on a life of its own, and that the artist can always make more. (Only Being Myself) With this lesson learned, Soliquisto, who has made nothing new since Stinkfoot disappeared, sees Elma the Electrifying Elver dancing on the beach. (Drowned Sailor's Dream) Ah! Here is his new creation, his latest work of art. He will make her a star! The act of creation is forever…it goes on and on.
Background
In 1985, the show was intended to close the hatches of the Old Profanity Showboat on a high note and to provide all those who had worked so hard for the ship’s success a chance on its stage. The ship had opened its doors in early 1983 and in came young singers and actors eager to do anything to be part of it. Most became barmaids or members of the lighting and maintenance crew watching other talent come and go on the stage. Ki and Vivian wanted them all to achieve that dream before the Old Pro (as it was eventually called) voluntarily folded.At first it was thought that staging an established musical would do, but this idea was quickly discarded as unworthy of the ship or its crew. In three and a half months (from September to December, 1985), the show was conceived, written, scored, and rehearsed (both actors and musicians) for a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
run. Ki, who ran the ship, booked it straight through the Old Pro's most lucrative season even though she had no expectations of it being a success. At the same time, the Old Pro continued to operate as a daily venue for the usual acts coming and going. Working throughout the night, each part was tailored by Longfellow and Stanshall to accommodate the talents (or lack thereof) of the performers. The show was a huge success, drawing sell-out audiences for its entire Bristol run, with people arriving from all over Britain and as far away as Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The ship could only provide limited seating, but people brought pillows, even sleeping bags, and found space wherever they could in order to see the show.
Vivian’s story can be found in his own wiki article as can Ki Longfellow’s. (See above links.) Together they created Stinkfoot to celebrate the Old Profanity Showboat.
Productions
Stinkfoot was staged twice. Once in 1985 for the ship where it was produced by Longfellow and directed by Stanshall. Stanshall also designed the set, the costumes, the make-up, and even the hair. Greatly assisted by his longtime friend, Pete Moss and personal MD, Stanshall was also the musical director. Pete Moss assumed the musical task completely for the second staging in 1988 at the Bloomsbury Theatre in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The first production was a sell-out for its entire run and garnered wonderful national reviews. The second show (partly financed by friend Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
) also sold out, but without the participation of either Longfellow or Stanshall, as well as miscast, was a muddle of misdirection.
In late 2008, interest in restaging the show, never flagging, became a reality. The comic opera, trimmed by Ki from three hours to two, is now in pre-production for a British revival, hopefully in 2011. A "Stinkfoot Showcase" played the Thekla in Bristol, England (where it was written and first staged), on July 20, 21, 22nd, and 24th of 2010. This was a showcase of Stinkfoot's songs backed by a full band and selected cast members (including Nikki Lamborn
Never The Bride
Never the Bride is an English rock band, founded before 1991, fronted by Bristol native Nikki Lamborn, who writes original songs along with the band's keyboard player, Catherine Feeney...
and Vivian and Ki's daughter Silky Longfellow-Stanshall) plus Tony Slattery
Tony Slattery
Anthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery is an English actor and comedian who has appeared on British television regularly since the mid 1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? As a film actor, both comedic and serious, his credits include The...
as narrator and singer. It attracted the attention of major press (The Word magazine, Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
London & BBC Bristol), and theatres like the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
. Work goes on to fund it for restaging in its entirety.
Book
The entire script of the original Stinkfoot: An English Comic Opera with an introduction by Ki Longfellow-Stanshall and illustrations by Vivian Stanshall was published in 2003 by Ben SchotBen Schot
Ben Schot is a Dutch artist, writer, publisher, and freelance curator.- Biography :From 1981 to 1986 Schot was trained as an artist at the art schools of Rotterdam and The Hague, The Netherlands. His activities cover various disciplines and techniques: drawings, audio and video works, installation...
’s Sea Urchin Editions
Sea Urchin Editions
Sea Urchin Editions is a small, independent publishing house from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. It was founded in 2000 by Dutch artist Ben Schot and publishes works from the avant-garde and counterculture....
based in Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
.
Songs and music
Act I- "Bad Bad Ways" - Persian Moll
- "Threnody: Stinkfoot is Drowned" – The Coastguard & Woeful Sirens
- "You Can’t Confound a Flounder" - Isaiah
- "A Foundling’s Song, or Born in a Bag" - Polly
- "Drowned Sailor’s Dream" – Elma the Electrifying Elver
- "No Time Like the Future" – Isaiah & Polly
- "Ow! Ow! Wasn’t I Good Tonight!" – Persian Moll
- "Quickchange Artiste" - Buster
- "Follow Your Nose" - Soliquisto
- "Sphinx & Minx" – Mrs. Bag Bag
- "Sharks of Mechanical Time" - Isaiah & Company
- "Cut My Hands" – Moll & Elma
Act II
- "The Meow Blues" - Persian Moll & Buster
- "Landing on my Feet Feet" - Stinkfoot
- "Imagination" - Polly
- "Parakeet to Meet You" – Polly & Company
- "See Me Sometime" – Persian Moll
- "What My Public Wants" – Soliquisto & Company
- "It's Wonderful What People Will Do" - Stinkfoot
- "Why Me Legs Won’t Work" - Screwy
- "Murder Living Next Door" – Polly & Persian Moll
- "Only Being Myself" – Persian Moll
- "Drowned Sailor’s Dream (Reprise)" – Elma & Woeful Sirens
- "Grand Finale/No Time Like The Future" – Entire Company
Main characters, original cast
- The Great Soliquisto — Andy Black
- Stinkfoot — Steve Howe
- Screwy — Jon BeedellDesperate menDesperate Men Theatre Company is a street theatre company founded by Richie Smith and Jon Beedell in 1980, and is the UK's longest-running street theatre company...
- Buster — Richard SmithDesperate menDesperate Men Theatre Company is a street theatre company founded by Richie Smith and Jon Beedell in 1980, and is the UK's longest-running street theatre company...
- Persian Moll — (originally played by Nikki Lamborn of Never the BrideNever The BrideNever the Bride is an English rock band, founded before 1991, fronted by Bristol native Nikki Lamborn, who writes original songs along with the band's keyboard player, Catherine Feeney...
) - Pollyanna, the Foundling Budgerigar — Cindy Stratton
- Mrs. Bag Bag — Sydney Longfellow (Ki's daughter)
- Isaiah, the Flounder — Pete Coggins
- Elma, the Electrifying Elver — Hirut Araya Bihon
In the original programme the cast list (in alphabetical order) is:
- Nikki B as Persian Moll, A Siren & The Left Half of Screwy's Brain;
- John Beedell as Screwy, The Ocean Liner and Chorus;
- Andy Black as Soliquisto, and The Partly Cooked Shrimp;
- Pete Coggins as Isaiah, the Coastguard & The Public;
- Hirut as Black Pearl and A Woeful Siren;
- Steve Howe as Stinkfoot, Drowned Sailor and the Balanced Nose;
- Tria Linning as Jellyfish, A Woeful Siren and Raggedy Alma;
- Sydney Longfellow as Mrs Bag Bag and A Woeful Siren;
- Richard Smith as Buster and The Giant Squid;
- Cindy Stratton as Big Polly, A Siren, The Right Half of Screwy's Brain;
- Lights: Paul Neville;
- Choreography: Vivian Stanshall and Tria Linning;
- Music director: Pete Watson;
- Costumes: Caroline Poland;
- Hair: Nikki B and James;
- Set and prop painting: Mark Millmore;
- Stage carpenter: Mike Wilson;
- Make-up: Helen and Julie-Anna.
Secondary characters, original cast
- God — Vivian StanshallVivian StanshallVivian Stanshall was an English singer-songwriter, painter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his surreal exploration of the British upper classes in Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, and for narrating Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.-The great...
- The Giant Squid — Richard Smith
- The Ocean Liner - Jon Beedell
- The Angry Sea — The Company
- The Public — The Company led by Pete Coggins
- The Right & Left Sides of Screwy’s Brain - Nikki Lamborn, left brain, Cindy Stratton, right brain
- The Partly Cooked Shrimp - Andy Black
- The Coastguard - Pete Coggins
- The Drowned Sailor - Steve Howe
- Three Woeful Sirens - Sydney Longfellow, Hirut Araya Bihon, Nikki Lamborn
Setting
The play's fictional setting is both on and under an aging pier somewhere in the south of England. On the end of the pier is a rather shabby theater still holding on to its glory days with a succession of magicians, novelty acts, and once famous performers down on their luck. The pier and the theater are based on Stanshall’s time as a member of the Bonzo Dog Band and his short stint as a guest member of The AlbertsThe Alberts
The Alberts were a British music/comedy troupe of the mid 1950s to mid 1960s, featuring brothers Tony and Douglas Gray. They often also appeared with Bruce Lacey. They were influenced by music hall, 1920s jazz and Surrealism...
, as well as his love of music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
. The beach is the typical stony fringe with its cold waves and rainy days. Ki's New York Stinkfoot comes home from (and returns to), the New York of the Great White Way, a hundred theaters and a million lights.
The Old Profanity's unusual stage in the hold of a once timber-carrying cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
was less than thirty feet wide but at least sixty feet deep. The ocean, a series of continually bobbing plywood waves shaped and painted as a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese seascape, though not wide, seemed to go on forever. This allowed for scenes "far out at sea," such as Stinkfoot's triumphant arrival on The Ocean Liner and his rescue of Elma when she is attacked by A Giant Squid. As The Angry Sea, the whole cast, under painted cloth, came rolling out at the audience to great effect. The end-of-pier backstage theatre scenes were played out before the darkened sea. A hole was cut through the ship's structural steel
Structural steel
Structural steel is steel construction material, a profile, formed with a specific shape or cross section and certain standards of chemical composition and mechanical properties...
bulkhead
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
to provide a space high above the action for Moll's dreadful deeds and for the right and left sides of Soliquisto's brain to sing to each other. (Murder Living Next Door)
The time is anytime.
Critical reception
The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
theatre critic David Foote wrote in his review of the musical's opening night in Bristol, "Backed artistically by Pamela Ki Longfellow, Vivian has given us an offbeat Christmas show that is funny, bluesy, and loony…the marvel is that here is an original, unusual musical, smelling of the salt sea, with Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
, Cagney
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
, and Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
around to keep us happily buoyant."
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
’s theatre critic Richard Gilbert wrote of the Bristol opening, “…a watery tale set alternatively at the end of a seaside pier and under the ocean, peopled by an angst-ridden music hall artiste, his Faustian apprentice, a tomcat under the influence of James Cagney (Stinkfoot himself), a Mae Westian glamour-puss (Persian Moll) and an oracular ventriloquist’s dummy, Screwy. Under the waves there is more derring-do from a cynical flounder, a giant squid and a partly cooked shrimp. The cast of local singers, fringe actors and musicians seems to have absorbed the complexities of the highly moral plot where regeneration triumphs over evil and all optimists ultimately defeat the pessimists. The story-line is less important than the ambitious and resonant songs and music. The length of the Old Profanity boat is cunningly exploited by the marine set…and deserves to be seen in London on dry land at a larger venue.”
The Bristol Evening Post
Bristol Evening Post
The Bristol Evening Post is a newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, Northern Somerset and South Gloucestershire....
’s theatre critic David Harrison said, “Stinkfoot is a joy - a wondrous collection of bizarre characters, eccentric ideas, and at least one top ten contender among the songs. There is unlikely to be another Christmas show as innovative and challenging as this.”
Movie
At the moment Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera is in pre-production by Crackpot Films, screenplayScreenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Ki Longfellow-Stanshall
Ki Longfellow
Ki Longfellow is an American novelist, playwright, theatrical producer, theater director and entrepreneur. In Britain, as the widow of Vivian Stanshall, she is well known as the guardian of his artistic heritage, but elsewhere she is best known for her own work, especially the novel The Secret...
.
External links
- Stinkfoot Concert review in WORD Magazine
- Stinkfoot Concert on the Thekla and new 2010 production
- Story, photos, and playbill from the original Bristol production.
- History of the original show on the Gingergeezer site
- A slightly inaccurate but affectionate look at Stinkfoot, the Old Pro, and the Stanshalls