Ben Elton Talks 'BOYS IN THE PHOTOGRAPH' to Globe & Mail

The world premiere of The Boys in the Photograph, the latest musical collaboration between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton is currently taking place at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg from April 25 to May 23, 2009. The David Mirvish co-production will then move to the Canon Theatre in Toronto in June 2009. 

The new work will be directed by Elton who spoke to Canada's Globe & Mail about creating the adaptation of the musical which has been developed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton from their musical The Beautiful Game, which opened in London in 2001 and received the Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical.

The Globe & Mail reports that Elton and Lloyd Webber have changed one-quarter of the music and one-quarter of the script, to make The Boys in the Photograph much more uplifting than its predecessor. They also got rid of the old title, which had earned the piece a reputation as Lloyd Webber's football musical. "And who would want to see a musical about [expletive] football? That's like saying South Pacific is about the Second World War, or The Sound of Music is about Nazis. The football team is just a vehicle. Basically, it's got [expletive] all to do with football. I'm not even interested in sports."

The MTC is co-funding the $1.4-million production, which premieres April 30th, to read the full feature on Ben Elton click here.

The musical is a coming of age story about a group of young men and women in Belfast in the late 1960s who are involved with a local football team at the start of a 30-year civil war. The story follows those who are drawn in to the conflict and those who stand aside, wanting only to live in peace. It is a story of ordinary people in an extraordinary situation.

Canadian actors, Tony Lepage, Erica Peck and Richard McMillan will take to the stage as the main characters. Lepage will play John Kelly, a local football star coming of age in the political upheaval, Peck will play his girlfriend and McMillan plays the coach of the football team, who is the minister of the local church.

For more information please visit www.andrewlloydwebber.com.

Ben Elton has without doubt established himself as the leading figure in the generation of British comedy stars that emerged in the 1980's.

He first achieved prominence when, at the age of 23, he co-wrote the ground breaking smash hit BBC situation comedy The Young Ones. This multi award-winning show became a world-wide cult and the 1984 book of the series was the biggest seller in Britain that year. Ben went on to write for all the principal comedians of his generation, including Lenny Henry, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson and Harry Enfield with hit series such as Happy Families, Filthy Rich and Catflap.

In 1985 Ben began his phenomenally successful writing partnership with Richard Curtis. Together they wrote Blackadder 2, Blackadder The third and Blackadder Goes Forth, shows which were showered with awards, including four BAFTAs and an Emmy, and achieved vast audiences all over the world. Ben and Richard also wrote Rowan's 1986 hit stage show The New Review.

In 1988 Ben published his first novel, Stark. Written in Australia, Stark became an instant number one best seller and has gone on to sell well over a million copies.

Ben's ambitions were originally theatrical, he studied Drama at Manchester University and, in 1990 he returned to the theatre with his first stage play, Gasping, which ran for nine and a half months at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in the West End. This huge success was followed immediately by Ben's second play, Silly Cow, which kept the Haymarket Theatre full for a further eight months.

The stage play of his novel, Popcorn, successfully premiered at the Nottingham Playhouse before transferring to the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Popcorn opened to rave reviews at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London in April 1997. Having won the TMA Barclays Theatre Award for Best New Play in 1997, Popcorn has since won the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Popcorn toured nationally from September 1998 closing in May 1999. Blast From The Past successfully premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in March 1998.