Photo Flash: First Look At BLITZ! At The Union Theatre

Lionel Bart's BLITZ! is running now at the Union Theatre in Southwark. The new production, directed by Phil Willmott, will run until 7th March 2020 as part of this year's commemoration of the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

First staged in 1962, two years after Lionel Bart's mega-hit Oliver!, BLITZ! is a celebration of London's working-class spirit as the Nazis rained down bombs on Britain's cities. It follows the story of the redoubtable Mrs Blitztein, played by Jessica Martin, who is loved and feared by her neighbours as the "Queen of Petticoat Lane" - a character based on Bart's mother.

Caitlin Anderson, Anna Robertson, Robbie McArtney, Lorne Taylor and Corinna Marlowe have been cast as the rest of the Blitztein family while Michael Martin, Connor Carson and James Horne will play the Locke family. The cast also features Vicki Mason, James Georgiou, Danniella Schindler, Beaux Harris, Eleanor Sandars, Charlotte Bradley, Eleanor Griffiths, Jack Slatter and Stephen Hayward.

Initially, determined that her kids will not marry outside the Jewish faith, Mrs Blitztein is forced to reconsider as neighbourhood feuds take an unexpected turn in the nightly scrabble for the air raid shelters.

With Bart's music and lyrics, you are never more than 10 minutes away from a cockney knees-up or a haunting ballad. Bart also wrote the musical's book with Joan Maitland. This production features choreography by Daniel Maguire with musical direction by Rosa Lennox. The set is designed by Reuben Speed, and the Assistant Director/ Production Dramaturg is Phil Setren.

The first production of BLITZ! was one of the most spectacular and expensive musicals ever staged in its day and, although it was a hit, producers have been intimidated by the cost of a remount ever since. This production is a chamber piece, with the intimacy of the Union Theatre pulling the characters and relationships into sharper focus than before, recreating the crowded claustrophobia of the air raid shelter and the bustle of London's alleyways.

From West End leading lady to one-woman cabaret shows, Jessica Martin has performed all over London and the rest of the UK in productions including musicals: Me and My Girl; Elf; Spamalot, and Mack and Mabel. In her 30-year career, she has performed in theatre, comedy, television and radio and received critical acclaim for her one-woman show Sunset Bitch at Waterloo East Theatre in London.

This rare revival of BLITZ! is one of three shows being staged at the Union Theatre in 2020 to explore the role of the British in World War II. It is part of the Phil Willmott Company's Essential Classics season, now in its fifth year.

Britain and Germany are at war but on the streets of London so are the Jewish Blitztein family & the cockney Lockes. When their children fall in love a poignant, funny & unforgettable wartime romance unfolds amidst the air raids. From the writer of OLIVER!

Tickets can be booked online: http://www.uniontheatre.biz/blitz.html

Box office: 020 7261 9876

Photo Credit: Mark Senior