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Breakdown
SEEKING:
GINO
Male, to play 20, African-American. Was stationed in UK with the US Air Force, and stayed because, as an American R&B singer, he was exotic, exciting, energetic, sexy and smart. Smart enough to be the in-house Emcee at the Bag O’Nails club – the hothouse where the about-to-be-famous in music, fashion, art, theater hung out every night. A major singer. He released five albums – that was his day job. So he’s a star in his own right, and if he picks you, you’re a winner. He met his wife Frenchie at the Bag O'Nails club, which is also the place where her sister met Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, whom she married, making Gino and Peter future brothers-in-law. (This is also the same club where Paul McCartney met Linda Eastman)
PETER
Male, to play 17, Caucasian. (Peter Noone). Blond, sweet-natured, optimistic, patriotic, naïve. He’s beautiful and he’s talented, but there’s much more beauty than talent. Adorable enough to turn the girls’ heads – and he likes the ladies, no doubt about it. That’s part of the lure of music for him – a way to impress the girls. He’s old-fashioned enough to believe in Britain and her Empire, even though nobody else his age does, because it ain’t cool. Peter’s not cool, but he’s cute. Born in working-class Lancashire, the son of an accountant, and attended St. Bede's College, Manchester, and Stretford Grammar School, near Manchester. By the time the show begins, he’s well-known for number of acting roles on television, including on the still-running soap opera Coronation Street. But he’s got hits now, too, as Herman of Hermin’s Hermits. They’re sort of a joke act, counter-programming for the rock and roll stars on the horizon, like the Beatles and the Stones.?As Herman, beautiful, blond Peter’s been on the cover of magazines, including Time Magazine's cover collage showing new faces in popular music. So when he finally gets into the Bag O’Nails, people notice. Peter begins the show as a boy, and over the course of the show, learns how to be a man.
MARIANNE
Female, to play 18, Caucasian. (Marianne Faithfull). The perfect English rose. Blonde, peaches-and-cream, educated, and even aristocratic. Her father was a British Army officer and professor of Italian Literature at Bedford College of London University. Her mother was styled as Eva von Sacher-Masoch, Baroness Erisso and was originally from Vienna. Her maternal great great uncle was Leopold von Sacher- Masoch, the 19th century Austrian nobleman whose erotic novel, Venus in Furs, spawned the word masochism. Marianne will understand masochism over the course of our show. Her parents divorced when she was six. Understandably, she’s looking for love. She’s the definition of a Bright Young Thing, the trendiest and most desirable and most beautiful of the London set. She’s one of London’s It-Girls when we meet her – that’s why she’s being followed by a film crew. In early 1964, she and met Andrew Loog Oldham, who discovered her. Her first major release, As Tears Go By” was written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Oldham. The record became a chart success. She married very young and left her husband when she began a much-publicized relationship with Mick. The couple became notorious and largely part of the hip Swinging London scene.
MICK
Male, to play 21, Caucasian. (Mick Jagger). Rock and Roll’s reigning bad boy. Drawn to Marianne like a magnet, but very much enjoying his rock star status, which has just exploded at the beginning of our show. But the memory of playing for no money in basement clubs and tube stations is never distant. When our show starts, he’s just returned from his first tour in the United Kingdom; this was known as the training ground tour, because it was a new experience, but in short order, Mick and his group would be giving the Beatles a run for their money. Mick studied at the London School of Economics and planned to be an accountant. He isn’t trying to be rebellious in those days; he’s just being Mick. A guy from suburbia with big lips and tons of sex appeal. The guy all the girls secretly want, because he spells danger. Under the danger, of course, Mick is pretty bourgeois and wants what he thinks he deserves – which includes the girl he’s in love with, and would do anything for (even if that kind of devotion might be thought of as uncool).
ANDREW
Male, to play 22, Caucasian. (Andrew Loog Oldham). An English record producer, talent manager, impresario and author. Noted for his flamboyant style. A garrulous, androgynous gangster who wore makeup and sunglasses and relied on his bodyguard Rich The Hammer to threaten rivals. His father was a United States Army Air Forces lieutenant who was killed in June 1943 when his B-17 bomber was shot down over the English Channel. His mother was pregnant with Andrew at the time. He’s a self- proclaimed hustler who worked on Carnaby Street for soon-to-be-famous fashion designer Mary Quant. Andrew became a publicist for British and American musicians and among his projects were stints publicizing Bob Dylan on his first UK visit and The Beatles for Brian Epstein in early 1963. In April 1963, a journalist friend recommended that he see a young R&B band called The Rolling Stones. Andrew saw potential in the group being positioned as an anti-Beatles - a rougher group compared to the cuddly moptop image of the Beatles at that time. Andrew, still a teenager, took over management of the Stones and eventually convinced Mick and Keith Richards to write their own songs, retain ownership of master tapes, and promoting a bad boy image for The Rolling Stones in contrast to The Beatles. Andrew generated widely-reprinted headlines like Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone? He sold his share of the Rolling Stones' management to Allen Klein, but continued as their producer until drug use and legal problems ended it.
KLEIN
Male, 30’s, Caucasian. (Allen Klein). An American businessman, most noted for his tough persona and aggressive, innovative negotiation tactics, many of which established higher industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated in 1961. While managing the Rolling Stones, he bought out Andrew’s interests in the band. After years of determined pursuit by the IRS, Klein convicted of a misdemeanor charge and spent two months in jail. But that’s later than our show. Our Klein is the guy who parlayed his early successes into a position managing Sam Cooke, and eventually managed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones simultaneously, along with many other artists, becoming one of the most powerful individuals in the music industry during his era. When we meet him, he’s about to offer Mick a fortune to tour the US for the first time.
JOHN
Male, 20’s, Caucasian. (John Lennon). Principal songwriter and front-man of the Beatles. Confident, a real artist, on his own plane. A good friend to Peter, and to Mick. Aware of the larger world, aware of the power of his pen to change that world– and not afraid of using that pen, his guitar and his insane popularity to change that world for the better. Soon to be the most famous person in the world.
RICH THE HAMMER
Male, 35-40, Caucasian. A tough Brit thug. The sort of guy who’d just as easily break a chair over your head as listen to you. Famous for taking people for rides in his big American car.
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