New Dorian Gray musical to head to Halifax on UK and Ireland tour
Tickets are now on sale for a new musical based on Oscar Wilde’s haunting novel The Picture of Dorian Gray which will arrive in Halifax this year.
Writer Mark J. Middlemiss has fulfilled a long-held dream by launching The Picture of Dorian Gray as a musical.
He said: “I wrote this show as a hark back to the grand, operatic musicals of the 1970s and 1980s which I grew up with and adore.
“The original novel is a cornerstone of dark, gothic fiction, and I’ve always felt it was crying out for a big, electrifying, Broadway-style musical adaptation.”
The show is an original work that took Mark 18 months to write, and showcases Wilde’s classic 1890s tale of a hedonistic young socialite who descends into the dark side of eternal youth.
The show arrives at the Victoria Theatre on October 21 during its six-month tour of the UK and Ireland, which Mark hopes will end with a run in London’s West End.
Staged in two acts set 20 years apart, the musical closely follows the original source material and plays on its dark themes of temptation and corruption.
It also features choreography by Alison Parsons, and additional arrangements by Joe Draper, Paul Worthington, and Stuart McLean-Fowler.
“For twenty years I’ve been saying I’d love to make a musical of this novel,” added Mark.
“There have been other adaptations, but I wanted to honour Wilde’s original story – his characters, setting, and dialogue – and let the music lift it for the stage.”
Tickets are available from the Victoria Theatre box office at 01422 351158 and www.victoriatheatre.co.uk.