When we decided to put it on, our musical director [Anthony Ingle], a very accomplished technical deliverer of modern music, said, 'You can't do this score. Is the song really ‘one of Her Majesty’s favourites’, or even her favourite? “This holiday bonbon is charming, delightful, entertaining……you might as well give in and just let it wash over you.” "Those Were My Salad Days". As of 2005, the album was in the public domain in Europe, and several reissue labels have put out unlicensed versions of it mastered off old vinyl copies. (We're Looking For a Piano). in this way, both pianists should play from the published piano/vocal Newly acquired BA gowns hang heavy on the shoulders of Jane and Timothy. Label: Oriole - MG 20004 • Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Mono • Country: UK • Genre: Pop, Stage & Screen • Style: Soundtrack, Musical, Vocal There's also a daft number sung by a Foreign Office spy ("Don't ever ask who won the war / Don't ever ask what the war was for / It's hush-hush"), which is, says Bankes-Jones, "exactly the same as all this bollocks about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." Sixty years ago on August 8 2015, Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds’ hit show ‘Salad Days’ celebrated its first full year in the West End. There's a revival recording from the 1970s that is ghastly, because they're playing the notes that are written down. "This is a musical that was slapped onstage in about three weeks," says Bankes-Jones. and decide it would simplify life to marry each other and take the Many years ago, when I was in my Salad Days, I saw this show in London. in the U.K. (1960). That is very now." (for then) the longest running musical in the history of the British [1] They wrote Salad Days as a "summer musical for the Bristol Old Vic's resident company. In other words, Salad Days isn't just an escapist musical, it's a musical that dramatises escapism. It always amused me greatly that somebody had to be *taught* to sing (with the arrogance of a small child growing up in a nuclear family of people who all sang in tune). performances at the Vaudeville had a cast of twelve, plus a pianist, (I Sit In the Sun). "The lack of thought and care are in a way what makes it special. A year later he invited Julian to write some lyrics for a new musical he was working on (ultimately ‘Candide’ ) but by that time Julian was busy writing ‘Free As Air’ with Dorothy Reynolds so could not accept his offer. who trundles round a mobile mini-piano. The show ran for 2,283 performances, making it - at the time - the longest-running show in musical theatre history. The producers who saw it agreed with the audiences and on August 8 1954 Salad Days opened at the Vaudeville Theatre in the Strand to a rapturous reception from the first night audience. £7,000 from the Salad Days profits – a large sum in those days— was given to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School towards the purchase and conversion of two large adjoining Victorian villas at 1 and 2 Downside Road in Clifton. For full details just click on the Tete a Tete website at: www.tete-a-tete.org.uk. Originally, nothing! A room at the Foreign Office. This deliberately tongue-in-cheek story set in the south of France in the '20s traces the shenanigans of a group of British girls at a finishing school. £7 per week plus whatever they can collect. after it for a month. The seven-year-old was taken backstage by Slade, a trip that "made me understand for the first time that someone actually had to make the magic happen." Then came what was to prove to be, to the total surprise of its cast, the smash hit London show Salad Days. reluctant Nigel to try out his singing voice. It was shown on BBC TV on May 23 1954. star of one scene being required, perhaps, to do no more than walk Outside, it's youth unemployment and political alienation – while inside, two young graduates and a cabinet minister frolic to the tunes of a magic piano. In those days the school was run by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Trust, which also ran the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company. On the original, it's clear that at every performance, Julian Slade would go bonkers on the piano and it would be different every night. When its six week run had to end everyone hoped that was not the end forever. Also included are selections from THE DUENNA, an earlier musical from the duo of Reynolds & Slade (recorded shortly after the London transfer of SALAD DAYS) starring Jane Wenham and John Neville, joined by SALAD co-stars Eleanor Drew and James Cairncross. 2012/13 WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT ‘SALAD DAYS’. In 1953 a production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, with a brand new musical score by 23-year-old Julian Slade, had been very enthusiastically received at the Bristol Old Vic’s Theatre Royal. The dancing was certainly the best ever. Song: We Said We Wouldn't Look Back. Not all the critics were so kind – most loved it but some, particularly Ken Tynan and Milton Shulman hated it, but that never deterred the audiences and within a short time every house was sold out. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. The Tramp (Newton Blick), Minnie, Jane (Eleanor Drew), Tim (John Warner). married, of course (so they do), but how can they make a living? You may even find yourself on stage during one number. Full review…, THEGAYUK I saw 7-year -olds and 70-year-olds alike having a good time doing so.”, “Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade’s musical sparked the impresarial imagination of the eight-year-old Cameron Mackintosh, and Bill Bankes-Jones giddy and pitch perfect production proves that, even at the ripe old age of 58, the show has lost none of its infectious jeu d’esprit. Salad Days – the other longest running West End musical It's been labelled derisory and unperformable, Monty Python lampooned it, even its fans admit it's ridiculous. This practice, which encourages intelligent listening from the audience, is becoming a rarity in musicals. To some, this portrait of high society at play ("I'm gay and I'm breathless and I'm jubilant and I'm dancing!") On hearing the Tramp play it, they discover to Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2016, the most charming British musical ever written; a rare gem, Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2007. Her family has a list of suitors and his one of high-achieving uncles who might offer him a career…..It’s hard not to smile at the affectionate depiction of this long-gone (never-existed?) off for a bird's-eye view... (The Saucer Song). Other scenes are “It hails from the time when piano was pronounced ‘piarno’ and ‘gay’ still meant jolly and by this definition opera company Tete a Tete’s production couldn’t be gayer. It just had to come back for another run. depth and colour. See Spielvogel, Carl. If I were one of the uncles, I’d look at employing her instead of the slightly drippy Tim.”, LONDON EVENING STANDARD (Fiona Mountford) January 7 2013. future, however, is uncertain, as both are being harassed by their parents, Leo Miles and Katie Moore are delightful as the leading duo Tim and Jane.”, DAILY MAIL (Patrick Marmion) January 4 2013, “This thoroughly likeable revival got such a glowing response on its previous seasons at the Riverside that it has been brought back for an ambitious 10 week run……Katie Moore’s charming Jane swirls around in her lovely dress……a uniformly excellent cast of 16 give light but accurate performances……. receive unexpected help in their search from Tim's Uncle Zed, a zany Bethan and Ed ended their time with the school in July, both having won further Theatre School awards for ‘showing exceptional flair’ (Bethan) and ‘significant achievement’ (Ed) during their training. 2014 was an important anniversary year in the Julian Slade calendar. Nos 1-2 Downside Road. His troubles usually begin at breakfast. Other superb new additions to the cast were Tony Timberlake, Mark Inscoe and Kathryn Martin. Rip roaringly funny, with simple catchy melodies, exceptional voices and musical accompaniment, even virgin music hallers will be tapping along, long after the close” Happy New Year to all! is not long before the park is full of people exhausted from dancing The cast were also rewarded accordingly. It is hard for Tim and Jane to see the piano go, but, having each other, Dorothy Reynolds and I had been commissioned to write an end-of-season summer show for the Bristol Old Vic Company and it was scheduled to run just three weeks. Even if a few critics were initially doubtful about the show’s appeal the majority were not and the audiences took immediately to its originality and tuneful songs. ", Which is, of course, entirely attuned to the spirit of the show. As usual, Jane is on time, as well as sing.