musical

Local Hero, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh – captivating musical with a harder edge

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

New staging brings the iconic 1983 movie’s themes and characters into sharper focus.

Review by David Kettle

“Cult” is probably an over-used adjective, especially when it comes to movies. But there’s undoubtedly something truly special about Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film – about a Texan oil executive on a mission to buy up a section of the Scottish coast for a vast new refinery, only to end up falling in love with the place – that makes it so warmly cherished by certain viewers.

Maybe it’s Local Hero’s disarming mix of laid-back whimsy and harder drama, its unapologetic sentimentality, its surreal eccentricity, its gentle humour. Or maybe it’s the movie’s ironic role-reversal, as villagers grow impatient to plunder their new-found wealth while the swaggering incomer grows ever more enraptured with the place. It’s a mix that’s undoubtedly helped by Mark Knopfler’s evocative original score, whose guitar theme “Going Home” alone can transport you straight back to the ramshackle charm of Ferness and its iconic phone box.

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Bill Forsyth cut out of Local Hero musical 

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

It is one of the most eagerly awaited theatre productions of recent years but there will be one notable absentee at its world premiere.

Bill Forsyth, the writer and director of the film Local Hero, has said that he has been frozen out of a musical based on the film and will boycott the opening in Edinburgh this month.

Forsyth, who has spent the past three years collaborating on the show with the playwright David Greig, has been told that he should “cease to be actively involved” in the project.

A statement from the theatre said: “As Mark Knopfler developed a new score of 19 new songs, Bill Forsyth and David Greig worked closely together on several drafts of the script to ensure this transformation to the theatre retained the magic and essence of Bill’s film. “As such, we’re sad and surprised if he has felt in any way excluded from the creative process. “A world class creative team, director, designers and musicians have been assembled to create the show, all with Bill and Mark’s approval. “When a new stage show begins rehearsals, it is this team which forms and shapes it for the theatre. John Crowley, the director, and the whole team have always considered Bill’s voice to be central and integral. Without it, any telling of Local Hero would simply not be possible.”

Set designer Scott Pask on the Lyceum’s Local Hero musical: “don’t even bank on a phone box” 

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment
The cast of Local Hero, from left to right: Suzie McAdam, Scott Ainslie, Caroline Deyga, Damian Humbley, Julian Forsyth, Emmanuel Kojo, Simon Rouse, Matthew Malthouse, Katrina Bryan, Matthew Pidgeon, Adam Pearce, Joanne McGuinness, Wendy Somerville, Helen Logan, and John McLarnon. But will the phone box make the final cut? PIC: Stephen Cummiskey

Award-winning et designer Scott Pask explains why he is leaving so much to the audience’s imagination for the Lyceum’s musical adaptation of Local Hero. Interview by Alistair HarknessOne of the most enduring aspects of Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero is the way it captures not just the Scottish landscape, but the transformative effect it has on its protagonist. In this wistful comedy about a materialistic Texan oil executive called Mac who arrives in Scotland to plunder a stretch of coastline, only to fall for its ineffable charms, the landscape becomes a character in its own right. But it’s a character Forsyth all but dares us to take for granted, undercutting its swooning romanticism with droll humour, ensuring that by the time Mac realises he’s fallen for it, it’s worked its magic on us too. Continue reading →

Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero film adapted for stage musical

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment


Bill Forsyth, right, on the set of Local Hero in 1983 with Denis Lawson and Peter Riegert

The screenwriter Bill Forsyth is turning his film Local Hero into a musical, 35 years after its release.

The movie about an American oil tycoon’s attempt to buy a remote Scottish village starred Jenny Seagrove and Peter Capaldi. It is being adapted for the stage by Forsyth and David Greig, artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Marc Knopfler, founder of the band Dire Straits, will produce the music [ . . . ]
Continue at THE TIMES: Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero film adapted for stage musical | Scotland | The Times

Local hero to return as a musical

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

A musical based on the classic 1983 film Local Hero will have its world premiere in Edinburgh next year.

BBC
The Royal Lyceum will be the first to perform the musical, which has been adapted by the theatre’s artistic director David Greig and Bill Forsyth.

The Scottish filmmaker wrote and directed the original movie.

International music star Mark Knopfler has written the music and lyrics for the new production, which will open in Spring 2019.

Knopfler, who rose to fame in multi-million selling band Dire Straits, wrote the score for the 1983 film.

It tells the story of an American oil company representative who is sent to the fictional Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to buy the village and its land in order to build a refinery.

However, “Mac” MacIntyre adapts to Scottish village life and becomes worried the deal will ruin the place he has come to love.

It was made in several locations around Scotland but most of the Ferness village scenes were filmed in Pennan on the Aberdeenshire coast.

A red phone box in the village, where Mac makes phone calls to his boss in Texas, played by Burt Lancaster, became one of the most famous images of Scottish cinema.

Glasgow writer and director Forsyth’s other films include Gregory’s Girl and Comfort and Joy.

David Greig, an acclaimed playwright as well as theatre director, said: “Local Hero is one of those great Scottish stories that has captured the imaginations of people across the world, it has been one of my favourite films since I first saw it as a teenager.”

Local Hero is due to open at The Lyceum in Spring 2019 before transferring to The Old Vic in London.

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