The new Neil Sedaka musical Laughter in the Rain is coming to the West End as soon as a theatre in London can be found.
Bill Kenwright announced on his BBC radio 2 show that he is seeking a West End theatre for his new show Laughter in the Rain.
Neil Sedaka
Laughter in the Rain is the Neil Sedaka musical produced by Bill Kenwright and Laurie Mansfield, the duo who are also behind the compilation hit Dreamboats and Petticoats previously at the Playhouse theatre in London. Amongst other successful West End shows produced by Bill Kenwright have been Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the New London theatre and the long-running hit musical Blood Brothers which closed in 2012.
Laughter in the Rain has successfully toured nationally and follows in the footsteps of other Kenwright and Mansfield bio-musicals about Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.
Tickets for Laughter in the Rain will be on sale at ShowsinLondon.co.uk
Laughter in the rain is the new musical based on the life and career of the legendary singer songwriter Neil Sedaka. Featuring all his classic hits, including Oh Carol, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, Calendar Girl, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do and many more.
With a musical career spanning more than five decades and including dozens of smash hit singles both for himself and as a writer for numerous other artists, the show focuses on Neil Sedaka’s rise to fame, his fall from grace and his rise again to become pop music’s ultimate survivor.
Born in Brooklyn, the son of a taxi-driver, Neil Sedaka started songwriting at Broadway’s legendary Brill Building, penning his first hit, Oh Carol, for his then girlfriend, singer songwriter Carole King. He went on to become a teenage idol to rival Elvis but in 1964 his career collapsed as America embraced the Beatles and other bands of the so-called ‘British Invasion’. For almost a decade, he struggled to support his family but found salvation in moving to Britain, where he signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records label, and remarkably returned to the top of the US charts in 1974 with ‘Laughter In The Rain’.
Amongst his biggest hits for other artists include “Who’s Sorry Now?’ and “Stupid Cupid” for Connie Francis, “It Hurts to Be in Love” for Gene Pitney, “We Had a Good Thing Goin'” and “Workin’ on a Groovy Thing”, “Love Will Keep Us Together,” a No. 1 hit for The Captain & Tennille in 1975, and of course Amarillo.
His song Amarillo, previously a hit for Tony Christie, gained new popularity when it was re-released by British comedian Peter Kay for Comic Relief in 2005.
