Bugle Boy – The Life Story of Glenn Miller
Den Stevenson has written the book for this Glenn Miller
musical as a result of working along side Glenn’s youngest brother Herb Miller
and booking for the Herb Miller Orchestra. It results in an accurate portrayal
of a musical legend whose music is still played on a regular basis nearly 70
years after his death.
The curtain is raised with the 16 piece band playing “Moonlight
Serenade”. This band are one of the highlights of the show and hearing live
musicians playing the familiar tunes helps engage the audience throughout the
production. We then see a radio
interview between Larry Bronx (Daniel Page), who had a successful radio show
with 20 million listeners and helped project the Miller name across the states,
and Miller’s wife Helen (Yildiz Hussein). This first scene sets out the dual
intentions of the musical: to celebrate both the musical genius and the love
story that enabled it to flourish.
The musical has two distinctive halves: firstly the pre-war
development of the Glenn Miller sound and finally the war years. Glenn Miller
is played by Michael Storrs who explores the clear frustrations in finding his
unique sound and setting up a band that constantly toured across the states. Eventually he hits it lucky after a musician
fails to turn up for a show and he has to re-organise the arrangement. This is followed by an opportunity for a
residency and a place on Larry Bronx’s radio show. Unfortunately after spending
nearly 20 years finding the sound, events in Europe and then at Pearl Harbour
would quickly change life for the Miller family.
The talented band are on the stage and are led by musical
director Simon Lambert. Nick Pugh is on Bass and Haydn Callow on drums. There is also an impressive array of trumpets, trombones and sax. They enable the audience to understand the phases
that the Miller sound went through in his formative years. Whilst the show
lacks major set changes, the beautiful engaging sound of the band ensures pace
is maintained for the show through each scene. There is no shortage of music,
with 16 numbers in the first half alone.
A star of the second half is Maddie Cole who is acting a
number of parts, providing the female harmonies to several numbers and playing
the saxophone in the others. Her big moment, singing “White Cliffs of Dover” solo
brought many a tear to the eyes of the audience as it notes a black moment in
European history.
Glenn, who by this point is 38, was above the 35 year old
limit to join the forces but he wrote to an army friend after rejections and
was able to secure a place in the forces which would eventually see him playing
with a much larger band in Europe . Unfortunately
Michael has to utter a line in Den Stevenson’s script that was to cause a
reaction from the audience – effectively ‘Hitler has been on the run since our
boys got involved.’ Possibly that was the contemporary view in the States but
it’s not a popular idea on a Thursday afternoon in County Durham
The time flew by and we are quickly brought to the premature
conclusion as a result of the flight to Paris
2013 Tour Dates
Thur 30 July - Sat 3 August
Malvern Festival Theatre
Tue 6 August - Sat 10 August
Southend Palace Theatre
Mon 19 August - Sat 24 August
Swindon Wyvern Theatre
Thur 29 August - Sat 31 August
Dartford Orchard Theatre
Wed 4 September - Thur 5 September
Fri 6 September - Sat 7 September
Weston-Super-Mare Playhouse Theatre
Thur 12 September - Sat 14 September
Crewe Lyceum Theatre
Thur 19 September - Saturday 21 September
Hayes Beck Theatre
Mon 23 September & Tue 24 September
Thur 26 September - Saturday 28 September
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