Musical Adaptation of Lend Me a Tenor to Close Early in London

The musical adaptation of Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor will shutter at the West End’s Gielgud Theatre on August 6. The Ian Talbot-helmed show began previews on June 2 and officially opened June 15, and was originally booking through November 19.

The cast features Matthew Kelly, Damian Humbley, Michael Matus, Sophie-Louise Dann, Joanna Riding, Cassidy Janson, Gay Soper, Jane Quinn and Michelle Bishop, as well as Jemma Alexander, Karen Aspinall, Natasha J. Barnes, Nick Butcher, Kelly Chinery, Sharon Eckman, Daniel Farrow, Andrew Keelan, Kara Lane, Connor McAllister, Haydn Oakley, Stephen Oliver-Webb, Ryan Pidgen, Jeremy Secomb, Emma Sewell, John Stacey, Robert Traynor and Michelle White.

The Lend Me a Tenor tuner, which began life at Theatre Royal Plymouth in 2010, features a book and lyrics by Peter Sham and music by Brad Carroll. The show is set in 1934, when the world’s greatest tenor, Tito Merelli, has come to Cleveland to save its Grand Opera Company by singing Verdi’s Otello. When he is unexpectedly incapacitated, Max, the opera director’s meek assistant, is given the daunting task of finding a last-minute replacement. Chaos ensues—including a scheming soprano, a tenor-struck ingénue, a jealous wife, shrimp gone bad and the Cleveland Police department.