The big-budget West End musical, Tonight's The Night, featuring the songs of Rod Stewart, is closing earlier than expected. The tuner, which recently announced that it would shutter on October 30, is now set to vacate the Victoria Palace on October 9.
Tonight's The Night, which features a book by Ben Elton, centers on Stu Roderick, a shy guy who is so hung up and tongue-tied that he cannot even find the courage to declare his love to Mary, the sweet girl of his dreams. One night, alone and desperate, Stu reflects that if he could only be more like his idol Rod Stewart, then Mary would surely be his and for that, Stu would sell his very soul. Soon an agent of Satan turns up ready to make a deal.
The musical, directed by Elton, opened at the Victoria Palace on November 7, 2003 to mostly negative reviews. Matt Wolf of Variety wrote of the show: "Those curious about the sort of rock back-catalog musical one could write on the back of a napkin should pay a visit to Tonight's the Night, the latest in a predominantly British genre of rapidly diminishing returns, except where it matters most--the box office."
Following Tonight's The Night into the Victoria Palace will be a brief limited engagement of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then Billy Elliot - The Musical.