Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Roy Plomley
Musical theatre composer and playwright, best known for the record-breaking musical Salad Days.
Eight records
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
Do you come from a musical family?
Yes, uh I was certainly brought up on music, um mainly musical comedy and Gilbert and Sullivan. I think I'm the first writer of music in the family, though.
Presenter asks
Which was your main interest to start with, the theatre or music?
Oh, definitely the theatre. I wanted to be an actor for a long time.
Presenter asks
How did it all start?
Well, it started, I think, when I was at my prep school and played Lady Macbeth at the age of eleven. I think that made me think I would like to be in the theatre. And then when I went to the university, I used to do a great deal of acting, and that's when I discovered I could write.
Presenter asks
Had you had any academic musical training?
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Speaker 1
This is the BBC.
Speaker 1
This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen sixty, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.
Presenter
Are you a Londoner, Julia? Yes, I am. I was born in London. Do you come from a musical family?
Presenter
Yes, uh I was certainly brought up on music, um mainly musical comedy and Gilbert and Sullivan.
Presenter
I think I'm the first writer of music in the family, though. Which was your main interest to start with, the theatre or music? Oh, definitely the theatre.
Presenter
I wanted to be an actor for a long time.
Presenter
And it's through the theatre that I came to write music. Yes. How did it all start?
Presenter
Well, it started, I think, when I was at my prep school and played Lady Macbeth at the age of eleven. I think that made me think I would like to be in the theatre. And then when I went to the university, I used to do a great deal of acting, and that's when I discovered I could write. You wrote two musical plays while you were at Cambridge, didn't you? Yes, I did. That's where I first discovered that I could write music. Had you had any academic musical training? No, none at all. I'd been taught to play the piano, but I had no idea of musical theory. And in fact, when I first started to write, I could only write in the key of C. I had to force myself to write in sharps and flats. Where did you have your first professional acting experience? At the Bristol Old Vic. I was a student at the school there, and I used to be allowed to play First Lords and Messengers and Flunkies and things. But after a year, the producer, Dennis Carey, persuaded me that my talents did not lie in that direction, and that I better stick to music.
Julian Slade
What was the first professional production for which you wrote the music?
Presenter
I wrote some incidental music for the two gentlemen of Verona, which eventually came to the London El Vic. But I think the thing that really turned me to musical comedy was the first Christmas show that I wrote at the Bristol El Vic. It was called Christmas in King Street, and it was in that show that I first met Dorothy Reynolds, and we became collaborators. Yes. You wrote quite a number of productions of the Bristol L Vic. Yes, I did. After that I wrote a version of Sheridan's Duenna.
Presenter
And then Dorothy and I wrote another Christmas show called The Merry Gentleman.
Presenter
And finally in our third year we wrote Salad Days.
Presenter
It was written as an end-of-season show, especially for this particular company.
Presenter
that we had who were playing murder in the cathedral the week before. A company of straight actors. Yes, a company of straight actors and uh it was meant to run for three weeks. You had no anticipation that it would come to London?
Julian Slade
True.
Julian Slade
Yeah.
Presenter
None at all, no. After it opened we realized there was something rather exciting about it, and um the company all wrote off to all the influential people they knew, and that's how it came to London.
Julian Slade
That's
Julian Slade
And the first night at the Vaudeville Theatre was a sensation. The audience wouldn't go home.
Presenter
Well, I find it difficult to rem
Julian Slade
Remember the first day to tell you the truth. How long did it run? Five and a half years. Beating the British record held by Chu Chin Chow and I I think the world record held by Oklahoma. Yes.
Julian Slade
I know Salad Days has been produced in in many countries and in a number of languages. Have you seen any of the overseas production?
Julian Slade
I've only seen two unf
Presenter
Fortunately, I saw the one that was done in New York and I went over for some rehearsals of um a Belgian production in Brussels.
Presenter
Which was very interesting hearing it all in French, I must say. It all sounded rather better, I thought.
Julian Slade
Yeah.
Julian Slade
Uh
Presenter
Uh
Julian Slade
At Long Lost Saturdays has a successor at the fertile Follow That Girl.
Julian Slade
Now this again, like Saturday's with its magic piano, has a fantastic story.
Julian Slade
Now your critics, and you do have a few critics because your plays seem to inspire either either complete devotion or the opposite, say that this fantastication, this disregard in the story for time and space, is a weakness. Wh why do you stick to this particular kind of story?
Presenter
Yeah.
Presenter
We haven't always stuck to it. We tried something different in Freya's Air. We tried to write a more coherent musical comedy in the strict sense. But in Follow That Girl, indeed, we have preserved a loose shape because we find that it gives us a release to do whatever we like to do. And I find that particularly with music, that I want to feel completely free to express myself without being tied too much to a story.
Julian Slade
Mm-hmm.
Presenter
Yeah.
Julian Slade
How closely do you do collaborate with Dorothy Reynolds? Do you sit round a table and hammer out each line together, or do you communicate on the telephone, or what?
Presenter
Uh well at the beginning stages we talk and talk and talk.
Presenter
And as a matter of fact, the the thing that we do concentrate on most of all, believe it or not, is the story, because however slight that may be, that is obviously the backbone of the whole show.
Julian Slade
else
Presenter
Once we've got that clear in our minds, then we parcel the work out by songs and scenes and decide which of us is more suited to write.
Julian Slade
What? You've had very great success, Julian. Is there any major ambition still in view that isn't fulfilled?
Julian Slade
Yes, in
Presenter
Indeed, there is. I certainly want to go on writing musical comedies, and I'd like to write a big one. I should like to have one at Drury Lane, for instance, one day. Also, I should love to write a a comic opera.
Speaker 1
One's a
Speaker 1
You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. For more podcasts please visit bbc.co. uk slash radio four. This is the BBC
No, none at all. I'd been taught to play the piano, but I had no idea of musical theory. And in fact, when I first started to write, I could only write in the key of C. I had to force myself to write in sharps and flats.
Presenter asks
Where did you have your first professional acting experience?
At the Bristol Old Vic. I was a student at the school there, and I used to be allowed to play First Lords and Messengers and Flunkies and things. But after a year, the producer, Dennis Carey, persuaded me that my talents did not lie in that direction, and that I better stick to music.
Presenter asks
Your critics say that this fantastication, this disregard in the story for time and space, is a weakness. Why do you stick to this particular kind of story?
We haven't always stuck to it. We tried something different in Freya's Air. We tried to write a more coherent musical comedy in the strict sense. But in Follow That Girl, indeed, we have preserved a loose shape because we find that it gives us a release to do whatever we like to do. And I find that particularly with music, that I want to feel completely free to express myself without being tied too much to a story.
Presenter asks
How closely do you collaborate with Dorothy Reynolds? Do you sit round a table and hammer out each line together, or do you communicate on the telephone, or what?
Uh well at the beginning stages we talk and talk and talk. And as a matter of fact, the the thing that we do concentrate on most of all, believe it or not, is the story, because however slight that may be, that is obviously the backbone of the whole show. Once we've got that clear in our minds, then we parcel the work out by songs and scenes and decide which of us is more suited to write.
Presenter asks
Is there any major ambition still in view that isn't fulfilled?
Indeed, there is. I certainly want to go on writing musical comedies, and I'd like to write a big one. I should like to have one at Drury Lane, for instance, one day. Also, I should love to write a a comic opera.
“When I first started to write, I could only write in the key of C. I had to force myself to write in sharps and flats.”
“The producer, Dennis Carey, persuaded me that my talents did not lie in that direction, and that I better stick to music.”
“After it opened we realized there was something rather exciting about it, and um the company all wrote off to all the influential people they knew, and that's how it came to London.”
“The first night at the Vaudeville Theatre was a sensation. The audience wouldn't go home.”
“I find that particularly with music, that I want to feel completely free to express myself without being tied too much to a story.”
“I'd like to write a big one. I should like to have one at Drury Lane, for instance, one day.”