Something's Rocking in Denmark hits TO!

Cliff Jones, a Toronto composer-lyricist has been working on his musical version of the saga of the Prince of Denmark on and off for the past 35 years. Its latest reincarnation can be seen when Something's Rocking in Denmark plays three performances tomorrow and Saturday at the Jane Mallett Theatre.

The idea of the show is a rock musical of Hamlet. To put it mildly, the musical has had quite the colourful past. Theatre critic Richard Ouzounian explains in today's Toronto Star:

"It all began back in the 1970s, when CBC Radio had a variety department, which used to commission new musicals frequently. Jones was one of their golden boys and he came up with an idea for a rock musical of Hamlet he called Kronborg: 1582.

They loved the idea and put it on the air Dec. 1, 1973 starring Cal Dodd as Hamlet and Nancy White as Ophelia. It instantly attracted many fans, including Alan Lund, who was then the artistic director of the Charlottetown Festival. Under the same title, it opened at Charlottetown in 1975 starring Brent Carver as Hamlet and Beverly D'Angelo as Ophelia, both of whom later went on to international success.

Longtime island summer visitor Colleen Dewhurst also became a fan of the show and brought Broadway producer Lester Osterman to see it. He decided to take the show to New York and hired legendary director Gower Champion to stage it. It opened to unanimously poisonous reviews ("Perfectly and impeccably awful," lamented the New York Post), closing seven performances later.

In 1981, a version called Something's Rocking in Denmark played a 14-month run at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles and since then it has popped up at colleges and universities around Canada." (thestar.com)

Now, the LA production of the show garnered quite a lot of critical praise, and won twelve Dramalogue Awards. Many believed the musicals eclectic mix of musical genres was very effective and the energy of the show was said to be electrifying. It will be very interesting to see what the reception is this weekend.

Jones, who is also directing this short run, is hoping this version will be a conglomeration of "the best of all previous productions."

The cast of 18 features Scott Freethy, Ted Ambrose, Lisa Bell, Matthew A.C. Campbell, Trevor Covelli, , Michael Harvey, Laura Higgs and Gerald Isaac.

Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8 p.m.
Jane Mallett Theatre, 27 Front St. E.
$30-$40 at http://www.stlc.com/ or
416-366-7723.