Original London cast of TAKEAWAY, 2011.
TAKEAWAY
or THE DEVIL IN TOM JONES
A musical comedy
Music by LEON KO
Book and Lyrics by ROBERT LEE
Music by LEON KO
Book and Lyrics by ROBERT LEE
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News
Open or CloseTAKEAWAY songs have their New York (and US) premiere at the debut concert of the Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project on SUNDAY, MAY 19 at 8PM in the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre of the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd St.
Cindy Cheung, Daniel J Edwards, Brooke Ishibashi and Helen Park will be performing excerpts from the show, with Yan Li at the piano.
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Synopsis
Open or CloseTAKEAWAY tells the coming-of-age story of Eddie Woo, a British Chinese youth struggling to balance a dead-end job at his father’s down-and-out East London Chinese takeaway restaurant with a rich fantasy life where he is a British Chinese version of his idol, international singing sensation and Las Vegas legend Tom Jones.
Ever since the trauma of his mother’s death, life for Eddie Woo has been a series of failed university entrance exams, secret afternoon trysts during the takeaway’s “off-hours,” hasty interactions with his distant, disapproving father Henry, and elaborate private fantasies of being the new Chinese Tom Jones, the Teflon-voiced, testosterone-suffused Welsh superstar and professed “blackest white man in show business,” who has become Eddie’s musical obsession ever since an unfortunate CD mix-up during the recessional at his mother’s funeral.
All of that changes the day a TV talent competition/reality show swings through town out to discover “Britain’s Newest Unexpected Singing Sensation.” A chance meeting with an old schoolmate-turned-small-time television promoter—coupled with some fortuitous news from Henry about the takeaway which threatens to keep Eddie in the family business for good—sets off a chain of events that causes Eddie's precarious existence to unravel. Over the next six days, Eddie will lie to his father, cheat on his girlfriends, sing at a dodgy pub, have gay sex, fall in love, betray his best mate, humiliate his family and friends, discover his father’s secret mistress and otherwise muck things up royally as he plots his escape to reality-show fame and fortune. It takes a visitation by Eddie’s hirsute Guardian Angel himself to convince him the time has come to stop running, stop pretending and find healing in the “Green, Green Grass of Home.” -
Production history
Open or CloseTAKEAWAY was first performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East with the following cast:
Marcus Ellard (REESE); Stephen Hoo (EDDIE); Natasha Jayetileke (DILLON); Pik-sen Lim (WIDOW CHU); Windson Liong (LUM); Gloria Onitiri (SHEILA); Shelley Williams (GUARDIAN ANGEL); Gabby Wong (ANGELA); and Ozzie Yue (HENRY)
Opening night: Friday, June 10, 2011
Director Kerry Michael; Set and Costume Designer Foxton; Music Director Robert Hyman; Choreographer Jason Pennycooke; Lighting Designer Paul Anderson; Sound Designer John Leonard; Associate Choreographer Farah Hussain; Assistant Director Amy Ip; Casting Sookie McShane CDG and Lucy Jenkins CDG
-
News
Open or CloseTAKEAWAY songs have their New York (and US) premiere at the debut concert of the Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project on SUNDAY, MAY 19 at 8PM in the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre of the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd St.
Cindy Cheung, Daniel J Edwards, Brooke Ishibashi and Helen Park will be performing excerpts from the show, with Yan Li at the piano. -
Synopsis
Open or CloseTAKEAWAY tells the coming-of-age story of Eddie Woo, a British Chinese youth struggling to balance a dead-end job at his father’s down-and-out East London Chinese takeaway restaurant with a rich fantasy life where he is a British Chinese version of his idol, international singing sensation and Las Vegas legend Tom Jones.
Ever since the trauma of his mother’s death, life for Eddie Woo has been a series of failed university entrance exams, secret afternoon trysts during the takeaway’s “off-hours,” hasty interactions with his distant, disapproving father Henry, and elaborate private fantasies of being the new Chinese Tom Jones, the Teflon-voiced, testosterone-suffused Welsh superstar and professed “blackest white man in show business,” who has become Eddie’s musical obsession ever since an unfortunate CD mix-up during the recessional at his mother’s funeral.
All of that changes the day a TV talent competition/reality show swings through town out to discover “Britain’s Newest Unexpected Singing Sensation.” A chance meeting with an old schoolmate-turned-small-time television promoter—coupled with some fortuitous news from Henry about the takeaway which threatens to keep Eddie in the family business for good—sets off a chain of events that causes Eddie's precarious existence to unravel. Over the next six days, Eddie will lie to his father, cheat on his girlfriends, sing at a dodgy pub, have gay sex, fall in love, betray his best mate, humiliate his family and friends, discover his father’s secret mistress and otherwise muck things up royally as he plots his escape to reality-show fame and fortune. It takes a visitation by Eddie’s hirsute Guardian Angel himself to convince him the time has come to stop running, stop pretending and find healing in the “Green, Green Grass of Home.” -
Production history
Open or CloseTAKEAWAY was first performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East with the following cast:
Marcus Ellard (REESE); Stephen Hoo (EDDIE); Natasha Jayetileke (DILLON); Pik-sen Lim (WIDOW CHU); Windson Liong (LUM); Gloria Onitiri (SHEILA); Shelley Williams (GUARDIAN ANGEL); Gabby Wong (ANGELA); and Ozzie Yue (HENRY)
Opening night: Friday, June 10, 2011
Director Kerry Michael; Set and Costume Designer Foxton; Music Director Robert Hyman; Choreographer Jason Pennycooke; Lighting Designer Paul Anderson; Sound Designer John Leonard; Associate Choreographer Farah Hussain; Assistant Director Amy Ip; Casting Sookie McShane CDG and Lucy Jenkins CDG
—Media—
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Videos
Open or ClosePromo for the original London production
Teaser/medley with composer demos and photos from the London production
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Videos
Open or ClosePromo for the original London production
Medley with composer demos & photos from the London production