Musical first for festival

Prepare for lots of laughs as students perform the Newbury Spring Festival's first musical

For the first time the Newbury Spring Festival has a musical in the programme. On Friday, May 12 there will be performance of the West End hit musical Betty Blue Eyes at the Corn Exchange.

With the music by George Stiles and lyrics by Anthony Drew, Betty Blue Eyes is based on the 1984 award winning comic film A Private Function by Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray. The music was originally premiered at the Novello Theatre in London in 2011 to great critical acclaim and became a big sensation.

The story goes like this: It is 1947 and the UK is on rations with high unemployment, but the country is about to celebrate the forthcoming wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. A pig called Betty is being illegally reared in a small Yorkshire town so that the local dignitaries can enjoy a lavish banquet. However the town’s inhabitants are eccentric, strange and not all they seem to be!

The performance at the Festival will be given by the Musical Theatre Festival Company with a young cast about to embark on their professional career. The students are from the University of Chichester who launched their Music Theatre foundation degree in 2008. The course has gained a nationally recognised programme of excellence and is the regional option to the London conservatoirs.

So be prepared for lots of laughter,

For more information go to www.newburyspringfestival.org.uk

Tickets: 0845 5218 218