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‘Little Prince’ takes Jamie on a whirlwind journey


By Sarah Rollo

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NICHOLAS Lloyd Webber is thanking his lucky stars that the one-time captain of Bishopmill Primary’s football team set aside the beautiful game to forge a career in music.

For James D. Reid and the son of the famous theatre composer have teamed up to create a musical based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s ‘The Little Prince’, currently on stage at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre.

The duo, who celebrated the New Year with families and friends in Moray, have had a whirlwind journey since the story of the pilot who crashes in the desert and encounters the innocent, yet wise, Little Prince entered their lives.

First published in 1943, the novella has since become one of the best-selling books of all time, with translations into 180 languages.

Through a sweep of musical genres, the pair have brought to life the story of the young prince’s time on his lonely asteroid the size of a house, his encounters with characters around the solar system, and his fall to Earth.

“Jamie pitched up and chucked this book at me and said, ‘Right, we are going to write a musical’,” said Nick, who has been making music for most of his adult life but, up until that moment, had never considered taking on a full scale musical production.

Less than 24 months on, Niamh Perry, best known as a finalist in the BBC’s ‘I’d Do Anything’, was on stage in the role of the Prince at the world premiere, which attracted an opening night audience including ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star, long-term supporter of the project, and the duo’s friend, Kevin McKidd, as well as Lord Lloyd Webber himself.

The eldest of three sons, Jamie (41) grew up in Moray, where his late father was an RAF navigator. His mum, a retired art teacher at Elgin High School, still lives in the area. He cut his musical theatre teeth playing a lead role in an Elgin performance by the St Giles Theatre Group.

“It all started with ‘Godspell’; that was the first one I was ever in. Then, literally that summer, I went down to Edinburgh to university and along with Kevin went to the Bedlam (the university’s theatre) and that is really where it all took off. What ‘Godspell’ had done was actually make me feel at home around the theatre.

“From there on in, I was more at the Bedlam than I was at university,” he said.

With a subsequent qualification from the Central School of Speech and Drama under his belt, Jamie directed theatre and comedy in and around London, before going on to become a director and writer for children’s television, working primarily for the BBC.

As well as directing, he has composed music for the BBC and often works in close collaboration with Nick, most recently on music for an episode of ‘Grey’s’.

“About two years ago, Nick and I were writing a series called the ‘Season Songs’ for CBeebies and we realised that when we finished ‘Winter’ we would have nothing to do,” he said, “so I started thinking about a musical.

“In the record industry there has been a major shift. It used to be that all the record companies would make their money from CD sales, but because of iTunes and things like that, they’ve found that that is not the case any more and that you make money from the band when they go on stage. So we thought what better than to write our own stage show, that’s performed every night, and not necessarily by us.”

Nick’s wife, Charlotte – the executive director of Lamplighter Drama Ltd which produces ‘The Little Prince’ – gave permission for the pair to escape to her family home in the south of France for two weeks to “bash out” some songs in order to see if the project had a future. They discovered it did.

“We actually wrote what turned out to be pretty much the basis for most of the songs during that two-week stay. In fact, there was one day when there was a downpour which ended in a power cut, and we wrote about eight songs that are still in the show today,” Jamie said.

An eclectic mix of musical influences – from Elgar, through Gershwin and Cole Porter, to the Doors – are used to define different characters in the stage show, which has few restrictions being set in two very empty spaces; space itself and a desert.

Niamh Perry was involved early on, having been introduced to Nick (32) through his father. “My dad said, ‘right you two, do something together’. So when this came along I rang her up and throughout the rest of the process she was in and out of the studio,” he said, with Kevin also helping out at the demo stage by singing the closing song.

It was then that the artistic director of the Lyric, Richard Croxford, travelled to London to listen to the finished work. “He went away for half an hour, came back, and said, ‘right boys, you are on’. So from that moment on we haven’t really done anything else,” said Nick.

With the show on its first outing, both count themselves fortunate to have been involved in the rehearsal period as their work was brought to life on stage, with Mr Croxford bringing them in on any big decisions right up to opening night.

Does the production live up to their aspirations? “It is close, but it is not perfect,” said Jamie.

“There are some fixes that we want to make to our score. But bearing in mind the average musical takes five years to write, let alone put on stage, and we did the whole thing in two years, there are some problems with it, but, it is a really beautiful production and I think we have a lot to be proud of,” said Nick.

Now, West End production company representatives are expected to view the show, which runs until January 15. “So obviously fingers crossed, touch wood, and all that,” said Jamie. “They will know that this is a work in progress and this is our first one. And one thing that is very much going in our favour in terms of the potential of this moving on, is that the estate of the author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, love it. It is run by his nephew, who came over and loved it and so they’ve basically said they would like to endorse it as their official version.”

Canada and Australia – other testing grounds for new musicals – could be the next stop in the journey of ‘The Little Prince’.

With a dad world-famous for changing the course of the British musical genre, Nick said he never aspired to follow in his footsteps and only “grudgingly” agreed to score three performances for the Oxford Shakespeare Company, which was founded by his wife.

“Apart from the obvious connection, it wasn’t something that I considered. I was doing records and film stuff and she harangued me and then, eventually, I ended up doing a score for ‘Twelfth Night’ and found that I actually really loved it. It wasn’t really on my particular flight path, but the more I’ve done it, to be honest, the more I’ve felt at home.

“This is the first full scale musical I’ve done and I’ve enjoyed it. Put it this way, I’ve seen more of Jamie over the last two years than I have of my family. But it has all been worth it, that is for sure,” he said, before blurting out: “Jamie wrote a musical while he was at university called ‘Dennis and the Ultimate Sandwich’...and I think we should probably leave that there.”

Sitting by a roaring fire and drinking a glass of red wine as they reflected on the past two years, Jamie said his career could have taken a very different path. “I was preoccupied with football and it was very difficult for my teachers to make me less obsessed. I was captain of the Bishopmill Primary School football team and also the Elgin Boys, for my age group.

“Football was the only thing for me. Tony (his brother) and I used to go out into the back garden, even if the whole area was iced over, and keep kicking balls. I drove my mum, dad and teachers insane,” he said.

Fortunately for theatre, he was persuaded to pick up a guitar in his teens and from then music and drama have been his passion.

“Needless to say, I’m delighted that he left his career in football and took up music,” said Nick, with a companionable grin.

Jamie Reid (left) and Nicholas Lloyd Webber reflect on the two-year journey that brought 'The Little Prince' on to the musical stage.
Jamie Reid (left) and Nicholas Lloyd Webber reflect on the two-year journey that brought 'The Little Prince' on to the musical stage.

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