Love Story: 10th Anniversary Concert will feature original cast members Michael D. Xavier (Oliver Barrett), Emma Williams (Jenny Cavilleri) and Peter Polycarpou (Phil Cavilleri). This concert marks the 10th Anniversary of Love Story’s premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2010, before a run at the West End’s Duchess Theatre.
Based on the 1970 New York Times #1 bestselling novel by Erich Segal - which was adapted into one of the highest grossing films of all time - Love Story follows Oliver Barrett IV, a Harvard jock, and Jenny Cavilleri, a gifted musician studying at Radcliffe. The musical is a celebration of their lives, reminding us that love is the most important gift of all.
Michael D. Xavier (Oliver Barrett IV), has most recently been seen as Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard (ENO/Palace Theatre, Broadway). Other notable credits include Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory), Into The Woods (Regent’s Park Open Air) and The Pajama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre).
He is joined by Emma Williams (Jenny Cavilleri), whose West End work includes Half a Sixpence (Noel Coward Theatre), Mrs Henderson Presents (Noel Coward Theatre), and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium).
Completing the lead casting is West End legend Peter Polycarpou (Phil Cavilleri), whose extensive career includes Les Misérables (Palace Theatre), The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), City of Angels (Donmar Warehouse), Sweeney Todd (Adelphi Theatre) and Oslo (National Theatre/Harold Pinter Theatre).
The show will be directed by Samuel Hopkins with musical direction by Andrew Linnie, the team behind the acclaimed 2016 Cadogan Hall concert of Howard Goodhall’s The Hired Man, starring Jenna Russell and John Owen-Jones.
Erich Segal (Novel)
Erich Segal (June 16, 1937 – January 17, 2010) was an American author, screenwriter, and Classics Professor. He was best-known for writing the novel Love Story (1970), a best-seller, and writing the hit major motion picture of the same name. The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards and he won a Golden Globe for his screenplay.
Howard Goodhall (Music and Additional Lyrics)
Howard Goodall is an award-winning composer of choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scores, and is well known as a TV and radio broadcaster. His best-known themes & scores include Blackadder, The Gathering Storm, The Borrowers, Red Dwarf, Q.I., Mr Bean, Island Parish and The Vicar of Dibley. His score for the HBO film Into the Storm won him the Primetime Emmy award for Original Dramatic Score in 2009.
Stephen Clark (Book and Lyrics)
Stephen was an award winning playwright, librettist and lyricist. His work has been performed all over the world for the last 30 years. Stephen Clark’s play, Stripped, won a Jefferson Award in Chicago 2003 (Circle Theatre). Other plays include Takeaway (Lyric Hammersmith), and Making Waves at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough.
