Maddie and Us

Stephen Sondheim said it had "a classic rousing Broadway score." London's Daily Telegraph critic called it "the show we've been waiting for." "Maddie" opened in London's West End in 1997 after a seven year roller-coaster creative process. Everyone anticipated a hit. A "making of" book was commissioned to coincide with the show's opening.But showbiz is famously fickle and "Maddie" closed after only six weeks. The dreams of its creative team - composer Stephen Keeling, writer Shaun McKenna and writer/director Steven Dexter - were dashed.Twenty years later, Stage Door Records produced a 20th anniversary reissue of the Original London Cast Recording, together with a fascinating disc of cut songs and alternative versions. A new generation of musical theatre fans suddenly got interested. Now you can read the extraordinary story of "Maddie's" journey to the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. This is the "making of" book written at the time, when the paint had barely dried on the set and the wounds were still raw, now updated and expanded with the benefit of hindsight. Many of the great names of 1990s musical theatre wander through these pages - not just the always supportive Sondheim but people like Cameron Mackintosh (who writes the Foreword ), Mike Ockrent and Lionel Bart. It is a vivid portrait of three beginners having the adventure of their lives. They had plenty of energy, plenty of talent and plenty of guts - and they made plenty of mistakes. "Maddie" is a musical comedy about a dead wannabe film star who refuses to give up on her belief that she can make it big - even after she has been dead for fifty years Sometimes it seemed that the character herself was controlling the show's destiny, refusing to lie down even when the prospects of success were at their bleakest.Finally finding its home with producer Kenny Wax - then a rookie, now a major West End player - "Maddie's" journey involved promises made and promises broken, blind faith, steep learning curves, death, illness, near bankruptcy, fraudsters, creative slanging matches, sulks, extraordinary twists of fate and the unbelievable generosity of scores of people who had never invested in theatre before.Shaun McKenna's account is a lively and entertaining read that covers everything from how they constructed the Book, Sondheim's personal input into writing lyrics, how shows are put together out of London and what happens when they transfer. It is a vivid portrait of 1990s theatre, when it was still possible for unknown writers to write an original show and get it as far as a West End stage. It contains a fascinating chapter about the formation of the Mercury Workshop (now Mercury Musical Developments), an organisation dedicated to helping new musical theatre talents emerge."Maddie and Us" is a book for anyone interested in musical theatre, showbiz memoirs, and inside stories.