Directed by Graeme Gibaut
October 7, 8 & 9, 2004

Greta, a young girl	Victoria Bedford
Rudi Kleber, a composer	Duncan Sykes
Hatti, a housekeeper	Barbara Williamsn
Lilli	Valerie Clarke
Elizabeth	Sue Worker
Hilde	Dorothy Bentote
Wanda	Laura Davenport
1st man	Tag
2nd Man	Malcolm Bentote
Franzell, a young officer	Mark Brown
Maria Zeigler, an operetta star	Emma Kimsey
Prince Charles Metterling	Brian Beeston
Cacille Kurt, a music teacher	Jo Williams
Otto Breitkopf, a composer	Malcolm Bentote
Ceruti, a tenor	Ian Archer
Countess Lotte	Trisha Hughes
Maria's dresser	Laura Davenport
Hans, a waiter	Tag
Carl, Maria's son	Jack Haynes

Programme Notes       [Photographs]

IVOR NOVELLO

David Ivor Davies was born in Cardiff in January 1893. He was taught how to play the piano and given singing lessons by his mother, Madame Clara Novello.

At the age of ten he won a scholarship to Magdelen College School in Oxford and sang in the famous school choir. He was the leading boy soprano soloist until his voice broke at the age of sixteen years.

Ivor Novello, as he was now known, began writing songs at an early age. The first to be published, called "Spring of the Year", was written when he was sixteen years old.

His ambition, however, was to go on the stage, much against the wishes of his mother! He continued to compose music and write songs and his big break came in 1914. He composed the music for a patriotic song, "Till the Boys Come Home", later to be called "Keep the Home Fires Burning". This song made Ivor Novello a household name and was his biggest success so far.

During the war Ivor served in the Royal Air Force and then in the Air Ministry. After the war Ivor visited America, a trip that eventually would lead to a very successful film career.

In 1935, Ivor's first musical play, "Glamorous Nights", was produced at Drury Lane Theatre and became an instant success. This was followed by "Careless Rapture" and "Crest of a Wave". Then, in 1939, "The Dancing Years" opened at the Drury Lane Theatre and ran intermittently for ten years! It has been said that Ivor's greatest musical success of all was -

"The Dancing Years".