Zuleika [extract]

Summary: BBC production of a 45-minute extract from Zuleika, a new musical comedy drawing on Max Beerbohm’s novel Zuleika Dobson, presented in a special performance from the Saville Theatre, London.
Theatre play: Zuleika by James Ferman (1930-2002) [more information]
Play synopsis: A new musical comedy drawing on Max Beerbohm’s novel Zuleika Dobson; or, An Oxford Love Story, which satirized undergraduate life in Oxford in 1911. The plot of the novel was generally followed by James Ferman, except for the conclusion which was changed to provide a happy ending.
Production history: 'The show was first staged at an undergraduate club at Cambridge in 1954, two years before Beerbohm’s death.[1] The impresario Donald Albery acquired the rights to stage it in the West End, and engaged Osbert Lancaster as designer and Alfred Rodrigues as director.[1] The production opened at the Saville Theatre on 11 April 1957.' (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuleika_%28musical%29.)
Date of transmission: Wednesday 12 June 1957
Time: 9.30pm
Series: Theatre Night
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Directors

Eleanor Fazan, Peter Powell

Charles Mackerras (credited with ‘Orchestration’)

Television Presentation by

John Vernon

Playwright

James Ferman (1930-2002)

Composer

Peter Tranchell

Lyrics

James Ferman (1930-2002)

Musical Direction

Alan Abbott

Sets / Settings

Osbert Lancaster

Costumes

Osbert Lancaster

Cast

Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags: adaptation of novel; comedy; musical; universities, as theme or setting

Title: A New Zuleika: Latter-day Edwardian Siren of Oxford (Newspaper review)
Author/creator: Philip Hope-Wallace (Reviewer)
Reference: The Manchester Guardian, 12 April 1957, p. 9
Linking notes: n.b. a review of the stage production, not the excerpt shown on television

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