West End Wednesday: CLOSER TO HEAVEN
Closer to Heaven is a West End musical using music composed by the hit British pop group The Pet Shop Boys, and a book by popular playwright Jonathan Harvey.
Closer to Heaven is narrated by retired rock icon and actress Billie Trix, who tells the story of Shell, a young girl who is going to meet her estranged father Vic for the first time in years. Vic left Shell’s father when he couldn’t hide the fact that he was gay from her anymore and now runs a successful gay bar in London. As Shell gets to London, Straight Dave has just started working in her father’s club and the couple immediately fall for each other. However, when Straight Dave starts having feelings towards another man, who happens to be a drug dealer, everything starts to unravel around them all.
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys wrote the music specifically for the musical as they didn’t want to create that of a jukebox. A lot of the songs created for Closer to Heaven were produced for their 1999 album ‘Night Life’, apart from ‘Shameless’ which was a B-side to ‘Go West’.
Closer to Heaven opened at the Arts Theatre in May 2001. The original cast featured Frances Barber as Billie Trix, Paul Keating as Straight Dave, Stacey Roca as Shell and David Burt as Vic Christian, with Louie Spence as an ensemble member. The show opened to packed houses and was initially extended to play into January 2002, however, over the summer the ticket sales began to dwindle, and the Arts Theatre made the decision to close the show on 13 October in a bid to put a show with more pull in, in order to get audience members back into the theatre post the 9/11 attacks.
The show was produced in Brisbane, Brighton and Texas before being revived at the Union Theatre in May 2015. This production featured Katie Meller as Billie Trix, Jared Thompson as Straight Dave, Amy Matthews as Shell and Craig Berry as Vic. The production was a success and sold out, encouraging them to produce another run from October-November of the same year. The revival starred Alex Lodge as Straight Dave, Molly McGuire as Shell and David Habbin as Vic.
The most recent revival of Closer to Heaven was seen at Above the Stag Theatre in 2019. Fascinating Idea star Adele Anderson starred as Billie Trix, with Blake Patrick Anderson as Straight Dave, Maddy Banks as Shell Christian and Christopher Howell as Vic. The production was directed by Steven Dexter.
Besties, if you haven’t listened to Closer to Heaven, get it done!
Cast recording available on streaming services.
FACTS:
Music: Pet Shop Boys
Lyrics: Pet Shop Boys
Book: Jonathan Harvey
Theatre: The Arts Theatre
Run: May–October 2001
