1066 The Musical to hit the stage
It has taken almost nine hundred and forty three years, but 1066 The Musical is about to hit the stage.
Well known local musician Mike Hatchard is busy fine-tuning the script and musical score for the show, which he says will tell audiences everything they know about the world-famous tale.
Speaking to The Observer this week, Mr Hatchard said: "I heard recently that four film companies are pursuing the 1066 story, and I was devastated.
"Not that my musical in any way treads on their territory, but because people are likely to think that I'm jumping on the bandwagon. In fact I've been working on this project for the last three years."
Mr Hatchard is no stranger to musicals. He was written three in the past and is musical director for Tony Macaulay who has been writing a musical based on Goodnight Sweetheart.
He also did orchestrations for the musical Time at the Dominion Theatre and once collaborated on a song with Herbert Krezmer, the lyricist for Les Miserables.
He continued: "When I first came to Hastings I was astonished at this town's obsession with its history. 1066 billboards everywhere, 1066 coffee bars, 1066 badminton clubs - I even saw a van with William the Concreter painted all over it. And yet for all that, artistically there seemed very little. "Surely a town steeped in so much history and so full of creative people would make commemorate such an event in music.
"And so in my own small but determined way I've sought to remedy the situation."
As there is no known record of the type of music played in the eleventh century Mr Hatchard has a fairly free hand stylistically. As one might expect with his background there is a strong jazz influence but there's also more than a splattering of country, folk and even rock'n'roll.
"I've been as liberal with the music as I have with the story", admits Mike. But although he isn't claiming to be producing a tale oozing historical accuracy he has tried to be essentially faithful to the truth, and has researched his subject thoroughly.
Mr Hatchard will be presenting his new opus in a concert at the Hastings and Rother Voluntary Association for the Blind, 383 Battle Road on March 2 at 8pm.
Anybody who is interested in being involved in this project in any capacity is invited to email Elizabeth Rodgers on elizabethrodgers123@hotmail.co.uk.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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