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[0:00] Tim Rice: Hello, this is Tim Rice, and this is episode 68 of my podcast, Get Onto My Cloud.

[0:16] Tim Rice: At the time of the recording of this podcast, I'm in the final, normally panic-stricken days before the opening of a new show. The show is a revival of From Here to Eternity, which played in the West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the autumn and winter of 2013-14. It's now about to open on October 29, 2022, for a two-month run at the Charing Cross Theatre, a small but perfectly formed theatre under the arches in central London.

[0:34] Tim Rice: The Charing Cross Theatre only seats just over 200, so early booking is essential. There's not too much panic in the ranks as we approach the new opening night, which fact is perhaps a little worrying in itself. The Shaftesbury Theatre version nine years ago was big and bold and got pretty good reviews on the whole, but lost most of its investment. This is the reverse of the fate of most of the shows I've been involved with, which get mediocre reviews, but turn out to be thumping great hits. I think I prefer the latter alternative.

[1:16] Tim Rice: Anyway, I don't think it was the size of the show that was a problem last time out. It looked good, had a fine cast, including the late Darius Campbell, to whom I paid tribute in my last Get Onto My Cloud podcast, episode 67. The direction was in the hands of Tamara Harvey, recently appointed joint head of the RSC. I like to think I recognized her great talent way before the theatrical establishment did.

[1:41] Tim Rice: The story certainly wasn't the problem either. From Here to Eternity of the Musical, Lyrics by Me, Music by Stuart Brayson, is based on the magnificent 1951 novel by James Jones, which was made into a multi-award-winning film by Fred Zinnemann two years later. Let me clue you in to the basic thrilling storyline created by James Jones. It's late November 1941. The Second World War is raging in Europe and in Asia. America, led by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, is not yet officially involved.

[2:18] Tim Rice: However, the U.S. armed forces are in a state of readiness as American intervention on the British side is imminently expected. Over 40,000 military personnel are stationed in Hawaii, not yet an American state, including the US Pacific Fleet. The soldiers of G Company in Hawaii are restless, nervous, cynical, fit and ready for action, perhaps even hoping for action. The show's first musical moment is G Company Blues, in which the men, the prospect of war hanging over them, reveal their boredom and frustration.

[3:05] ♪ Musical number: "G Company Blues" — performed by James Fox and Company ♪

[6:39] Tim Rice: There is a fine cast album available of the original 2013 show, featuring Darius and Robert Lonsdale. But the James Fox led recording was one of the many demos we recorded for the 2013 production. I have great memories of the demo recordings we made, produced and arranged by Pete Hobbs, also the producer of the 68 episodes so far of this podcast. They were recorded at Phil Manzanera's studio in West London. The celebrated musician was a magnificent host and has since become a good friend. At the recent Roxy Music concert at the O2, Phil's lead guitar was a standout among standouts.

[7:17] Tim Rice: Back to the plot of From Here to Eternity of the Musical. Private Robert E. Lee Pruitt has been transferred from A Company, which pleases G Company's captain Dana Holmes, who is obsessed with the intercompany boxing tournament that he has determined G Company will win, thus helping his own personal standing and prospects of promotion, which will get him off the goddamn island. However, Pruitt, a champion boxer when he was with A Company, refuses to box.

[7:45] Tim Rice: We learn that this is because of a tragic accident to one of his opponents in the ring. As a result, Pruitt is subjected to the treatment, a catalogue of physical and mental torment and harassment, ordered by Captain Holmes and carried out with glee by Sergeant Galovich and others. Holmes's staff sergeant, Milton Warden, who knew Pruitt when they were both in A Company, attempts to persuade Pruitt to give in to Holmes, but Pruitt refuses.

[8:14] Tim Rice: The only soldier who's sympathetic to Pruitt's plight is an Italian American, the nonstop joker, chatter, and wise guy Private Maggio, the role that won Frank Sinatra an Oscar in the Zinnemann movie. Sergeant Milt Warden has embarked upon a dangerous affair with Captain Holmes' wife Karen. She wants the stubborn Milt to apply for an officer's commission in order that they may plan a future together away from Hawaii, but he declares that he despises officers as the symbol of everything he's ever stood against.

[8:58] Tim Rice: Meanwhile, Pruitt has fallen for Lorene, a girl in the most celebrated and popular brothel in Honolulu, the new Congress Club, run by the forceful madam, Mrs. Kipfer. Lorene has done a deal with herself to justify her profession. As Pruitt says, she's a volunteer just like me. Lorene's ambition is to quit sex working and once she can afford to find herself a respectable man, respectable house, and respectable family back on the US mainland. Her song Run Along Joe, sung here by Siobhan Harrison from the original West End cast album, reveals much of her torment after falling in love with one particular G.I. Joe, Robert Ely Pruitt.

[9:39] ♪ Musical number: "Run Along Joe" — performed by Siobhan Harrison ♪

[11:13] ♪ Musical number: "Run Along Joe" — performed by Chavon Harrison ♪

[13:05] Tim Rice: The superb Chavon Harrison singing "Run Along Joe" from the original West End cast recording in 2013. Pruitt's one friend, Private Maggio, falls foul of the military police when the two are out on the town and become involved and accused of mixing with queers, which accusation threatens to bring about the collapse of G Company, or at least of Holmes's position in charge of it. The resolutions, or not, of the two star-crossed love affairs, the fate of Maggio, and above all the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in the early morning of December 7th, play havoc with hearts and souls as the story progresses to the most dramatic of theatrical endings, which we hope reflect accurately just some of the powerful strands of James Jones's masterpiece. Over 2,000 men died at Pearl Harbor on December the 7th, 1941. The musical climax to our show is entitled "The Boys of Forty-One."

[13:59] ♪ Musical number: "The Boys of Forty-One" — performed by the 2013 West End cast of From Here to Eternity ♪

[16:59] Tim Rice: The 2022 London production is smaller in size than that of 2013, but not, we hope, in impact. The director is Brett Smok, who has directed the show in two American theaters, his own in Auburn, New York, and Ogunquit, Maine. Brett approached us after seeing the original West End production, which he loved, but wanted to put his own stamp on it. This he did with distinction twice. And so, when we felt the time was right for a UK revival, Brett was the obvious man to take the helm. Katie Lipson of Arya Entertainment came on board as producer, as did Bill Kenwright, as a significant investor. Auditions were held in the late summer, and a mainly young cast, some fresh out of drama school, assembled.

They've been marvelous in rehearsals, enthusiastic, energetic, elegant, and delicate where necessary, aggressive and oppressive where necessary. The book by Donald Rice and Bill Oakes, the choreography by Cressida Carey, the musical direction of Nick Barstow, and not least the fight staging of Rennie Krupinski have all passed muster with five stars. What can possibly go wrong? Don't answer that. But if you're listening to this podcast before December the 17th, 2022, please come to the Charing Cross Theatre and judge for yourself. We plan an album of the Charing Cross Theatre Show, which will include new material we've written specially for this production. But it ain't been recorded yet. However, I can present a world exclusive preview of one of the new songs right here, "More to Life Than This," which has been sung beautifully by Carly Stenson in rehearsals as the betrayed and betraying wife of Captain Holmes. This is a demo recording of the song. Music by Stuart Brayson, vocals by Martha Hobbs.

[19:01] ♪ Musical number ♪

[22:14] Tim Rice: Peter Holmes.