Coronation Street musical Street of Dreams shelved

  • Published
Julie Goodyear in front of Street of Dreams poster
Image caption,

Actress Julie Goodyear reprised her role as the larger-than-life barmaid Bet Lynch

An official Coronation Street stage musical, which has been performed just twice, has had its future dates postponed so the show can be reworked.

Street of Dreams featured comedian Paul O'Grady and stars of the soap including Julie Goodyear and Kym Marsh.

It opened in Manchester to mixed reviews last week and was due to tour to Dublin, Belfast and Newcastle.

But producers said they were "now keen to revisit the production and further develop ideas for the UK tour".

Street of Dreams was an all-singing, all-dancing arena show with West End-style musical numbers about iconic characters such as Elsie Tanner and Hilda Ogden.

It featured appearances from Goodyear, who played Bet Lynch, plus Kevin Kennedy, better known as Curly Watts, as well as O'Grady as the narrator and a cast of 30 dancers.

The <link> <caption>Guardian</caption> <url href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/may/11/street-of-dreams-review" platform="highweb"/> </link> newspaper praised its "wonderful" dialogue but The <link> <caption>Daily Telegraph</caption> <url href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/9260657/Street-of-Dreams-Manchester-Arena-review.html" platform="highweb"/> </link> gave it two stars out of five and criticised "the lameness of the script".

Media caption,

Listen to a sample of the music from the Street of Dreams musical

The <link> <caption>Daily Mirror</caption> <url href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/coronation-street-musical-street-of-dreams-827993" platform="highweb"/> </link> said it had "a script that seemed more cobbled together than constructed".

Production company Reckless Entertainment said the dates would be rescheduled "very soon", adding: "The producers would like to apologise to those who have already bought a ticket for the original tour dates and ask that they contact the venue directly."

Theatre industry website <link> <caption>The Stage</caption> <url href="http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/36175/exclusive-coronation-street-musical" platform="highweb"/> </link> said it had seen an e-mail to cast and crew from co-producer John Ward saying the production team were "far from happy with the show artistically and we are not prepared to take it out again in its present form".

The musical was written by Ward's composer sister Trisha and co-produced by ITV Studios.

Before the show opened in Manchester, Coronation Street executive producer Kieran Roberts told BBC News it was an "amazing" show, which he hoped would provide a new source of income for ITV.

"We've had to be very careful and not get caught up in a purely commercial argument because there's a danger that the show wouldn't work," he said.

"Hopefully, when this show's established, it will also [work] commercially and provide an interesting new revenue stream for ITV."

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