Heathcliff (musical)

Heathcliff (musical)

Heathcliff was the brainchild of singer Cliff Richard based loosely on the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, though focussing on the character of Heathcliff and adapting the story to fit in with the staging and production. The musical attempts to fill some of the gaps in Heathcliff's personal story by taking leads from implications made by Emily Brontë in the novel, fitting them into the sequence of events as written.

The music is by John Farrar and lyrics are by Sir Tim Rice. The Book is by Cliff Richard and Frank Dunlop (director)

The idea for Heathcliff was born in 1994 and much of the year was taken up in the production of the venture. Rehearsals took place during the Summer of 1996 in Camden, London before moving to Earls Court 2 for production rehearsals with the stage sets and full band. A couple of public previews were held at Earls Court before the show moved to the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Heathcliff opened on 16 October 1996, amongst considerable interest from the world’s media about Cliff Richard playing the dark, barely civilised, character, with many sources speculating that Richard could not carry off such a role. Box office records were broken for first-week ticket sales. Following the run in Birmingham the show transferred to Edinburgh for four weeks, before returning to the NIA for a few additional dates before Christmas. After the New Year the show opened in the Palace Theatre, Manchester before transferring to London. The final performance was at Labatt's Apollo, Hammersmith, in May; Cliff had played to audiences of close on half a million people, and had broken box office records at almost every theatre.

Although the musical was not received well by some critics, with one referring to it as "living dull", it was popular with Richard's fans and with many Bronte buffs; an advertising campaign for the show used some of the critics' quotes, such as "This Wretched Show" and "Withering Rather Than Wuthering", to contrast the opposing views of the critics and fans.

The opening advance takings for the show were £8.5m, believed to be a record at the time. A cast recording of the show was released in October 1996 to coincide with the start of the tour and several singles were issued, including 'A Misunderstood Man", "Had To Be", "Be With Me Always" and "The Wedding" (40), a duet with Helen Hobson.

A film recording of the show was made at the Hammersmith Apollo, the video of which stayed at the top of the charts for 8 weeks.