Summer Holiday (1963 Film) - Stage Adaptations

Stage Adaptations

Summer Holiday was adapted into a stage musical in the mid-1990s starring Darren Day in the role that Cliff Richard played. It premiered for a summer season at The Opera House in Blackpool in 1996, and then later toured nationally, before returning to The Opera House in 1998. The cast for these included Claire Buckfield, Isla Fisher, Hilary O'Neil, Peter Baldwin and Rene Zagger. It was also recorded and released on video, entitled "Summer Holiday-The Hits", which was all the musical numbers strung together by clips of Darren Day writing postcards to his friends, and describing what was happening in the story as he wrote.

The stage musical differs in a number of respects from the film version. For example, the route to Athens is via Italy in the stage version rather than the original film route via Yugoslavia. The songs also differ, and include a number of songs from Cliff Richard's other early back catalogue, such as "The Young Ones".

The first revival of the stage musical was by a children's theatre school, Sands Theatre Arts School. This version included the same Musical Director of the original professional performance.

However, the first stage adaptation of the film was actually presented by Ashmole School and was adapted and directed by Tony Harries (the author of the Zeegpaw books). It follows the plot of the film very closely, but bookends it with scenes from a youth club.

The stage musical was revived professionally in 2003, starring Stefan Booth but later starring Darren Day again. This production also included Day's future partner Suzanne Shaw (from the pop group Hear'say) as Bobby and, as Shaw's mother, Aimi MacDonald. The production toured the UK.

A revised version of the stage musical, adapted for smaller stages, is available for amateur performance in the UK and elsewhere.