Chichester Festival Theatre cast reunited for the first official recording of Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff's award-winning musical, based on Paul Gallico's novel
Album released on CD and download on 3 December by SimG Records
'On 29 July 2020, the entire Flowers for Mrs Harris cast and orchestra reunited, and stepped once more onto the Chichester Festival Theatre stage, almost two years since the show was performed there, to make this recording. In the grip of the COVID-19 global pandemic, this was perhaps the only such endeavour happening anywhere in the country at that time.' **
Richard Taylor, composer & lyricist
The cast album of the hugely acclaimed musical Flowers for Mrs Harris, recorded by the Chichester Festival Theatre company, will be released on 3 December. With a book by Rachel Wagstaff and music and lyrics by Richard Taylor, Flowers for Mrs Harris captures the glowing humanity of the novel by Paul Gallico on which it is based.
'The making of this cast album, made possible by Richard Taylor, was not simply a wonderful opportunity to capture one of the most beautiful British musical scores of recent years; it was also memorable for having employed some of our finest musicians and actors at a time when almost none of them had any work or proper financial support a situation
that, sadly, persists.' Daniel Evans, Artistic Director, Chichester Festival Theatre
**Watch a film about the making of the Flowers for Mrs Harris album at https://youtu.be/b3H7FAKy72k **
Flowers for Mrs Harris is the story of Ada Harris, a char-lady in post-war London whose drab life of dusting and scrubbing is transformed when she glimpses a Christian Dior dress in one of her client's wardrobes and sets her heart on going to Paris to buy one for herself.
The 2018 Chichester Festival production was directed by Daniel Evans, with a cast led by Clare Burt (who won a UK Theatre Award for her performance), Joanna Riding and Gary Wilmot. Also in the cast are Claire Machin, Louis Maskell, Mark Meadows, Laura Pitt-Pulford, NicolaSloane, Luke Latchman and Rhona McGregor.
Conducted by Tom Brady, the orchestra is Jon Laird, Kathryn James, Nicki Davenport, Vicky Lester, Abigail Burrows, Rhys Taylor, Laura Llewellyn-Jones, Owain Harries, Jane Salmon and James Turner.
The recording is produced by Richard Taylor and Mike Walker, engineered by Mike Walker, conducted by Tom Brady and orchestrated by Richard Taylor. It is produced for SimG Records by Simon Greiff.
Flowers for Mrs Harris was first produced at Sheffield Theatres in 2016 where it won three UK Theatre Awards including Best Musical. The Chichester Festival Theatre production opened in September 2018, and was presented in association with Vicky Graham, Joseph Smith and Bob Bartner.
The cast album is available to pre-order from 19 November from iTunes and from Dress Circle at https://www.dresscircle.london/flowers-for-mrs-harris-original-cast-recording-13136-p.asp