The Dancing Years – Tuesday 6th May 1952

Directed and choreographed by Phyl Payne, with Alan Gore-Harvey as Musical Director, LODS presented The Dancing Years for two weeks in May 1952. The musical, which was first produced at London’s Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, follows the life of a penniless Jewish composer and his love for two women of different social classes, set in Vienna, against the background of Nazi persecution. 

In the year 1952, King George VI died at Sandringham House aged 56 from lung cancer. His daughter, Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, ascended to the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. Sooty, Harry Corbett’s glove puppet bear, first appeared on the BBC and a one shilling charge was introduced for prescription drugs dispensed under the NHS. Whilst the citizens of London turn out in force to say goodbye to the last of the original trams to run in London, the compulsory identity cards, issued during World War II, are abolished. Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap starts its run at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London – it is still running today nearly 70 years later, after transferring next door to St Martin’s Theatre in 1974. The first TV detector Van is commissioned in the UK, as the beginning of a clampdown on the estimated 150,000 households who were watching TV illegally without a licence. The Great Smog blankets London, causing transport chaos and around 4,000 deaths.

The Boy Friend – Monday 3rd April until Saturday 8th April 1961

During the Easter holiday of 1961, LODS presented The Boy Friend by Sandy Wilson; directed by Phyl Payne with Cecil Barker as Musical Director. Set in the French Riviera, the musical comedy was written in the fifties in ape of the earlier ‘Roaring Twenties’, when days were lighter-hearted and more disarming.

The original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End and Broadway history. It also marked Julie Andrews’ American stage debut.

In the year 1961, Queen Elizabeth II was Monarch and Harold Macmillan Prime Minister. The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender, after being used since the thirteenth century, along with black and white £5 notes. Betting shops become legal under the terms of the Betting and Games Act 1960, an act which also permitted the operation of commercial bingo halls. Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse and Ian Fleming’s James Bond Thunderball novels are released. The Suicide Act of 1961 decriminalises acts of, or attempts of suicide, in England and Wales. The Government unveiled new ‘panda’ crossings, due to the increased volume of traffic – by 1967 this crossing was removed almost over night, seemingly as a matter of urgency due to concerns for the Ministry of Transport. Barclays became Britain’s first bank with an in-house computing centre.

Fiddler on the Roof – March 17th to March 22nd 1980

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia, around 1905. The storyline follows the life among the Jewish community of pre-revolutionary Russia. A poor milkman,  determined to find good husbands for his five daughters, consults the traditional matchmaker – and also has a word with God. Its original Broadway production (1964) was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning nine. In 1972, the show won a special Tony on becoming the longest-running musical in Broadway history.

Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, during a time when unemployment stood at a two-year high of more than 2 million. Inflation had risen to 21.8%. John Lennon, pop singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Beatles) was shot dead in New York. Zimbabwe became independent from the United Kingdom. The pre-decimal sixpence coin was withdrawn from circulation. Alexandra Palace is gutted by fire whilst Miners threatened to strike, demanding a 37% pay increase. Great Britain and Northern Ireland won 5 gold, 7 silver and 9 bronze medals in the Moscow Olympics. The 1980 Housing Act came into action, giving council house tenants of three years’ standing the right to buy their home from local council at a discount price. Alton Towers is opened as a theme park.