Strange as it may seem, I happen to know the lyricists of two new West End musicals.
One is my godson. (More on him later.) The other I have known for 40 years.
I first met Todd Buchholz in 1983 when I was invited by the Young Americas Foundation, a ‘conservative youth movement’, to spend two weeks in Washington DC.
Todd studied law at Harvard, then economics at Cambridge, and was later a White House advisor during George Bush’s presidency.
Today he is best known as an economist and author whose titles include the bestselling New Ideas From Dead Economists.
In recent years, however, having been one of the original backers of Jersey Boys, the ‘global smash-hit musical’, Todd has acquired a new interest.
Together with his daughter Victoria, he has written his own musical inspired by the life of Gino Bartali, an Italian road cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1938 and 1948:
With his cycling career as a cover, Bartali cycled thousands of miles between cities across Italy. Hidden in the frame of his bike were falsified identity cards and other secret documents to help victims of the Second World War cross borders to safety from Mussolini’s fascist regime. His efforts saved hundreds of persecuted Jews and other refugees, many of whom were children.
Todd tells me that Gino Bartali, like most men at the time, was a smoker “who credited smoking with helping him win” the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia. “He felt it gave him energy.”
On stage however Todd admits that the only character who smokes is the baddy, Bartali’s former friend turned fascist collaborator, Mario. (Still, better than nothing!)
Glory Ride has been in development for the best part of a decade and in November 2022, after workshops in New York and Los Angeles, the show finally premiered in London when a handful of work-in-progress staged concerts were performed at The Other Palace.
The reviews were good enough to lead to the offer of a four-month run showcasing the full production at Charing Cross Theatre this summer.
By coincidence, in the mid Nineties I produced a one-off variety show at the same venue.
In those days it was known as The Players Theatre and specialised in Victorian style music hall entertainment, like The Good Old Days on TV (which older readers will remember).
The auditorium has around 300 seats, so it’s one of the smallest theatres in the West End. However it’s built under the arches at Charing Cross station - hence the long, curved ceiling - so it’s quite atmospheric.
The first performance of Glory Ride was in April and the show will close, after this initial run, on July 29.
I saw the staged concert last year and this week I am going to see the full show.
Reviews, it’s fair to say, have been mixed. The Times (‘great idea, executed with enough energy to power the most reluctant cyclist up a mountain’) gave it 3/5 stars, but what an achievement to devise and write a musical and get it on the London stage with a full cast.
As for my godson, Tom Ling, his achievement has been to co-write the lyrics for a new musical that will premiere at Soho Place, the first new build West End theatre in 50 years.
Based on a best-selling autobiography by Henry Fraser, a keen sportsman whose life changed for ever following a diving accident in 2009, The Little Big Things opens on September 2 and is currently booking until November 25.
I’ll write about it again when it opens. In the meantime I have a confession.
I have been a terrible godfather to Tom, rarely remembering his birthday or any other important occasion, for which I can only apologise.
If, however, The Little Big Things is a success I want him to know that I never doubted his talent and I am always here for him.
