1963. The year Beatlemania was born, the Profumo affair scandalised Britain and preceded the resignation of Harold Macmillan, Ronnie Biggs, Buster Edwards and co. snatched £2.6m cash from the London to Glasgow mail train, the ‘Britain in Bloom’ campaign began, the US trounced ‘Great Britain’ 23-9 in the Ryder Cup .... and Cliff Richard and the Shadows took off on a joyous jaunt across Europe in a Routemaster bus in the film ‘Summer Holiday’. The film is now a feel-good stage musical in Michael Gyngell and Mark Haddigan’s adaptation, with Don and his fellow London Transport bus mechanics journeying through Paris, the Alps, Italy and then Greece, along the way picking up three young girls in a clapped-out Morris Minor and a young American pop star on the run from her domineering mother, and all to the strains of a hit-filled score featuring In the Country, Summer Holiday, I Could Easily Fall in Love with You, Bachelor Boy, Move It, Living Doll, The Young Ones and On the Beach. A real taste of Great British nostalgia to a score your audiences will already know and love!
