About the piece

Something Something Lazarus is a darkly comic musical about the healing power of performance and finally letting go of the past, set in a disintegrating rehearsal at a London cabaret bar.

The world of Something

London. A cabaret bar in need of love, where things to tend rise when you least expect them. Every night but Sunday it offers cabaret and comfort for those with minds not quite drowned in drink. Vee sings. Della plays piano. Daniel pays the bills. While new bar man Jay offers something like relief.  All is okay until the arrival of the chair, a final gift from Richard, Daniel’s first and only love. It’s the start of a very dark hour.

The concept

Running in real-time, with songs (at first) appearing in their natural habitat, Something Something Lazarus is a different kind of beast: part realistic musical and part psychological fantasy. Here, in rehearsal, the music flows in and out of conversation. Songs are broken … rehearsed, directed, deconstructed, interrupted, re-appropriated and transformed by the business of show. Here, piano and voice are used to cajole, attack, persuade and perhaps save a life.

The story so far

Lazarus began life in Manchester, as Carter King, a chamber musical that bore a striking resemblance to Stephen King’s Carrie. Nine years later and it’s not only the names that have changed. While some lines, ideas and melodies remain, the majority of Something Something Lazarus is entirely new. A happy meeting with Dan Phillips and Sharon Eckman at Devoted & Disgruntled 8 meant the creative fire was re-fused and the idea for a broken cabaret began to grow.

From then on in, it was nose to the grindstone for a completely re-worked book and whole new set of lyrics, melodies and arrangements.