Delilah, Sex Bomb and other Tom Jones hits are to be brought together in a new jukebox musical. It’s not unusual, you might think. But the production, which premieres at Leeds Playhouse this autumn, uses some of the Welsh singer’s best-known tracks to tell the story of that other Tom Jones, the hero of Henry Fielding’s epic comic novel, published in 1749.
The show – entitled What’s New Pussycat? – is written by the Tony-award winner Joe DiPietro, whose credits include the musical Memphis, which was a West End hit in 2014. The adaptation is set in London and updated from the mid-18th century to the swinging 1960s. The production will also include the chart toppers Green, Green Grass of Home and It’s Not Unusual, as well as You Can Leave Your Hat On and Mama Told Me Not to Come.
Arlene Phillips is the choreographer and the director is Luke Sheppard, whose current smash hit & Juliet rewrites Shakespeare’s tragedy with songs by the Swedish pop producer Max Martin. It leads the nominations at this year’s Olivier awards, where it will compete for nine prizes including best new musical. Sheppard said that the first staged reading for What’s New Pussycat? “left me flying high”. Jones’s music, said the director, “has such range it can break your heart one moment and have you on the dance floor the next”.
The show opens on 23 September. Leeds Playhouse celebrates its 50th anniversary in the autumn. The theatre recently underwent a £16m redevelopment and has reverted to its original name after a 28-year spell as the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
