Our House (musical)
| Our House | |
|---|---|
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| Music | Madness |
| Lyrics | Madness |
| Book | Tim Firth |
| Productions | 2002 West End 2006 Japanese tour 2008 UK Tour 2011 UK Tour 2012 UK Gala Performance 2013 New UK Tour |
| Awards | Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical |
Our House is a musical with music and lyrics by Madness and a book by playwright Tim Firth. The show features songs from the ska/pop band Madness, and was named after one of their popular hit singles, "Our House". Premiering at The Cambridge Theatre in 2002, Our House was the winner of the 2003 Olivier award for Best New Musical and has since gone on to tour both nationally and internationally to great acclaim. Through the music of Madness, writer Tim Firth explores the themes of love, family values, growing up, responsibility and dealing with losing the people that shape us.
Our House has many obvious influences including Willy Russell's Blood Brothers and the 1998 romantic comedy film Sliding Doors. Some critics have even called the show the British answer to Rent, the Jonathan Larson rock opera which follows the lives of a group of 20-something year-olds living in New York. For many years prior to the creation of Our House, Madness had been considering ways that they could turn their songs into a musical. Following the phenomenal success of Mamma Mia!, featuring the music of ABBA, a new interest in so-called 'jukebox musicals' began to develop.
During initial publicity for the show in 2002, The band's lead-singer, Suggs admitted in an interview for the BBC that he was not particularly a fan of musical theatre, saying; "I can't say I'm a huge fan of musicals. I like music, and I like acting. I like Oliver!, I went to see that when I was a kid and West Side Story and maybe a few little bits and pieces over the years, but no, not a huge fan of musicals, no." Tim Firth was approached by producers to write the script for the show, accepting the offer as he was a fan of Madness. Speaking to What's On Stage in 2002, Firth commented; "I'd always thought there was an irony that everyone remembered Madness as the nutty boys, but that was generated largely by the videos. The songs were actually just witty. And moving. And about something. And felt like they were part of a musical already. I still don't think I wrote the book of Our House. I found it.".
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