The Butterfly Children
| The Butterfly Children (musical) |
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|---|---|
| Music |
Martin Lee Paul Curtis David Kane |
| Lyrics | Martin Lee Tony Curtis David Kane |
| Basis | Pat Mills and Angela Mills books, The Butterfly Children |
| Productions | 1990 - Mitchell Theatre 1992 - West End |
| The Butterfly Children | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Brotherhood of Man | ||||
| Released | September 1992 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 57:45 | |||
| Producer | Martin Lee | |||
| Brotherhood of Man chronology | ||||
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The Butterfly Children is the title of a series of children's books created by husband and wife team, Pat and Angela Mills. The books were published during the 1990s by Peter Haddock Ltd. In 1990 a musical based on the characters was staged featuring songs written by Martin Lee, Paul Curtis and David Kane. A corresponding album was recorded in 1992 by pop group Brotherhood of Man.
The books were short picture books, illustrated by Angela Mills and written by her and her then husband Pat Mills. Some of the later books were written by other writers such as Greta Landen and Elisabeth Sackett. The stories concerned a group of elf-like figures called the Butterfly Children who performed good deeds within a forest. Other characters included the overseeing birds; D.C. and Jack the Lad and the villainous Moth Gang.
A number of books were produced such as Ice and Lullabies, The Big Race, Shrieks and Showers, "Summer Sleep", "Whizzing Through the Woods" and Finders Keepers.
In 1990, Martin Lee teamed up with established songwriter Paul Curtis and the unknown David Kane to write a musical based on the books and the characters. Together they composed The Butterfly Children musical. Some of the songs were named after the books such as Finders Keepers and The Big Race, while the characters of D.C. and Jack the Lad also had song written about them. The show was intended, like the books, for children and the songs, while essentially pop, had a range of styles including rap, rock 'n' roll and country and western.
The musical had its world premiere at the Mitchell Theatre in Glasgow, to open the 1990 Glasgow City of Culture, Directed by Dougie Squires which ran for a month and was performed by the Mitchell Theatre for Youth.
Just three months later, the show transferred to the larger Kings Theatre in Glasgow and ran for two weeks, beginning with a royal command performance in front of HRH Princess Margaret. The show transferred in late 1992 to London's West End for a limited period but with new script and production team, it didn't live up to its previous incarnation .It has not been performed since.
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