Osmonds for Edinburgh

Osmonds musical to visit Festival Theatre

The Osmonds: A New Musical, is set to visit Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre in October 2021 as part of its world premiere tour, starting in London in August and running through to 2022.

With a story by middle Osmond brother Jay, the musical  tells the true story of the four brothers from Utah who were pushed into the TV spotlight as children in the early sixties and, with their three younger siblings, went on to create pop record success with hits up to the end of the seventies.

The Osmonds on stage at the London Palladium circa 1973. Credit: Getty Images

The musical will open at the London Wimbledon Theatre running Thurs 26 to Sat 28 August 2021, visiting Aberdeen Tue 28 Sept-Sat 2 Oct, then Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre from Tuesday 5 to Saturday 9 October and the Glasgow King’s in February 2022.

Tickets for the Festival Theatre, the Glasgow King’s and most venues go on general sale from Friday 13 November 2020 at 10am. Festival Theatre tickets are already available to Friends of the theatre. Full tour details and ticket links are below.

The Osmond Brothers

The group started out as The Osmond Brothers with a residency on The Andy Williams Show from 1962 as a barbershop quartet and were quickly joined by Donny, then Marie and little Jimmie. The stayed on the show until 1969.

As The Osmonds they won bonafide pop success during the ‘Osmondmania’ years from 1971 to 1975 and then moved on with popular variety TV show The Donny & Marie Show, from 1976 to 1979.

In the pop, and then rock years, they remained tight-knit, the older brothers being the band or backing group, even when teen sensation Donny or duo Donny and Marie, were the focal point.

Jay Osmond

Speaking at the launch of the musical, Jay Osmond said, “I’ve wanted to tell my story for such a long time and the opportunity to create this beautiful musical, a sort of ‘living autobiography’, seemed the perfect way to do so.

“I spent my whole life performing live – on stage, on TV specials, in arenas – so the buzz of live theatre felt like the perfect place for me.”

Despite their clean-cut Church of the Latter-day Saints image, the Osmonds’ story is not without its dramas. Marie’s insecurity over her weight, Donny’s loss of confidence, being pushed by parents and, of course, the decision to invest in their own studio just before The Donny & Marie Show was cancelled.

difficult times

Jay says: “There were some difficult times of my life, and some big hurdles to overcome, and this musical will tell people things that will surprise them… but despite that trouble, when you look back and think of the fans, the music, the once in a lifetime things we did – it’s joyful.”

The musical recognises the family’s huge commercial successes in the 1970s, selling millions of records both under the group’s name and solo and duet outfits.

It features a list of songs which became anthems in the Seventies, from early chart-topper One Bad Apple through Down by the Lazy River, Crazy Horses, Let Me In, Love Me for a Reason, (We’re) Having a Party, Puppy Love, Long Haired Lover From Liverpool and Paper Roses.

“I guess I want to do this now to try to spread a little bit of that joy” adds Jay. “I’ll know I’ve done a good job telling this story if I stand at the back of the theatre and see people waving their arms in the air, singing along and dancing in the aisles.

“I just want people to be enjoying themselves. I guess that is in the Osmonds’ DNA.”

The Osmonds: A New Musical has a story by Jay Osmond and book by Julian Bigg and Shaun Kerrison. It will be directed by Shaun Kerrison with choreography and musical staging by Bill Deamer.

Listings

The Osmonds: A New Musical
Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT.
Phone booking: 0131 529 6000.
Tuesday 5 – Saturday 9 October 2021
Evenings: 7.30pm; Matinees Wed, Thurs & Sat: 2.30pm
Tickets and details:  Book here.

Glasgow King’s Theatre, 297 Bath St, Glasgow G2 4JN
Tuesday 15 – Saturday 19 February 2022
Evenings: 7.30pm; Matinees Wed, Thurs & Sat: 2.30pm
Tickets and details:  Book here.

ENDS

Tags: Bill Deamer, Festival Theatre, Jay Osmond, Julian Bigg, Musicals, News, Production News, Shaun Kerrison, The Osmonds: A New Musical