Chorus Girls (musical)

Chorus Girls was a 1981 musical written by The Kinks lead singer and songwriter Ray Davies, who collaborated with The Long Good Friday screenwriter Barrie Keeffe.

It opened at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London starring Marc Sinden and also had a supporting cast of Michael Elphick, Anita Dobson, Lesley Manville, Kate Williams, Sandy Ratcliff and Charlotte Cornwell. Directed by Adrian Shergold, the choreography was by Charles Augins and Jim Rodford of The Kinks played bass with the theatres 'house band'.

The plot was set around the story that Prince Charles (played by Sinden) was kidnapped by activists wanting to save the theatre building from demolition. Dobson played the girl who falls in love with him and Elphick played Sinden's inept bodyguard.

According to a contemporary interview, Sinden only accepted the role on the condition that he did not have to sing a solo, however Davies wrote the reggae-style song Everybody's Slagging Off England specifically for him and gave it to him with two days to go before the shows first night. Sinden sang it and later recorded it with Davies.^[1]

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