Famous Five: Smuggler's Gold The Musical

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Famous Five: Smuggler's Gold
Book	Enid Blyton
Premiere	1997
Productions	1997 UK Tour 2009 London

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Famous Five: Smuggler's Gold is a musical that was written to celebrate the 100th anniversary of author Enid Blyton's birth.

The show premiered in 1997, and went on a nationwide tour. It starred Jon Lee, Alison Hughes, Clare Fitton, Ben McCosker, Jason Webb, David Powell Davies and Maggie Taylor.

In 2009, there was a revival of the show in London, which ran for 3 months at the Tabard Theatre.

Synopsis

Set in the 1930s, siblings Julian, Anne and Dick are sent from London to a seaside country cottage to stay with their Uncle, Aunt and cousin Georgina (George)for the summer. On their arrival at the cottage, Uncle Quentin reveals that he is working on a secret formula in his study, which means that the study is completely forbidden and nobody is allowed to enter it. Aunt Fanny welcomes the children into the cottage and tells them that they will meet George the following morning.

The next morning, Anne meets George and they get on quite well, but only after Anne starts calling her George rather than Georgina, stating she does not like being named after a girl and that girls annoy her. Julian and Dick are introduced to her and then George brings her dog, Timmy into the house to meet Julian, Anne and Dick. George explains to them about how attached she is to Timmy and that he is her best friend and would do anything for him. later in the day, the children are informed that they have been given a tutor for the summer, called Mr Rowland, who they meet shortly after receiving this news. Timmy is instantly weary of him, which in turn makes George instantly dislike him too.

After Mr Rowland leaves to settle into his room, The siblings ask George about a large house they saw on their train journey to her cottage. She tells the other children that the farmhouse is her families' and that there are myths about gold buried within her families' farm grounds, nicknamed Smuggler's Gold. She explained that it has been lost for hundreds of years and that it is the answer to her families' financial problems. They all decide to go to the farmhouse. The four children, who include Timmy in everything that they do, discuss that if they find the gold, they will become famous and their lives will change for the better. Whilst at the house they find an old map, however it is in Latin. As they get back to their cottage, they here Mr Rowland coming and agree to not tell anyone anything about the map or the gold.

In the classroom. Mr Rowland is teaching the Children Latin and about the Pyramids of Egypt, which they heavily dislike. After Timmy interrupts the lesson, George is forced to put him outside, during this, the other children tell Mr Rowland about the map and ask if he can translate the Latin message into English. It is revealed that there is a secret passage somewhere in the grounds of the families' farm. When George finds out that they told Mr Rowland, she is not happy with them. She then has an argument with Uncle Quentin because he forces her to keep Timmy outside during the night, after disrupting the earlier lesson and nearly biting Mr Rowland. She is seen slowly falling asleep outside of the cottage whilst singing to Timmy.

The morning after, Dick and Julian cheer her up and they decide that they will go to the farmhouse and have another look for the gold, after Mr Rowland offers to accompany them. George decides to go alone with Timmy, due to her dislike for Mr Rowland. He tells the rest of the children go ahead without him as he has some business to attend to first. During her journey to the house, George sees Mr Rowland in town talking to two men, Mr Wilton and Mr Thomas, who are posing as artists and have rented out the farmhouse for a few days after discovering the myth about the Smuggler's Gold. Whilst at the farmhouse, the other children run into these men, who initially get very angry at them, until Mr Rowland comes into the farmhouse and explains that he is their teacher and they don't mean any harm. Keeping his cover from being blown, he escorts the children from the farmhouse. Where Mr Thomas and Mr Wilton are now residing. When they get back to the cottage, Mr Rowland tells the children that he is going on a walk. Julian decides to follow him after George insists something is up, after she saw him to talking to Mr Thomas and Mr Wilton. Whilst Julian is following Mr Rowland, he realises that George was right and sees him talking to Mr Thomas and Mr Wilton. During this, George is arguing with her father in his study, after his book with his secret formula in goes missing. She is accused of taking it and is left in the study whilst Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny discuss her punishment. During this, George finds a secret passage entrance in her father's study.

After Julian runs back to the cottage and delivers the news to the rest of the children, they decide that in the evening, they will take the secret passage and see where it leads. As the four of them enter the passage, Mr Rowland heres the children and he follows them. They realise that the passage has lead them to the farmhouse, where they start looking for the gold and Uncle Quentin's lost book. However, they run into Mr Wilton and Mr Thomas. They attempt to run back down the passage, however Mr Rowland intercepts them and reveals he has the book. They tell the children that they have succeeded in their mission to steal the formula that their Uncle Quentin has been working on. Although, just as they are about to escape, the passage door flings open after Timmy leads Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin down through the passage. This meant that the police were able to apprehend the crooks and return the book to Uncle Quentin, during the chaos, Timmy discovers the Smuggler's Gold and it means George's family are now financially stable again. The musical ends with Quentin and George making up, her being allowed to have Timmy back in the house and the children celebrating that they have no lessons and that they found the gold.

Music

Musical Numbers

• "Opening" - Julian, Anne and Dick
• "Farewell London" - Full Company
• "I Don't Like Girls" - George and Anne
• "The Most Adorable Dog, Timmy" - George, Julian, Anne and Dick
• "Smuggler's Gold" - George, Julian, Anne and Dick
• "We're The Famous Five" - George, Julian, Anne and Dick
• "In The Classroom" - Mr Rowland, George, Julian, Anne and Dick
• "Time & Again" - George
• "You've Got To Smile" - Dick, Julian, Anne and George
• "It Takes A Crook Like Me" - Mr Thomas and Mr Wilton
• "Just Wait Till I Tell George" - Julian
• "In The Secret Passage" - George, Julian, Anne, Dick and Mr Rowland
• "We're The Famous Five Reprise" - George, Julian, Anne, Dick, Uncle Quentin and Aunt Fanny
• "Ending" - Full Company

Casts

Characters	Original UK Tour Cast (1997)	London Cast (2009)
Julian	Jon Lee	Gregg Lowe
George	Alison Hughes	Claire Louise
Anne	Clare Fitton	Charlotte McCurry
Dick	Ben McCosker	John Jo Flynn
Mr Rowland	Jason Webb	Phil Labey
Uncle Quentin	David Powell Davies	Tom Veasy
Aunt Fanny	Maggie Taylor	Anne Reymond
Mr Thomas	Mark Jardine	Mark Jardine
Mr Wilton	Martin Head	Iain Hemsworth

See also

• The Famous Five (novel_series)#Other adaptations

References

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