The world premiere of Howard “Hoagy” Carmichael’s musical Stardust Road has been cancelled due to financial difficulties. It had been scheduled to run at the St James Theatre this autumn.
In a statement, Hoagy B Carmichael, the American composer’s son and the show’s lead producer, said: “We are terribly saddened to reveal that due to issues with a potential investor we have had to cancel the run in London. It would have been irresponsible to everyone involved in the production to have moved ahead without this vital piece of financing in place.”
The show had been due to run at the Victoria venue from 27 October to 21 November under the direction of fellow US creative and Broadway regular Susan H Schulman.
Celebrating the life and loves of the US, Stardust Road uses the great catalogue of Carmichael’s numerous hits including Old Buttermilk Sky, Skylark, Riverboat Shuffle, Old Man Harlem and the Oscar-winning In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening to take audiences from the age of jazz, blues and ragtime in the 20s to the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Fans of the songwriter should not lose hope that the show will find its way to the London stage, however, with producer Carmichael promising this is not the end of the road for the musical, commenting: “We are incredibly proud of the creative team and actors we cast and hope they can all continue the journey with us when we expect to remount the show in London in 2016.”
Ticket holders should contact the St James Theatre box office for a full refund or exchange. The theatre will be announcing a show to replace Stardust Road’s run in due course.