Are the rehearsals for From Here To Eternity the most gruelling in the West End? This video might lead us to believe so.
At the start of the summer we heard about the A Chorus Line boot camp, a tummy-tightening, buttock-toning regime introduced to ensure the classic musical’s cast could cope with the production’s famous choreography. Now footage of the From Here To Eternity rehearsals have been released, revealing a routine that looks just as gruelling.
The cast, which includes Darius Campbell and Robert Lonsdale, is currently undertaking a one hour army-style warm up each morning, to ensure their bodies and minds are attuned to playing US soldiers based in Hawaii with America on the brink of joining the Second World War.
If you don’t recognise the voice of the video’s narrator, it’s the new musical’s lyricist and producer Sir Tim Rice, whose previous musical hits include Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Chess and Evita.
There’s also a hint in there as to the choreography being created by Javier De Frutos to help tell the story of illicit love and army life.
You can view the footage at the top of the page.