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Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Pedro Almodóvar‘s 1988 critically-acclaimed movie starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas, has now been turned into a West End musical, and stars Tamsin Grieg (BBC TV series, Episodes) and Sarah Moyle (BBC’s Doctors and Sean Penn’s new movie, The Gunman).
Following the Tony Award nominated production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown on Broadway in 2010, the show arrives on the West End for a limited season at the Playhouse Theatre.
Like the film, the musical is set in Spain in the late 1980’s amid the messy love lives of several women. The central character is Pepa, an actress and singer who struggles to deal with being dumped by her boyfriend, Ivan. The plot thickens as his ex wife, Lucia and their son, Carlos, along with his fiancé show up. To make matters worse Pepa’s best friend, Candela, believes she is dating a terrorist. Uh oh!
Joining Tamsin Greig is Haydn Gwynne, Ricardo Afonso, Anna Skellern, Sarah Moyle and Jerome Pradon. Following her recent turn as Elphaba in Wicked, Willemijn Verkaik makes her stage return in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
Adapted from Pedro Almodóvar’s 1988 film of the same name, David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane have adapted the show for the stage. Yazbek and Lane have previously worked together on the book, music and lyrics for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. This production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is directed by Bartlett Sher.
Tickets are currently on sale up until May 2015 and can be purchased online on the Playhouse Theatre website.
Check out the trailer below and click on the above picture for the full-size version:
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.