'Countess and Cabbages', the novel from which 'The Countess' is adapted was written by Simon James Collier in 1988, but not published until 1998. 3000 copies were printed and the book sold out, but no further editions were released. Before the book's first print run, a theatrical adaptation was written by Collier, with music from Ilmar Olbrei and lyrics by Omar F. Okai, which went on a small UK tour.
It wasn't until 2018, after composer / lyricist Richard Bates and Collier had collaborated on a number of theatrical musicals ['The Remains of The Day', 'Spooky Noises', '1888' and 'The Last Ever Musical'] that the pair dusted off an old copy of the book and decided to tackle the challenge of turning it into an Audio Drama / Musical. The idea was to not only create an audio piece, but also create a work that could be performed by a group of five actors, either with a live band or with pre-recorded music. They work-shopped the piece in September 2018, and after some re-working decided to record a commercial production in July 2019.
The story: Zumbug Munchyville was a quiet place with lush green meadows, golden fields of corn and bubbling brooks which flowed with ease over smooth river rocks. It was a wonderful place to live. That is until the King died and left the Prince everything. Now, the Prince was always one for a quest and when it was suggested that he go in search of ‘The Golden Shoe of the One-Legged Lamb’ he was all for it. But he made one huge fatal mistake, and that was leaving kingdom in the hands of the horrible and mean: Countess Minty-Ball Zang. When the Countess went against the Prince’s wishes and made everyone work in her cabbage mine, the people knew that unless someone did something about the situation, they were going to be doomed for the rest of their gloomy lives. But with Barry Braithwaite, our hero, a whole host of giant worms led by Frankie, a tree named Arthur Hardwood-Fantasticus, and Ermintrude Mintz, had the Countess more than met her match and were her days as ruler numbered?
After two weeks of rehearsal in East London, James Nicholson, with the assistance of Paul Gavin, was brought in to engineer and produce the piece, which was recorded at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London.
Under the direction of Simon James Collier and conducted by Richard Bates [who had created a 250 page score for the piece], the cast and eight musicians [Ruth Whybrow, Jonathan Thomson, Connor Smither, Matt Smith, Laura Williams, Connor Fogel, Tom Foskett-Barnes and Hannah Thomas] recorded the two-act musical drama over three days in July.
Credits:
Sasha Damjanovski, Adam Dechanel