Love in a Cold Climate
A glittering romantic musical comedy evoking the lost eccentric glamour of aristocratic life in 1930’s England.
The Story
Polly is the precious only child of Lord and Lady Montdore. The fearsome and ambitious Lady Montdore is desperate for Polly to have a ‘perfect marriage’, but Polly, bored by the monotony of the debut season in London, falls instead for Boy, her uncle by marriage.
Lady Montdore disowns Polly and invites Cedric – a distant cousin from Nova Scotia and the true heir to Hampton – to visit. Expecting a rough Canadian, they are stunned by his elegance and impeccable manners. Lady Montdore allows Cedric to transform Polly from stolid middle-age to an English society beauty.
Polly and Boy move to Sicily to avoid the scandal of their marriage. But life is far less idyllic than they imagined. They both return home suffering from homesickness, but as soon as Cedric and Boy set eyes on each other it is love at first sight. They abscond to Paris with Lady Montdore to start a strange new life while Polly remains with her father at Hampton.
Listen
Cast
Lisa Bowerman (Polly Hampton); Nicola Fulljames (Fanny Logan, her cousin); Eden Phillips (Lord Montdore; Bullitt, the Butler); Marilyn Cutts (Lady Montdore); Gay Soper (Veronica Chaddesley-Corbett; Emily Warbeck); Ben Jones (Rory Fanshawe); Chris Dickins (Roly Beresford); Osmund Bullock (Fabrice, Duc De Sauveterre; ‘Boy’ Dougdale); Chris Dickins (Alfred Wincham); Julian Slade (Davey Warbeck).
Piano and arrangements: Chris Dickins. Recording engineered and mastered by Steve Williams of Sound Moves.
Information
Based on Nancy Mitford’s novel, Love in a Cold Climate.
Books & lyrics: Eden Phillips
Music: Julian Slade
Unproduced at the time of composer Julian Slade’s death in 2006.
Songs from the score were performed by Laura Michelle Kelly, Alex Jennings, Anthony Andrews and a first rate cast at a concert at the Bristol Old Vic (2004), produced by Sir Cameron Mackintosh in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Julian Slade’s Salad Days.
