Enter a world of film studios and fatal attractions with University of Chichester

Eve Hardman, Glen Newham, Elliot Bevan and Hettie Heyward

Experience the glamour of 1940s Hollywood as the University of Chichester takes to the road with a production of the rarely-seen, award-winning musical comedy by Cy Coleman, City Of Angels.

Associate lecturer Paul Ackerley said: “Part film-noir detective story and part fish-out-water romantic comedy, it’s loaded with acclaimed songs including ‘Double Talk’ and ‘You Can Always Count On Me’ and choreography set to a stunning jazz score played by a professional West End live band.

“It’s also notable for being performed in both colour and black and white! To find out just how it’s done, you’ll have to attend one of the five regional touring venues from Bognor Regis to Worthing to Crawley.

“You will enter the world of film studios and fatal attractions as a young novelist begins developing his first Hollywood screenplay. His pages, featuring a Raymond Chandler-esque investigative hero, start coming to life and are acted out on stage in glorious black and white.

“Our fictional hero risks his life to solve a mystery while in the real world his writer risks his marriage to maintain his integrity against the pressure of the studio producers.

“The production is directed by Karen Howard, with choreography by Damien Delaney who have brought all previous six, triumphant touring productions to the stage, including The Pajama Game and Anything Goes.

“They are joined this year by music directors Mark Crossland (War of the Worlds, West End) and Dustin Conrad (Little Shop of Horrors, UK tour), with design by Ryan Laight who created the magical worlds for the 2016 sell-out productions of Carousel and Cinderella.”