THE SIMON AND GARFUNKEL STORY

THE SIMON AND GARFUNKEL STORY
At the Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue
Giving the cast of Thriller a break is a special presentation of the Simon and Garfunkel story.
It concerns two young boys from Queens New York who met during a school production of “Alice in Wonderland” with Paul Simon as The white Rabbit and Art Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat. It is not surprising then that the first name for their musical duo was Tom and Jerry. They immediately became great buddies because of their similar taste in music and they started writing and singing songs. They actually had a hit record with a style that depended heavily on their idols, the Everley Brothers.
Tom and Jerry did not get much further in the business, but in their real names Simon and Garfunkel they had a hit with their very beautiful song ‘The Sound of Silence’ The tune and the exquisite harmonies caught the imagination of the public and from then on they became household names.
In this production the story is told in between songs by a couple of young men Philip Murray Watson as Simon and Charles Blyth as Garfunkel, who resemble them very closely, both in appearance and in the singing of the songs which are performed with total respect and with faultless harmonies
They tell of Paul’s trip to England where he became fascinated by folk music and this resulted in one of their greatest hits ‘Scarborough Fair’
The songs are performed with occasional back up from Leon Carnfield on Bass, Adam Smith on Electric Guitar and keyboards and Mat Swales on Drums.
The setting consists of one big screen which shows news items of the time when the boys were in prominence. There is much coverage of Martin Luther King and the Vietnam war.
However the big screen really comes into its own after the interval when the music is augmented with a brass playing trio and a full orchestral version of ‘Mrs Robinson’ with scenes from The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman and Ann Bancroft. This was a really big hit for the guys and also probably the biggest hit in this show.
The fans of Simon and Garfunkel are obviously enraptured with this production. There are two companies – two Simons and two Garfunkels who will share the tour before it opens in London in November.
THE WRITER AND DIRECTOR IS DEAN ELLIOTT