La Cava

• Added by Cat Gray, last modified by Jared William.

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Seen by

• Frank Ellis
• Cat Gray
• Richard Kingcott

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Play description

La Cava is a musical with a book by Dana Broccoli, lyrics by John Claflin and Laurence O’Keefe, additional lyrics by Shaun McKenna and music by O’Keefe and Stephen Keeling.

Based on Broccoli’s novel Florinda, its title is derived not from the sparkling wine but for the Spanish word for a scarlet woman. The plot, based on the legend of Julian, Count of Ceuta, focuses on the feisty daughter of a Spanish general whose love triangle involving King Roderic sets a massive war in motion. In the 8^th century, Roderic was the last ruler of Visigothic Spain and was overthrown by the Moorish invasion.

The show was originally presented at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse from the 1^st-23^rd July 1995 under its original title ‘Florinda’, starring Julie Heron as the title character and directed by David Galligan. At this point in the show’s development, the music and lyrics were by O’Keefe and Claflin only.

Directed by Steven Dexter and choreographed by Mitch Sebastian, the West End production opened on June 8, 2000 at the Victoria Palace Theatre, where it ran for six weeks before transferring to the Piccadilly Theatre. It remained there until closing on February 3, 2001. The original cast included Oliver Tobias as King Roderic, Julie-Alanah Brighten as Florinda, Marilyn Cutts as the Queen, Paul Keating as her servant Agon, Daniel Redmond as Florinda’s Moorish lover, David Bardsley as Florinda’s father, Louisa McCarthy as Florinda’s friend at court, and Patrick Romer as the evil, Jew-hating Archbishop.

Photo credits