Suzie Kennedy and Hope Augustus are Marilyn and Ella in a new play on this November
If you’re dating in London, take your date to see a new show on in the West End this November, which explores the extraordinary friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald.
She may have been famous for her music and her looks, but Marilyn Monroe was much more than a blonde bombshell. Way ahead of her time she took a dramatic stand against racism in 1950s America by befriending the black singer Ella Fitzgerald at a time when black music and black singers weren’t welcome on the mainstream theatre and club stages.
It’s a friendship and an aspect of Marilyn’s character that’s rarely touched on in biographies about the icon, but even Ella Fitzgerald herself once said of Marilyn that she “was ahead of her time and she didn’t even know it”.
New to the West End this November, Marilyn & Ella is a play with songs by acclaimed writer Bonnie Greer which explores the unique friendship between the pair. Marilyn helped Ella gain her lucky break in an LA club called Mocambo in the 1950s, which ultimately led to worldwide iconic status.
Writer Bonnie Greer first came across the unusual friendship while watching a documentary on the Biography channel in the US.
“It was an incredibly poignant friendship,” Greer explains. “All black singers were banned from the stage, so Marilyn was taking a massive personal risk in seeking out this friendship. She could have been sacked by her film company and never worked again, but to Marilyn, Ella was a great artist whom she worshipped from afar and finally needed desperately to meet. This is a fantastic and deeply moving true-life story, and one that still resonates 50 years on.”
Marilyn & Ella will play at London’s Apollo Theatre on the 15th, 22nd and 29th November with both matinees and evening performances. The play is directed by Colin McFarlane and features one of the world’s most famous Marilyn performers, Suzie Kennedy alongside Hope Augustus as Ella Fitzgerald.
Tickets cost £32.50 – £37.50 and are available from the box office on 0844 412 4658 or you can book online at www.marilynandella.com.
Tags: Theatre