Christopher Frost
Torsten The Beautiful Libertine
by Barney Ashton-Bullock
music by Christopher Frost
directed by Robert McWhir
starring Andy Bell, Lana Pillay & Peter Straker
2- 27 March 2016
Above The Stag Theatre
Andy Bell plays the age-defying, polysexual hero Torsten. Torsten is living a bizarrely long life, and has gathered an impressive history of lovers – while never getting close to any of them. Through a series of smart, catchy and often beautiful songs – written for Bell’s gorgeous tenor voice – he counts his loves and losses, while two former flames unite in their treasured memories and bawdy lives.'Torsten The Beautiful Libertine' is the second musical theatre show starring Erasure singer Andy Bell as 'Torsten', a semi-immortal, genderfluid troubadour set in a post-apocalyptic near future! It is an intimate sharing between Torsten and his ex-lovers of the memories, sometimes regretful, of a man who lives with loneliness: memories of people, of good times and bad times, of hedonist living and of sadness.
Award
Matinee Radio, the national radio station for musical theatre, recently revealed 'Torsten The Beautiful Libertine' as being in their top ten musicals of 2016!
Matinee Radio wrote of the show, performed in March 2016 at the Above The Stag Theatre: "Torsten The Beautiful Libertine touched many hearts in the most uplifting and unconventional show of 2016".
"My Precious One" from the "Andy Bell Is ... Torsten The Beautiful Libertine" album was awarded 'Best Pop Rock Song' in the Akademia Music Awards for December 2016! Watch the accompanying music video here: My Precious One
Show reviews
"... this is by far one of the oddest shows I have ever seen. And it was brilliant for it ... No matter the subject matter, the songs remained engaging and hilarious through the entire show ... The small cast oozes with talent, delivering some of the most intelligent and impressive writing I’ve ever experienced ... All in all, if you want something completely out of the ordinary that’s going to push you as a viewer, Queereteria TV is a five-star must-see."
(James Cunningham-Curry - Gscene, April 2019)
"Ashton-Bullock, and Musical Director Christopher Frost, have crafted some genuinelybeautiful numbers, perhaps most notably ‘We Hadn’t Slept for Twenty Years’, a song full of pathos and longing."
(Archie Whyld - The Play's The Thing UK, April 2019)
"The songs ... as solo pieces for Bell or the entire ensemble, are among the most varied and captivating pieces that Chris Frost and Ashton-Bullock have yet composed together."
(Matt Smith - Clash, April 2019)
