New Cranks 1960
New Cranks
lyric theatre, hammersmith 1960
New Cranks was a Dance and Music Revue created by South African ballet dancer and choreographer, John Cranko. which opened at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith in April, 1960. The show updated a popular 1955 show called Cranks, also by John Cranko, that had been successful in London and New York, and which had starred Anthony Newley, Gordon Heath and Annie Ross.
It featured a young Bernard Cribbins who would become a British household name through his film and tv career, and Carole Shelley, who would go on to great acting successes including winning a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in The Elephant Man.
John Kranko and Gillian had known each other having both danced at Sadler’s Wells Ballet at Covent Garden during the period after the finish of the second world war.
Cast included: Gillian Lynne, Bernard Cribbins, Carole Shelley, Johnny Wade, Billy Wilson, Yolanda (Yolande Bavan)
Programme pictured below along with the album cover of the original cast recording
