Luke Bayer (‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’, ‘RENT’), will star in the UK premiere of DIVA: Live From Hell! for a strictly limited run at the Turbine Theatre, Battersea, from 17 August – 3 September this summer.
As President of the high school drama club and the star of every school play, Desmond Channing has spent most of his short life in the spotlight. But when Evan Harris, a hotshot transfer from New York, challenges his throne, Desmond responds as any diva would… with lethal force.
Now, stuck in the Seventh Circle, Hell’s most squalid cabaret venue, Desmond is forced to relive the outrageous events that led him there. As he presents his one-millionth consecutive show, Desmond performs with a desperate vigour in the hope that he can prove he’s repented and be finally freed from his eternal, campy torment.
This one-person musical, inspired by the classic Bette Davis movie, ‘All About Eve’, with book and characters by Nora Brigid Monahan and music and lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen, features Bayer performing a full company of roles, set against a contemporary musical theatre score dripping in references to some of the West End and Broadway’s most iconic shows.
DIVA: Live From Hell! was due to have its first UK preview on March 16, 2020, the day theatres were ordered to shut down in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Director, Joe McNeice, said today, “I am thrilled that ‘DIVA: Live From Hell!’ is finally making its UK premiere at the Turbine Theatre, after we prepared to launch the show in 2020 but never got to open. We’ve assembled a new team to help us deliver Nora and Alex’s hilarious musical, which is a real blood-stained love letter to Broadway, and we can’t wait to finally introduce this exceptional piece to UK audiences, especially with Luke Bayer in the spotlight.”
