Baker Street, the Sherlock Holmes Musical, opens 42nd Street Moon’s 2016-2017 Season on November 2 and runs through November 20 at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco. Here is the second in our behind-the-scenes look at the production.
AUTHOR JEROME COOPERSMITH
42nd Street Moon has been fortunate to work with the man who conceived Baker Street, and earned a Tony nomination for the book: Jerome Coopersmith. We asked him for a reflection on the origins of the show:
“My first major problem was – which Sherlock Holmes story should I tell? Reading the entire Conan Doyle anthology, I learned that not one of them had all the elements I needed; that is, the evil Professor Moriarty, the lovely Irene Adler, the roguish Baker Street Irregulars, and of course the immortal crime-tracking pair, Holmes and Watson. So I knew I had to make up a story of my own. The breakthrough came when I read about the most famous London event of 1897, Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the celebration of her 60th year of reign. Using that as a center piece, everything fell into place. What would Irene Adler be doing? Singing in a special performance to honor the Queen. What would Professor Moriarty be doing? Plotting to steal the Diamond Jubilee gifts arriving from all over the world. What would Holmes and Watson be doing? Trying their best to stop this terrible crime against Her Majesty. And so Baker Street was born.”
Baker Street saw a revival at the York Theatre in 2001, for which Coopersmith made a number of revisions to the book. With his blessing, 42nd Street Moon is incorporating a number of those changes as well as revisions that he is making specifically for this production, working closely with Director Cindy Goldfield. Thus, you’ll be seeing the “premiere” of a well-loved classic musical.