James Wigney talks with Yusuf Islam about Melbourne,

music and the world premiere of his musical, Moonshadow.

 

BEFORE he became a global pop superstar, thanks to hits such as Morning Has Broken, Wild World and Peace Train, Cat Stevens was born Steven Georgiou and raised in the heart of the West End, London's theatre district.

 

After selling millions of albums in the 1970s, Stevens became disillusioned with the music world, converting to Islam and changing his name to Yusuf Islam in 1977.

 

Stevens walked away from his career two years later, and for 27 years refused to play the songs that made him famous.

 

But in his first musical, Moonshadow, which has its world premiere in Melbourne next month, he not only fulfils a life-long dream but embraces his catalogue of hits.

 

 

How long has Moonshadow been in the making and where did the idea come from?

I began thinking about the idea of a musical about 10 years ago but it had always been one of my dreams to write and produce a musical. I grew up in the West End of London and was forever hanging around stage doors and was in love with the musical genre. West Side Story probably lit up life for me more than anything else. But in a way, my songs always had that storytelling angle from the very beginning.

 

 

With such an extraordinary childhood, was it inevitable that you became a musician?

It's not surprising. Being born around the corner from Tin Pan Alley and buzzing around Soho nightclubs like the Two Eyes, where Tommy Steele and Billy Fury began -- that was my backyard. So it was pretty natural I ended up in music.

 

We are thrilled to have you here, but why Melbourne for the world premiere?

 

I go by instincts and what my heart tells me and last time I did a tour here I gave a little showcase of the musical within the concert. There was such a great response that, for me, the freshness and energy of Australia, and Melbourne in particular, musically really struck me. I also wanted to avoid the obvious - and that would have been the West End, in the very theatre opposite my front door. Also, my nephews live here. They are great and have been so important in getting things organised here for me.

 

What are your impressions of Melbourne?

I really like Melbourne - it's a great city. It's the place to be. It says it on all the number plates, so it must be true. It has a variety of weathers in one day, like London. I am based in Dubai now, so getting a taste of rain and wind is lovely.

 

This is a similar premise to what Queen did with We Will Rock You and ABBA with Mamma Mia.

How does this show differ?

What differs is the music. My music has always had profoundness in some way and in that sense Mamma Mia is a little bit different. We Will Rock You is total rock -- we have rock in our show but there are other moments too. There are classical turns and musical turns and emotional turns, too. It's a journey of the heart.

 

What are the messages and the morals you wanted to put in along with the music?

Family is very much at the heart of it, but there is also the idea that to be what you must, you must give up what you are. It's about looking at things and realising that they will not change without you changing. We have also been informed by what's going on in the world today, with the uprisings all over the world. When people finally stand up for truth and justice, then the world does change.

 

The lead character is a dreamer who is searching for answers.

How much of this story is your story?

I certainly borrowed from my own experience and I can't help but do that because that's what the songs are. I have always tried to be sincere so I write from experience and if they were anybody's dreams, they were mine. But I share these dreams with people and that is why I think my music hit home.

 

You are a very different person now from the one who wrote these songs all those years ago.

Are there elements of your faith in the musical and the messages?

My faith really just returned to me when I found Islam - it was not as if it had gone away, but it was floating and it seemed to come back. I never had any doubt in the existence of God, but I just had to understand how to relate. That's where religions have different views and so I have kept this very open. But I have kept the understanding that everything is under one control and one divine hand.

 

Putting all these songs together in one place, is this a way of embracing them as part of your legacy and body of work?

Yes - and that's why I had to be intimately involved with the whole process and why it took me a long time to find the right people to help me write it and the right director to do it.

 

You walked away from all of these songs for nearly 30 years in 1979.

Did you walk away a little too quickly in hindsight?

I think everything comes in its own time and if I was going to be true to myself - which I had to be - then I had to stop singing about life and start living it. I was going through great experiences and great times but, ultimately, the central reason for my existence wasn't there. I wasn't able to write a song when I walked away and it took time before I was given that gift back.

 

How do you reflect on those days when you were one of the biggest stars in the world?

I was really glad I was in that time with some of the most vibrant and dynamic music and in a spot where a lot of it was happening and I was part of it. I listen to music now and there's this good music - but it's not quite as deep and profound. The uniqueness of that time can't be matched today.

 

You were disillusioned with the music world when you walked away.

Had much changed when you embraced it again?

We live in a digital world now and that meant that, if I wanted to, I could record anything on my laptop. That's pretty good and it was a plus for me. I wasn't really listening to much music, but if you think about the '80s - there is a lot of nostalgia about it - I didn't miss much. Michael Jackson was probably the pinnacle, but I wasn't in it and I wasn't interested.

 

There is kind of an apocalyptic nature to the story of Moonshadow.

Are you positive about the future of the world?

The apocalyptic nature was brought to the forefront by all the conflicts around the world and between different ideologies. But the whole of Moonshadow is based on optimism and hope.

 

 

[Sunday Herald Sun, 22.04.2012]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yusuf casts a Moonshadow over Melbourne

 

 

Yusuf - aka Cat Stevens - describes his new musical Moonshadow as an epic new fable based in part on his own life journey.

 

The singer-songwriter of such worldwide hits as Father and Son and Morning Has Broken has written seven new songs for the show, which makes its world premiere in Melbourne on Thursday.

 

The score comprises these and Yusuf's catalogue of classics including Wild World and Moonshadow.

 

Yusuf said it took him 10 years to bring Moonshadow to the stage, but writing a musical had been a dream for more than 40 years, hatched during his childhood spent in London's West End.

 

'I was surrounded by theatres,' Yusuf told reporters on Wednesday.

'My first great ambition was to be a composer of musicals.

So Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Bernstein, they were my idols before the Beatles.'

The world he has created is inspired by his personal odyssey, which includes a conversion to Islam in 1977.

 

'It's a little bit to do with my journey but at the same time it's also based on some of the early ideas I had about (father of buddhism) Siddhartha, The Alchemist, but many things to do with the odyssey; the journey outward and the journey home,' Yusuf said.

'In a way the musical has a very important message about family as well.

One of the big statements in the musical is when everything else in the world is broken the first place to fix is the home.'

Visually, the nighttime land of Alayila has a Brothers Grimm fairytale quality with touches of Ottoman-inspired exoticism and steampunk modernity.

Gareth Keegan, who plays the principal role of Stormy, described it as 'Aladdin-ish, Tim Burton-ish, Medieval-ish'.

 

The story follows Stormy in a quest to discover the world beyond his home of Alayila and the endless night that engulfs it.

 

Magical scenes are created using multimedia.

 

Yusuf's world has been brought to life by designers layering projections over traditional sets.

 

'It is a new fable. It's an epic,' Yusuf said.

'This is quite original.'

Moonshadow opens in Melbourne on Friday.

 

[Sky News Australia, 30.05.2012]

 

 

 

 

Cat over the moon

as curtain goes upon lifelong dream

 

 

YUSUF Islam's long-awaited musical, Moonshadow

-- 10 years in the making -- has its world premiere tonight

at Melbourne's Princess Theatre.

But with the production sure to recruit a new generation of young fans to his music, it might have purists cringeing in their seats.

 

The singer-songwriter who was formerly known as Cat Stevens has invested a decade and $5 million into the epic fable, which is partially based on his life, travels and spiritual journey.

 

"It's a little bit to do with my journey but at the same time it's also based on some of the early ideas I had about Siddhartha (father of buddhism), the Alchemist, but many things to do with the odyssey -- the journey outward and the journey home," Islam said yesterday.

 

Far from the pressures of Broadway, Islam said Melbourne was the perfect place to create Moonshadow.

 

"I found that Melbourne was great and it was positive," he said. "I thought 'this is the place to give birth to my musical'."

The score features a catalogue of the songwriter's classic hits, such as Father and Son, Wild World, First Cut is the Deepest, and of course Moonshadow, along with seven new songs he wrote especially for the production.

 

"We really wanted to get the songs right and not just do a Cat Stevens juke-box musical," award-winning Swedish director Anders Albien said.

"Not all of my songs would have fit," Islam said, adding: "I don't know how we got Rubylove in there."

Moonshadow is a fairytale that follows Stormy, played by Gareth Keegan, a young man who lives in Alayila, the land of eternal night, who sets off to find the legendary land of the sun, a place no one has seen for thousands of years.

 

The plot is based on an Indian Inuit tale of self-discovery and a coming of age.

 

The Tim Burton-esque set resembles an ominous Smurf-like village, inhabited by quirky characters dressed in medieval costumes.

 

Having grown up in London's West End, the world-renowned rock star says composing his own musical has been a dream of his for more than 40 years.

"Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Bernstein . . . they were all my idols before the Beatles," Islam said.

 

It comes as no surprise that the Moonshadow story is deeply rooted in family values, including a strained relationship between a restless son and a distant father.

 

"I keep writing about fathers and sons, but I suppose it's part of my history," Islam said.

 

"The musical has a very important message about family.

When everything else in the world is broken, the first place to fix it is in the home."

 

[The Australian, 31.05.2012]

 

 

More on Moonshadow -

Featuring Cat Stevens

 

On Weekend Sunrise this morning, Simon Reeve enjoyed a one-on-one with Yusuf Islam AKA Cat Stevens.

Simon sat down with the songwriting legend to talk about his new musical Moonshadow. The musical features 40 songs by Yusuf,

who has been living in Melbourne for the past few months..

Yusuf explains in the interview how different he has found

the experience of creating a musical.

"There are a lot of wires, a lot of ropes an technical stuff,"

he tells Simon.

 

Cat Steven's New Musical MOONSHADOW

to Close 4 Weeks Early on Aug 5

 

MOONSHADOW, the world premiere musical based around the music of Cat Stevens/Yusuf currently playing at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne has announced its imminent closure, four weeks ahead of schedule.

 

The fantasy musical which opened on the 31st of May 2012 will now close on August 5 and the much discussed transfer of the production to Sydney and Perth now seems unlikely.

 

MOONSHADOW , a new musical fantasy written by Yusuf, features the amazing songs which he penned as Cat Stevens. Weaving together incredible new songs with his beloved classics, hits such as Father & Son, Wild World, Matthew & Son, The First Cut is the Deepest and, of course, Moonshadow, around every corner, this musical is the summit of the life’s work of this most profound songwriter who has touched the hearts of so many.

 

“Oh, baby, baby, it’s a wild world, it’s hard to get by just upon a smile”

Through his much loved songs MOONSHADOW will take the audience on an incredible journey with an enchantingly magical story of a young man and his moonshadow’s struggle against the oncoming of darkness as the night planet prepares for the big blackout by the death of the Moon.

 

The World Premiere of MOONSHADOW opened at the Princess Theatre on 31 May, 2012. This $5 million production will have an Australian cast and creative team, together with Sweden’s top musical director, Anders Albien.

With an incredible fan base in both East and West, Cat Stevens / Yusuf has enjoyed one of the most unique careers in pop music history, appealing to audiences from all walks of life – young and old, worldly or spiritual – the prospect of a new musical conceived by himand spanning his amazing catalogue is a dream come true. Yusuf has chosen Melbourne for the global Launch of Moonshadow as he has a strong connection to the city through family and friends.

 

MOONSHADOW is about themes that are both powerful and universal. It’s about hopes and dreams; greed and power; right and wrong; but most importantly MOONSHADOW is about finding happiness and love.

 

[australia broadwayworld, 08.07.2012]