H E L L O   D O L L Y ,   G O O D B Y E   M U M M Y
1996   15'   Music Drama   Commissioned as part of the BBC's Sound on Film Series.
 
Composer Judith Weir and director Margaret Williams collaborate on a filmed fairy tale
written by Nick Herrett.

S Y N O P S I S :

Vasilissa lives in a big house in a nice part of town. Her mum is dead, her dad's away a lot on business, and her live-in wicked stepmother (complete with two ugly sisters) makes her life a misery. Things get worse. Stepmother parcels Vasilissa up and sends her off to Baba-Yaga, the World's Scariest Russian Grandmother. Baba-Yaga's hobby is eating. She loves to cook tasty things, especially children. But, with the help of her Magic Russian Doll, Vasilissa fixes a truly memorable snack for Baba-Yaga, and also manages to sort things out back home…

C R E D I T S :

D I R E C T O R
Margaret Williams

C O M P O S E R
Judith Weir

P E R F O R M E R S
Nick Herrett
Sian Stevenson
Kelly West

D I R E C T O R   O F   P H O T O G R A P H Y
David Scott

E D I T O R
John Middlewick

P R O D U C E R
Anne Beresford
MJW Productions

R E V I E W S :

'Best of all though is the wickedly camp score by Judith Weir for Margaret Williams' HELLO DOLLY, GOODBYE MUMMY, a grimly amusing fairy tale in which a little girl outwits her wicked stepmother and stepsisters with the help of a magic doll.
 
Weir's score leaps vertiginously from music-hall to Tin Pan Alley via the House of Hammer, all brilliantly conjured from tiny resources (one singer - Linda Hirst - and two instrumentalists). Here at last, the musical rhythm appears to guide the witty grotesqueries of the action without enslaving them; here too, the BBC's claim to have established a 'new form' don't seem quite so wide of the mark.'
The Times

Return to Drama/Feature Films