Design by Cynthia Tingey for the Irving Davies Dancers in Way Out in Piccadilly, Prince of Wales Theatre, 1966

Design for the Irving Davies Dancers in Way Out in Piccadilly, showing two full length dancing figures, to the left, a female figure in a pink long sleeved tunic, the wide sleeves and lower edge trimmed with orange spots or sequins of various sizes, tight orange trousers and yellow sandals,and, to the right, a male figure in an orange shirt with a high collar, tight plum coloured trousers and similar sandals. The design is painted on black card and is signed and dated and inscribed with the name of the dancers. Two fabric swatches are stapled to the upper left hand corner. On the reverse is a sketch of a tunic in ball point pen.

Given by the artist

This is one of a collection of designs for pantomime and cabaret, given to the Theatre Museum by the designer, Cynthia Tingey, who created the costumes for 15 of the annual London Palladium pantomimes. This design was made for the Irving Davies Dancers in the revue, Way Out in Piccadilly, Prince of Wales Theatre, 3 November 1966. The production was written by Ray Galton, Alan Simpson and Eric Sykes and directed by Maurice Fournier.

The revue Way Out In Piccadilly opened at London's Prince of Wales Theatre on 3rd November 1966 and marked the West End debut of the hugely successful 23-year old Liverpudlian singer Cilla Black (1943-2015) appearing with the long-standing comedy favourite Frankie Howerd (1917-1992). The seemingly ill-matched pair proved so successful that the show was a huge hit and the duo became known as 'the celebrities the celebrities want to see'. Anita Harris replaced Cilla Black in July 1967 but the show closed three weeks later, showing that Cilla was really the star that everyone wanted to see.

S.164-1999