The musical explores two parallel storylines: one following Stine's struggles to adapt his novel, and the other taking place within the world of the film he's creating.

It was directed by Michael Blakemore with sets designed by Robin Wagner, costumes by Florence Klotz and lighting by Paul Gallo.

[3][4][5] While the show continued on Broadway, the Los Angeles company opened in June 1991 at the Shubert Theater in Century City, with Stephen Bogardus as Stine, Lauren Mitchell as the villainess, with Randy Graff (Friday Oolie) and James Naughton (Stone) reprising their original roles.

This production, along with the Los Angeles cast, played at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California from October 1991 through November 10, 1991.

'City of Angels' received rave reviews, and its box-office collapse was blamed on the gravity of the recession and the declining sophistication of West End audiences.

Directed by the Donmar Warehouse's artistic director Josie Rourke, the cast included Hadley Fraser as Stine, Tam Mutu as Stone, Rosalie Craig as Gabbi/Bobbi, Katherine Kelly as Alaura/Carla, Rebecca Trehearn as Donna/Oolie and Samantha Barks as Mallory/Avril.

The cast included Craig, Fraser and Trehearn reprising their roles from the Donmar production as Gabbi/Bobbi, Stine and Donna/Oolie, with Theo James as Stone, Nicola Roberts as Mallory/Avril and Vanessa Williams as Alaura/Carla.

The cast featured Burke Moses as Stone, Vicki Lewis as Oolie, Tami Tappan Damiano as Gabby, and Stephen Bogardus as Stine.

Stone, a tough Los Angeles private eye, lies on a hospital gurney with a bullet in his shoulder and a lot on his mind.

He flashes back to a week earlier, when his loyal Girl Friday secretary, Oolie, ushered in a rich, beautiful woman named Alaura.

The man at the typewriter is Stine, author of the popular detective novel City of Angels, which he is adapting into a screenplay at the behest of Hollywood producer-director Buddy Fidler.

Stone, angry after the beating, confronts Alaura at her mansion and meets several more unsavory characters, including her lustful stepson, her polio-stricken elderly husband, and his quack doctor.

He fruitlessly pursues the missing Mallory in a scene that recalls a film montage ("Ev'rybody's Gotta Be Somewhere"), only to find her waiting naked in his bed ("Lost And Found").

Oolie, meanwhile, has discovered that Alaura is a fortune hunter who has already murdered one rich husband and is planning to do away with this one, once she had eliminated his son, daughter, and doctor.

'City of Angels,' a new musical without big stars, was taking in about $18,000 a day in advance ticket sales before it opened, according to general manager Ralph Roseman.

"[36] Of the 2014 production at the Donmar, Matt Trueman from Variety wrote: "Gelbart makes his point early and his ciphers can't sustain a second act that gets itself tangled.

Practically every other line cracks a laugh, and Coleman's authentic jazz score is rich and infectious, combining variety with real integrity.

Robert Jones's crisp greyscale design, artfully lit by Howard Harrison, and Duncan Mclean's colorful projections match them for class.