Street of Dreams Street of Dreams was a musical based on " Coronation Street " that opened to mixed reviews on 9th May 2012 at the 20 , 000 - seat Manchester M . E . N . ( Manchester Evening News ) Arena and closed the next day after just two performances with recriminations , rancour and legal action following on . ITV called the production " Corrie meets Moulin Rouge " and it featured " Coronation Street " cast members such as Kym Marsh , Katy Cavanagh , Julie Goodyear , Kevin Kennedy , Brian Capron and William Roache ( though the latter appeared by way of a pre - recorded segment ) . The production was some three years in the planning and was based on the album " Coronation Street - Rogues , Angels , Heroes and Fools " , which was written by Trisha Ward , the composer and lyricist , and released on 29th November 2010 . The enterprise was produced by two companies named Reckless Entertainment and Street of Dreams Limited in cooperation with and under licence from ITV with " Coronation Street " executive producer Kieran Roberts taking on the additional responsibility of one of the production team on the show . The first announcements were made in August 2009 when The Sun broke the news that the project was underway as part of the programme ’ s fiftieth anniversary celebrations but in the event it took almost another two years before the idea became stage reality . The final script was a collaboration between Ward and " Coronation Street " scriptwriter Damon Rochefort with contributions from Jayne Tunnicliffe who had appeared as Yana Lumb in the programme and is married to Senior Storyline Writer Mark Bickerton . John Stephenson was the director of the show . The imminent production was formally announced via a one - minute video launched uploaded onto YouTube on 7th December 2011 which featured narrator and main star Paul O ’ Grady as a milkman as he delivered to the street meeting the productions main stars including Kennedy , Roache and Goodyear in character together with archive clips of Patricia Phoenix as Elsie Tanner . Tickets went on sale the next day with the press release stating : Paul O ’ Grady gave an interview to the " Daily Mirror " on 9th December in which he said : Symptoms of the production being a troubled one first appeared in March 2012 when confusion was caused by the show ’ s official website and Facebook and Twitter feeds stating that the show would be on its stated launch dates of 21st and 22nd March but ticket - buyers were being informed that the dates were now 9th and 10th May with the change being " due to the intricacy of scale involved in the staging of this world first production . " Casting continued until March 2012 with apparently incorrect reports in " The News of the World " that Katherine Kelly would be playing Becky McDonald however Kym Marsh did sign on as reported to play a young Elsie Tanner with Jodie Prenger playing the older Elsie . The narrative of the show was presented by O ’ Grady who took the audience through fifty years of the programme ’ s storylines by the medium of song and dance presented by a 36 - strong cast . The show featured a live orchestra on the rooftops of the 80 - foot wide street set and with a large screen above that showing the original television footage of the storylines being presented . Katy Cavanagh didn ’ t appear in her role of Julie Carp but instead as “ the angel of death ” who informed Paul ( and the audience ) of the various demises being suffered by the characters and the progression of the their lives . Famous glimpses from the past included Jack and Vera Duckworth and the Vince St . Clair story and Stan and Hilda Ogden ' s second honeymoon with the lines " What does that lipstick taste of ? " and " Woman Stanley , woman " set to music . The production garnered mixed reviews . " The Guardian " said that “ The show juggles poignancy and brass , hit and often miss ” and while praising the “ wonderful ” dialogue and “ nostalgic gold in old phrases like ' chuckie egg ' , and ' fur coat with no knickers ' ” but did state that it was in danger of becoming just another vehicle for Paul O ’ Grady . " What ’ s On Stage " said “ too many cooks spoil the hotpot , so this ambitious musical ends up being a bit of a mess ” and opined that " O ' Grady is a fantastic live performer and to begin with - he is engaging and knows how to work an audience . But once in character , he often has to hang around during musical numbers - chipping in bits of dialogue . Soon , it starts to become irritating as it slows the ( almost ) narrative down . His scenes with Kavanagh are toe curlingly bad with incredibly dated humour and needs cutting . " They also criticised the short time allowed on stage to the main advertised stars such as Goodyear and Kennedy and said that Russell Watson ’ s surprise appearance with a song named " Ghosts - Take My Hand " at the end was “ so cheesy that you think are watching Eurovision , and not in a good way ” . They concluded “ Sadly , " Street of Dreams " is in the wrong venues - too vast and due to poor sight lines ( a show loved by millions in their front rooms is in an arena - epic fail ) fails to give you any sense of connection , the show itself is overlong , the songs in the main are unmemorable and despite the gallant efforts of many of the performers … and a brilliant ensemble - it ' s ' boring , Ken ! ' ” " The Daily Telegraph " concluded “ Occasional flashes of brilliance cannot cover the whiff of cynicism in this exercise – quality Street it ain ’ t . ” even though they admitted that some of the audience thought it was a hit , something the " Daily Mirror " agreed with , even when pointing out that there were “ Repeated sound problems and a script that seemed more cobbled together than constructed gave the whole thing a disappointingly dis - jointed feel . ” " The Stage " said that after such a long gestation period “ the end result is an overlong , confusing and disjointed proposition ” and “ shorn of any dramatic context , Trisha Ward ’ s otherwise engaging songs are overshadowed . And critically , the sharpest writing comes straight from the soap ’ s scriptwriters themselves , merely serving to remind you how consistently brilliant the real " Coronation Street " can be . ” On 15th May " The Stage " broke the news that the producers had announced the postponement of the forthcoming tour of arenas in Dublin , Belfast and Newcastle later in the month claiming they were “ far from happy with the show artistically ” . The show ’ s co - producer John Ward , from Reckless Entertainment , said he was postponing the dates planned for later this month because he and his production team , “ are far from happy with the show artistically and we are not prepared to take it out again in its present form ” . He added : “ We will be re - working the show for dates later in the year . ” Ward admitted the show had “ been a very rocky ride ” but added that “ the upside is that we had a terrific reaction from the fans on both Wednesday and Thursday night and an improved show certainly has the potential to go on and be a long running hit . We had some mixed reviews but also some raves . But it needs to be changed . ” He said he and the show ’ s composer , Trisha Ward , would be “ doing everything in our power to make this a smoother ride from now on ” . In his email , Ward moved to allay fears about payment of those involved . He said that he would be in touch with those involved " individually shortly regarding matters financial . People will be paid but we do need a bit more patience and that may not be what you want to hear " . Even at that time Kym Marsh revealed on Irish Television that former co - star Keith Duffy would be joining her or the Dublin and Belfast dates , saying " At every show , we ' re going to have a special guest - at the end of the show - and they ' re going to sing along with the cast " but on 18th May Paul O ’ Grady spoke out , labeling the show “ bedlam ” and accusing the musical ' s producers of being “ incompetent , inept and unprofessional ” and that the majority of the cast had yet to be paid , he had been asked to “ cobble stuff together ” during the Manchester performances , the set was unfinished , and that cast members were asked to provide their own costumes for the show . By September , O ’ Grady ’ s management company , BM Creative Management Limited , had begun legal proceedings against Reckless Entertainment in a bid to have them wound up through a court order . Two months later however , before this action could take effect , both Reckless and Street of Dreams Limited were put into administration due to financial difficulties with £97 , 488 owing to HSBC and an undisclosed amount to ITV plc .