Alice Ellen Wright and Luke Harley join acclaimed Edinburgh cast of I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (The Other Yin), 3 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1HT Wednesday 3rd – Sunday 28th August 2022, 20:45
Alice Ellen Wright, best known for her performances as both Eponine and Fantine in the West End production of Les Misérables, and Luke Harley, renowned for his performances around the UK and internationally as Leo Bloom in The Producers and in Titanic, will join the cast of the Edinburgh production of the award-winning musical revue I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical.
Alice and Luke join Hannah Taylor (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, London Palladium) and Harry Winchester (Peter Pan, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre; The Pirate Queen, London Coliseum).
Some of the many personalities who have seen the show’s past productions have been voicing their support for the Fringe run. Legendary lyricist Sir Tim Rice tweeted: “Alexander S Bermange is a great musical talent and this will be another top production of this fine show… I hope I can catch it”. National treasure Miriam Margolyes has posted on Facebook: “If you’re going to Edfest this year, don’t miss this!” and musical theatre superstar Ruthie Henshall enthused on her Magic at the Musicals radio show, “You need to get to see this show!”.
From voice-straining high notes to limb-spraining high kicks, via on-stage smooches and offstage feuds, I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical from iTunes comedy album chart-topper Alexander S. Bermange reveals everything that you could want to know about being a musical theatre performer… if only there were any who would dare to admit it. Returning to the Fringe with its unique blend of wit, whimsy and warmth, it presents the innermost secrets of the industry. The 2022 Edinburgh production is directed and choreographed by Joanna Goodwin (Gypsy, Sunset Boulevard, Funny Girl, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), with associate direction/choreography by Holly Prentice
Following the Fringe, the production will be opening this year’s Liverpool Theatre Festival, with two performances on 31st August 2022.
Grace Farrell and Carl Douglas, who were previously announced as cast members, are no longer performing in I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical.
OPENING AT GLASGOW KING’S THEATRE ON SATURDAY 28 JANUARY 2023
Producers, Michael Harrison and David Ian are delighted to announce that the award-winning international smash hit musical THE BODYGUARD starring former Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton will tour the UK and Ireland opening at Glasgow King’s Theatre on Saturday 28 January 2023. Full tour schedule attached. Further casting to be announced soon. www.thebodyguardmusical.com
Selling over 70 million albums as a member of one of the most celebrated girl groups of all time, The Pussycat Dolls, Melody Thornton is a multi-platinum Grammy-nominated artist. In 2020 she released her much-lauded debut solo EP, Lioness Eyes. Melody received rave reviews and audience acclaim for her performance as Rachel Marron when The Bodyguard toured China for six months. In 2018 she reached the final five in ITV’s Dancing On Ice.
Former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer, is hired to protect superstar Rachel Marron from an unknown stalker. Each expects to be in charge; what they don’t expect is to fall in love. A romantic thriller, THE BODYGUARD features a host of irresistible classics including Queen of the Night, So Emotional, One Moment in Time, Saving All My Love, Run to You, I Have Nothing, I Wanna Dance with Somebody and one of the biggest hit songs of all time – I Will Always Love You.
Based on Lawrence Kasdan’s 1992 Oscar nominated Warner Bros. movie starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, THE BODYGUARD, directed by Thea Sharrock with book by Oscar winning Alex Dinelaris, had its world premiere at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End and was nominated for four Olivier Awards. A sell out 18 month UK and Ireland tour followed, before the show returned to the West End at the Dominion Theatre ahead of a second sell out tour of the UK and Ireland in 2018/19. To date, THE BODYGUARD has played to over 3.6 million people in 15 countries and 45 US cities. Countries include the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea, China, Canada, Italy, Australia, Spain, France, the US, Austria and Japan.
Jake Sharp as Dewey Finn brings to life Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘School of Rock’ and it does not disappoint!
This incredible cast is a flurry of talented children who follow their substitute teacher through his journey as he tries to win the ‘Battle of the Bands’ with their help. The twist is, that Dewey Finn is not a real substitute and has forged his way into the school under his best friends credentials! With the help of the children, Dewey takes them on stage where they ‘Stick it to the Man’ and prove to their parents that they are more than just brains!
The children in this cast are superb, all playing their own instruments and singing whilst keeping a solid performance is no easy task-and they succeed. There are so many children in the cast that it is impossible to praise each one for their talents, but for me, the stand out was Alfie Morwood as Billy. He stole every scene he was in with his cheeky grin, his perfectly timed sass and sweet voice.
Heading up the school, Rebecca Lock as straight laced principal ‘Miss Mullins’ is a true star. Her vocal agility was the envy of the audience, with a rendition of ‘Queen of the Night’ and the nostalgic ‘Where did the Rock go?’, she earned every ounce of praise the audience could give. Together with Jake Sharp as ‘Dewey Finn’, they were a force to be reckoned with. Sharp was extraordinary and portrayed the bumbling ‘Dewey Finn’ perfectly, paying a slight homage to the original Jack Black whilst making it truly his own.
This really is an incredible show, and to know that the children are playing the instruments themselves brings a new level-they are truly superb.
Southampton, get down to see School of Rock because ‘You’re in the Band’!!!!
(Kenny Wax Ltd and Stage Presence Ltd present the Mischief production) The Play That Goes Wrong bounced into Hull New Theatre on Monday night and got a very well-deserved standing ovation for a brilliant, funny show.
From even before the show started, we had the “stage crew” putting the set back together with the help of an audience member, a hunt for a lost dog and the audience asked to look out for missing Duran Duran CD Box Set.
The Play that Goes Wrong is a play within a play. We see Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society present a whodunnit called Murder at Haversham Manor and as their director Chris Bean (Colin Burnicle) explained to the audience it was the first time they had been able to put on a full play due to lack of cast members (Snow White and the Tall Broad Man being one of the previous shows!)
From start to finish we are treated to a masterclass in comic timing, and it would be extremely hard to single out any actor in the show as every performance was just brilliant. From the set (designed by Nigel Hook) which fell apart around the cast (causing sharp intakes of breath from the audience!) forgotten lines, fighting cast members and missing props.
The Play that Goes Wrong is hilarious, full of belly laughs, physical comedy and good old-fashioned slapstick. I have seen a number of Mischief productions and this one is one of the best yet. Long may they continue going wrong!
ALONGSIDE SEAN JONES, COMPLETING HIS FINAL EVER TOUR IN THE ROLE OF MICKEY JOHNSTONE
OPENING ATTHETHEATRE ROYALWINDSOR
AHEAD OF A 16 WEEK AUTUMN TOUR
Bill Kenwright‘s legendary, award-winning production of the international smash hit musical, Blood Brothers returns to the stage for a 16-week tour from 28 July at Theatre Royal Windsor. The much-loved musical, performed to sell-out houses on its recent UK tour and returns with gusto, running nationally from 28 July – 03 December 2022.
Niki Colwell Evans and Sean Jones, continue in the iconic roles of Mrs Johnstone and Mickey Johnstone respectively.
Niki Colwell Evans first rose to fame in 2007 when she reached the semi-final of series 4 of The X Factor UK mentored by Louis Walsh. After her debut solo single ‘Love Me No More’ in 2008, she went on to play the iconic role Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre between 2008-2009 and in 2010 where she received rave reviews from critics. Following on from this she performed in the pantomimes Cinderella as the Fairy Godmother at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre (2009-2010) and in Kinky Boots as Trish (UK Tour 2018/21). She played the role of Paulette in the musical adaptation of Legally Blonde (UK Tour 2012) receiving high acclaim for her performance as Elle’s sassy confidante. Over the years, Niki has toured as a solo singer with pop stars such as Sonia, Lonnie Gordon, Big Fun and Yell. In 2016, she performed at the Queen’s 90th celebrations at Windsor Castle alongside Dame Helen Mirren, Damien Lewis, Andrea Boccelli, Katherine Jenkins, Gary Barlow, Kylie Minogue and many more.
Sean Jones is thrilled to be returning to the part of Mickey in Blood Brothers (until 19 November). He has had a long and successful association with the role since 1999, having played it in both West End and touring productions to critical acclaim. His other stage credits include: Aladdin; Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan; Macbeth (UK Tour and Singapore); and Jacqueline’s Wilson’s world premiere of Wave Me Goodbye (Theatr Clwyd). His TV credits include Emmerdale, The Royal Today, Hollyoaks and The Chase.
Josh Capper will play the role of Mickey from 22nd November to 3rd December (Poole and Cardiff).
Niki Colwell Evans as Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers
Joining the cast for the Autumn tour are Jay Worley (Eddie), Richard Munday (Narrator) and Timothy Lucas (Sammy). They will join previous cast members; Paula Tappenden (Mrs Lyons), Tim Churchill (Mr Lyons), Carly Burns (Linda), Nick Wilkes (Policeman/Teacher), Josh Capper(Neighbour), Grace Galloway (Donna Marie/Miss Jones), Melissa Potts (Brenda), Andy Owens (Perkins) and Jacob Yolland (Bus Conductor).
Written by award-winning playwright Willy Russell, few musicals have been received with such acclaim as the multi-award-winning Blood Brothers. Considered ‘one of the best musicals ever written’ (Sunday Times), Bill Kenwright’s production surpassed 10,000 performances in London’s West End, one of only three musicals ever to achieve that milestone. It has been affectionately christened the ‘Standing Ovation Musical’, as inevitably it “brings the audience cheering to its feet and roaring its approval” (Daily Mail).
This epic tale of Liverpool life started as a play, performed at a Liverpool comprehensive school in 1981, before opening at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983. The musical has since triumphed across the globe, completing sell out seasons in the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan, and scooping up four awards for Best Musical in London and seven Tony Award nominations on Broadway.
The superb score includes A Bright New Day, Marilyn Monroe and the emotionally charged hit Tell Me It’s Not True.
Blood Brothers tells the captivating and moving tale of twins separated at birth, who grow up on the opposite sides of the tracks, only to meet again with tragic consequences.
When Mrs Johnstone, a young mother, is deserted by her husband and left to her own devices to provide for seven hungry children she takes a job as a housekeeper in order to make ends meet. It is not long before her brittle world crashes around her when she discovers herself to be pregnant yet again – this time with twins! In amoment of weakness and desperation, she enters a secret pact with her employer which leads inexorably to the show’s shattering climax.
Willy Russell is undeniably one of this country’s leading contemporary dramatists. His countless credits include Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine. Educating Rita, originally commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, enjoyed a two-year run in the West End and was made into a movie starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. Shirley Valentine also made the move from stage to screen in an enormously popular film starring Pauline Collins and Tom Conti.
Niki Colwell Evans as Mrs Johnstone and The Cast of Blood Brothers
The hilarious new improvised comedy homage to everything from Star Trek to Galaxy Quest starring a supergroup of members of Tony&Olivier Award winning companies:
STARSHIP IMPROVISE will boldly go where no improv comedy has gone before
CELESTIA 7 was along-running,smash-hit,science-fiction TV show. Some of the cast became international celebrities, others faded into obscurity. Now, headlining at a fans’convention, the actors reassemble to share memories of everyone’s favourite episodes.
Improv superstars from Mischief, Showstopper!and Austentatious, all experts in the form, will join together to create a different episode of a Star Trek-style-drama, inspired entirely by audience suggestions. Which planet will they go to? Which aliens will they encounter? What adventures will they have? Conflict with cyborgs? Sent back in time to Victorian London? Clones?The audience decides, and a full episode is played out before their very eyes
All the while the actors at the convention offer commentary upon how that night’s episode was made, and we get to see how backstage politics and tensions spilled into the show itself.
While CELESTIA 7 followed its plucky crew on their adventures through time and space, the real drama often lay behind the scenes. In-fighting, relationships, break-ups, sexual tensions, ego… it was years and years of science friction.
Boldy pushing the improv envelope to a place it’s never been before, each show is a stand alone episode AND recurring characters will develop relationships throughout the run as the soap opera unfolds. Audiences can return to multiple shows to catch up with favourite characters and all the gossip that has happened along the way
With some of the funniest and most experienced improvisers in the UK, live music, and even special effects, STARSHIP IMPROVISE is a space opera, a soap opera, and a DVD directors’commentary; a fresh take on improvised comedy, taking long form improv to new heights, by Fringe favourites
Adam Meggido (Showstopper!) is director of Mischief Theatre’s best known and Olivier nominated comedies such as Peter Pan Goes Wrong and Magic Goes Wrong and consultant on Mischief Movie Night and A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (BBC). Ruth Bratt (Showstopper!) is in all three series of BAFTA-winning show People Just Do Nothing (BBC2). She is a regular guest with The Comedy Store Players, is part of The Glenda J Collective and guests with Whose Line Is It Anyway? Live and Paul Merton’s Impro Chums. Henry Shields (Mischief),co-wrote and has appeared in many Mischief Theatre shows including Olivier winning The Play That Goes Wrong and Olivier nominated The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, he also appeared on screen in The Goes Wrong Shows. Nell Mooney (Showstopper!), has appeared in Humana Festival of New Plays (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Diary of a Teenage Girl (Off Broadway); film credits include: Enchanted, Hyde Park on the Hudson; television includes: The Eichmann Show (BBC2). Dave Hearn (Mischief) is a founding member of Mischief Theatre. Recent credits include: The Play That Goes Wrong, The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Goes Wrong Shows (BBC1). Henry Lewis( Mischief) is artistic director of Mischief Theatre. Recent credits include: The Valiant Quest of Prince Ivandoe (Cartoon Network), Mischief Movie Night-In (format co-creator/producer-live stream). Outside of Mischief Henry produced and performed in the critically acclaimed West End revival of Philip Ridley’s Mercury Fur and is the creator and founder ofThe Mystery Agency. Charlotte Gittins (Austentatious) is an actor, documentary-make rand BAFTA Rocliffe-winning writer. A seasoned improviser she is half of critically acclaimed double act Folie à Deux, and one-third of Grand Theft Impro and three-woman impro troupes JCB and Anxiety Club
New musical Identical brings much-loved story to life on stage
Based on ‘The Parent Trap’, the show features three sets of identical twins (and two dogs!)
Friday 19 August to Saturday 3 September
Identical, a brand new musical based on the novel ‘The Parent Trap’ by Erich Kästner, is heading to The Lowry, Salford, next month.
The book inspired the hugely successful Disney films featuring Hayley Mills in 1961 and Lindsay Lohan in 1998, which have become much-loved classics for families around the world – and now the story has been turned into a stage musical directed by theatre legend Trevor Nunn.
Destined for the West End, Identical premieres at the Nottingham Playhouse later this month before playing at The Lowry from Friday 19th August to Saturday 3rd September.
Identical, directed by Olivier and Tony award-winning Trevor Nunn (Les Miserables, Starlight Express, Cats and Sunset Boulevard), tells the story of Lottie and Lisa, twin girls separated at birth, reunited by chance at a summer camp 10 years later. In an attempt to get to know their other parent, they decide to swap identities.
Three sets of identical twins, will share the central roles of Lottie and Lisa. Kyla and Nicole Fox, aged 12, from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, Emme and Eden Patrick, 12 from Waltham Abbey and Sienna and Savannah Robinson, 12 from Bromley, were cast following a five-year casting search and multiple auditions across the UK.
Joining them on stage will be Emily Tierney (Glinda in Wicked, Molly in Ghost), James Darch (Brad in The Rocky Horror Show, Sky in Mamma Mia!), Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson (Fastrada, Pippin), Louise Gold (Yente in Fiddler on the Roof, Mazeppa in Gypsy), Michael Smith-Stewart (The Lion King, Rent).
The ensemble features Rico Bakker (Hairspray), David Bardsley (Billy Elliot), Hannah Cauchi (Top Hat), Paige Fenlon (Pretty Woman), Rosie Glossop (Kinky Boots), Dominic Adam Griffin (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella), Jordan Isaac (Mary Poppins), Rutendo Mushonga (The Lion King), Ellie Nunn (Honk!).
Playing the other children are Winter Jarrett Glasspool, Daisy Jeffcoate, Isabelle Larrey, Saffia Layla, Parrine Long, Helena Middleton, Kirsten Muzvuru and Poppy Pawson.
The show also introduces two new canine stars, Cairn Terrier Ness, and West Highland Terrier Louby, who will share the role of Pepi.
Identical has Music and Lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, (the multi award-winning writers of the Olivier award-winning National Theatre hit Honk!, who also created a new score for the international smash-hit Cameron Mackintosh/Disney production of Mary Poppins) with a Book by Stuart Paterson, whose drama Prisoner C33 about Oscar Wilde (Toby Stephens) in Reading Gaol, directed by Trevor Nunn, premiered earlier this month on BBC4.
Creative team: Director Trevor Nunn, Choreographer Matt Cole, Set Design Rob Jones, Costume Design Jonathan Lipman, Video Design Douglas O’Connell, Lighting Design Johanna Town, Sound Design Paul Gatehouse, Musical Supervisor Caroline Humphris, Musical Director Tamara Saringer, Orchestrator Tom Curran, Associate Director (with special responsibility for the children) Martha Geelan, Associate Choreographer Jane McMurtrie, Casting Director Anne Vosser, Children’s Casting and Administration Jo Hawes, Wig and Hair Designer Richard Mawbey, Production Manager Digby Robinson, General Management & Marketing Kenny Wax Ltd.
IDENTICAL is produced by Kenny Wax Ltd, Gavin Kalin, Playing Field (Theatre) Limited, Kevin McCollum and Stewart F. Lane Bonnie Comley. It is co-produced with Nottingham Playhouse.
FIRST LOOK: BRAND NEW PRODUCTION SHOTS FOR BILLY ELLIOT
NOW PLAYING AT LEICESTER CURVE UNTIL 20 AUGUST
BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL
A Made at Curve production directed by Nikolai Foster
The first new UK production of Billy Elliot the Musical is now open at Leicester’s Curve theatre. Directed by Nikolai Foster (A Chorus Line, Sunset Boulevard – At Home, West Side Story), the Made at Curve musical is now running until Saturday 20 August.
The titular role of Billy Elliot, the miner’s son with a passion for ballet, is performed by Leo Hollingsworth from Nottinghamshire, Alfie Napolitano from Northamptonshire, Samuel Newby from Hertfordshire and Jaden Shentall-Lee, whose family live in Leicestershire.
Billy’s dance teacher Mrs. Wilkinson is played by West End and Broadway legend Sally Ann Triplett, whose iconic roles include Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes (National Theatre and Theatre Royal Drury Lane) and Young Phyllis in Follies (Shaftesbury Theatre), as well as Martha in the recent Made at Curve UK tour of White Christmas.
Michael, Billy’s best friend, is performed by Bobby Donald, Lucas Haywood, Ethan Shimwell and Leicester’s Prem Masani, who makes his stage debut in the production.
All hailing from the East Midlands, Pearl Ball, Caitlin Cole, Lola Johnstone and Ellie Copping – who returns to Curve’s stage having previously appeared as Susan Waverly in the 2018 Made at Curve production of White Christmas – share the role of Debbie, Mrs. Wilkinson’s daughter.
Joe Caffrey, who previously performed in the West End production of Billy Elliot the Musical, joins the cast as Billy’s Dad Jackie, while Broadway and West End sensation Rachel Izen plays Billy’s Grandma Edna. Luke Baker (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the Made at Curve UK tour of Grease) plays Billy’s older brother Tony and Jessica Daley (recently seen in Made at Curve productions of White Christmas and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber) plays Billy’s Mam.
The adult company is completed by Craig Armstrong as George, Minal Patel as Big Davey, Cameron Johnson as Mr. Braithwaite, Micky Cochrane as Scab, Robin Paley Yorke as Lesley, Christopher Wright as Mr. Wilkinson, Michael Lin as Pit Supervisor, Jonathan Dryden Taylor as Posh Dad, William Atkinson as Older Billy and ensemble, and Steph Asamoah, Tori McDougall,Anna Rossa and Louie Wood as members of the ensemble.
The young company of ballet dancers and boxers, most of which are Midlands-based or have local family connections, features Willow Adamson, Maddie Seren Ashley, Oliver Back, Aneeka Kaur Bains, Ella-Rose Blackburn Price, Harvey Clarridge, Lily Corkill, Miley Dalton, Matisse Didier, Isabelle Francis, Ethan Galeotti, Rahul Gandabhai, Isla Granville, Uzziah Gray, Orlaith Rae Hunt, Ava Rose Johnson, Ava Mia Komisarczuk, Kyrelle Lammy, Lienna-Jean Langdon, Tahlia Maddox, Lorcan Murphy, Nesisa Mhindu, Sophia Pirie, Hayden Polanco, Gopal Thacker and Mirabelle Varakantam.
The Made at Curve production of Billy Elliot the Musical is choreographed by Lucy Hind, with Musical Supervisor and Musical Director George Dyer. The set is designed by Michael Taylor with costumes designed by Edd Lindley. Completing the creative team are Lighting Designer and Curve Associate Ben Cracknell, Sound Designer Adam Fisher, Props Supervisor Lizzie Frankl, Wigs, Hair and Make-Up Supervisor Helen Keane for Campbell Young Associates,RYTDS Resident Assistant Director Lilac Yosiphon, Birkbeck Trainee Director Thyrza Abrahams, Associate Choreographer James Berkery, Associate Sound Designer Oliver Durrant, Assistant Musical Director Josh Cottell, Assistant Choreographer Joanna Goodwin, Dialect Coach Elspeth Morrison, Fight Director Kev McCurdy and Head Chaperone Helen ‘H’ Mclaren-Frost.
Children’s casting is managed by Jo Hawes, with adult casting led by Curve Associate Kay Magson CDG.
Based on Stephen Daldry’s BAFTA-winning 2000 film starring Jamie Bell and Julie Walters, Billy Elliot the Musical features music from Elton John and book and lyrics by Lee Hall. The musical first premiered at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre in 2005 and went on to win a host of international awards, including four Olivier Awards and ten Tony Awards.
It’s the mid 80s. Thatcher is at her most powerful. Men mine and boys box. Until, in a small town in County Durham, a young boy falls in love with ballet.
Set amidst the increasingly bitter 1984/85 miners’ strike, Billy Elliot the Musical is a tale of determination, acceptance and daring to be different. In a close-knit community where family and tradition means everything, can Billy forge a new destiny and follow his passion?
Based on Stephen Daldry’s acclaimed 2000 film, with music by Elton John and book and lyrics by Lee Hall, this electrifying musical features incredible songs such as Solidarity, The Letter, He Could Be a Star and the show-stopping Electricity.
The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical, a new musical premiering at Storyhouse in Chester from 30 September to 15 October 2022, is holding auditions to find three local children to play the role of Young Clare on Monday 25 July at 12noon. The auditions will take place at Storyhouse with the aim of giving local children the opportunity to star in a major new musical. Director Bill Buckhurst has requested that applicants send in a video of themselves singing a verse and a chorus of a pop song they enjoy singing and a short poem or monologue, and to provide some background information on why they want to play the role and what (if any) performance experience they have. Applicants should send their tapes to [email protected] by Thursday 21 July.
The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical is based on the best-selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger and the New Line Cinema film screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin. The two-week season at Storyhouse will precede a West End transfer, to be announced at a later date.
The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical weaves a heart-breaking and soaring original musical score by multi Grammy Award-winning composers Joss Stone and Dave Stewart with one of the most beloved novels of the last 50 years. All couples ask how to truly know one another, to trust, to commit, to build a family, to work at something bigger than ourselves. Not all of us are time travellers. How do you love across time?
Director Bill Buckhurst said “The Time Traveller’s Wife centres around a time-travelling librarian, Henry DeTamble and Clare Abshire, a paper artist. They meet on one of Henry’s time-travelling episodes and later in the story they get married. During the show there are a few scenes where we meet Clare as a ten-year-old and we’re looking for a young, talented actor to play this role. The same actor would also play the role of Alba, who is the daughter of Henry and Clare (also 10 years old). We’re looking to meet actors between the ages of 11 and 16 for this role. They must have some acting experience, be confident singers and to be able to do a credible standard American accent.”
With a book by Lauren Gunderson, original music and lyrics by Joss Stone and Dave Stewart and additional lyrics by Kait Kerrigan, the production will be directed by Bill Buckhurst and designed by Anna Fleischle, with choreography by Shelley Maxwell, lighting design by Lucy Carter, illusions by Chris Fisher, video design by Andrzej Goulding, sound design by Richard Brooker, musical supervision & arrangement by Nick Finlow and orchestrations by Bryan Crook. Casting will be by Grindrod Burton Casting. It will be produced by Colin Ingram for InTheatre Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions, Teresa Tsai and Crossroads Live, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.
Full first season announced for new Marylebone Theatre September 2022 – January 2023
The full first season has been announced for Marylebone Theatre, London’s most exciting new venue. The theatre recently announced its launch production Dmitry, a thrilling production by Peter Oswald, directed by the acclaimed Tim Supple in his return to London theatre. Now, the rest of this new theatre’s full first season has been announced, with a rich programme of music and spoken word events, including concerts by Stile Antico, Jess Gillam, and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, a festive whodunnit straight from off-Broadway and a T.S. Eliot poetry reading by the acclaimed Ben Okri.
Curated by Robin Tyson (King’s Singers), five outstanding concerts by some of the most celebrated performers in the UK will open Marylebone Theatre’s music programming this December. Stile Antico, one of the world’s finest vocal ensembles, will perform a unique and beautiful sequence of music and readings inspired by the Nativity story. Music by Renaissance composers Thomas Tallis, Michael Praetorius and John Sheppard are interspersed with poetry by John Donne and George Herbert.
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO), the UK’s finest young professional jazz group, takes to the stage for an exciting celebration of the life and work of jazz icon Dizzy Gillespie, directed by Mark Armstrong
The award-winning saxophonist and radio presenter Jess Gillam performs an animated programme with Zeynep Özsuca, featuring diverse music by Francis Poulenc, Meredith Month, Luke Howard, Barbara Thompson, Astor Piazzolla and others.
The internationally acclaimed Carducci Quartet bring their multi award-winning virtuosity to Marylebone Theatre with a powerful programme including Haydn’s Quartet Op. 33/2 ‘The Joke’, Rebecca Clarke’s Poem, Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 59/2 and festive Christmas music.
Ensemble Pro Victoria, a young vocal ensemble specialising in sacred music, will sing well-loved traditional Christmas Carols in Marylebone Theatre’s partner church next door, St Cyprian’s Clarence Gate. Directed by Toby Ward, the programme features well-loved traditional carols from the 15th century to the present day, including Benjamin Britten’s stunning Ceremony of Carols with harpist Cecily Beer.
This Christmas, DEM Productions and Fat Goose Productions bring Mark Shanahan’s A Sherlock Carol to the Marylebone stage. Just around the corner from 221B Baker Street, Marylebone Theatre is the perfect venue for this New York Times Critic’s Pick, which will delight and mystify audiences following a successful off-Broadway run. Many years after Ebenezer Scrooge has let Christmas into his heart, he has suffered a mysterious and peculiar death, leading the distraught and not-so-Tiny Tim to seek the help of the great detective Sherlock Holmes. Using his powers of deduction, Holmes must overcome his own ghosts on Christmas Eve to solve the murder of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Launching Marylebone Theatre’s spoken word programme is a stirring solo rendition of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, performed by Booker Prize-winning poet Ben Okri (The Famished Road) and directed by Geraldine Alexander. The performance, marking the 100th anniversary of the acclaimed modernist poem, will be accompanied by a live music score and dance. Ben Okri says, I have always loved The Waste Land. It is a poem that continually speaks to us of the loss of meaning and the fragmentation of our times. It is, in many ways a war poem, and it manages to offer some vision back to sanity. In these times when so much is collapsing around us, in these times of war and doubt, when we need true values to ‘shore against our ruins’, this is just the poetic medicine we need, one that speaks the truths we need to hear.
The Artistic Director of Marylebone Theatre, Alexander J. Gifford, says, I am delighted by the scope and beauty of our opening season. To be hosting artists of the calibre of Ben Okri and Stilo Antico is a joy and an honour. Our in-house production, Dmitry, promises to be both urgently meaningful and powerfully moving. To follow it with a delightful Christmas piece fresh from off-Broadway shows, I hope, the range and seriousness of our ambition.
