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ORANGE TREE THEATRE ANNOUNCES PLAY TITLES AND FULL CASTING FOR INSIDE

Orange Tree Theatre today announces the play titles and full cast for Inside – the first instalment of Inside/Outside, a collection of world premiere short plays by emerging and established writers. Anna Himali Howard directs Samantha Spiro (Diana) in Guidesky and I by Deborah Bruce, Ishia Bennison (Meg) and Jessica Murrain (Samia) in When the Daffodils by Joel Tan, and Fisayo Akinade (Jay) and Sasha Winslow (Callisto) in Ursa Major by Joe White. Inside will be performed and livestreamed from the Orange Tree Theatre’s auditorium, 25-27 March.

Inside looks at the lives of three women forgotten by the world, but not by themselves. Outside will be streamed live 15 – 17 April, with further information and casting to be announced.

The Inside/Outside series is curated by OT Literary Associate Guy Jones.Inside/Outside is part of OT On Screen, the Orange Tree Theatre’s digital project launched in January 2020 with Maya Arad Yasur’s play Amsterdam, watched by over 25,000 people worldwide. The productions, filmed in collaboration with The Umbrella Rooms, mark the company’s first live-streamed project, and the first live performances at the Orange Tree Theatre since lockdown began on 16 March 2020.

The six world premiere plays will be published in a collection by Nick Hern Books on 25 March – pre-order available from their website. Bookers for the livestream will receive an exclusive half-price offer on the published collection.

All rehearsals and filming will be conducted in a Covid secure environment in line with current government guidelines.

With thanks to the Hayburn Trust, and to DCMS and Arts Council England for support through the Culture Recovery Fund.

GUIDESKY AND I

by Deborah Bruce

Being scammed on the internet is just the start of an isolating experience for Diana as she has to confront a threatening world.

Deborah Bruce’s theatre credits include The House They Grew Up In (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Distance (Sheffield Theatres/Orange Tree Theatre – finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Joanne (Latitude Festival/Soho Theatre), The Light (Live Theatre), Same (National Theatre) and Godchild (Hampstead Theatre). As a director, her credits include Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).

Samantha Spiro plays Diana. Her previous theatre credits include Lady Windermere’s Fan, Di and Viv and Rose (Vaudeville Theatre), The House They Grew Up In, Funny Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Phoenix Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Noel Coward Theatre), Kafka’s Dick (Theatre Royal Bath), Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe), Filumena (Almeida Theatre), Company, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It (Sheffield Theatres), Chicken Soup with Barley (for which she was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award and WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actress), The Family Plays (Royal Court), Hello Dolly! (for which she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical), Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Lady Be Good, Macbeth, The Boys from Syracuse (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Twelfth Night (Donmar Warehouse at Wyndham’s Theatre); Two Thousand Years, Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick (National Theatre), A Little Night Music (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Bedroom Farce (Aldwych Theatre, UK tour), Merrily We Roll Along (Donmar Warehouse – for which she won the Olivier Award and WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actress in a Musical), Jumpers (Birmingham Rep), and Roots (Watford Palace Theatre). Her television credits include Ridley Road, Sex Education, Call the Midwife, Semi-Detached, Porters, Doc Martin, Tracey Breaks the News, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Plebs, Tracey Ullman’s Show, London Spy, The Wrong Mans, Bad Education, Psychobitches, Little Cracker: Rainy Days and Mondays, Grandma’s House, Rock & Chips, After You’ve Gone, Coupling, MIT: Murder Investigation Team, Cold Feet, and TV Go Home. For film, her credits include Me Before You, Tomorrow La Scala!, From Hell, and Beyond Bedlam.

WHEN THE DAFFODILS

by Joel Tan

Meg is alone in her flat, relying on the care and kindness of Samia. She’s had enough of her four walls and wants to escape, but the world outside has rules of its own.

Joel Tan is a Singaporean playwright based in London. His credits include Love in the Time of the Ancients (Shortlisted for the 2019 Papatango Prize), Tango (Pangdemonium Theatre – nominated for Life Theatre Award’s Best Original Script), Café (The Twenty-Something Theatre Festival), The Actors Tour (international tour), Mosaic (M1 Festival) and The Way We Go (Checkpoint Theatre). He is part of 503 Five, Theatre503’s residency scheme and an associate artist with Chinese Arts Now and Singapore’s Checkpoint Theatre

Ishia Bennison plays Meg. Her previous credits for Orange Tree Theatre include Once We Were Mothers, Strange Orchestra, Mother Courage, and Squat and Edward and Anna. Other theatre credits include Missing People (Kani, National Theatre, Tokyo/Leeds Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Candide, Our Private Life, A New Way to Please You, Sejanus, Speaking Like Magpies, Cymbeline, Measure for Measure (RSC), Goats, Told From the Inside (Royal Court), Half Life (Ustinov, Bath), A Mad World My Masters (RSC/ETT), Julius Caesar (Donmar Warehouse), The Canterbury Tales, Samson Agonistes, Antony and Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III (Northern Broadsides), A Couple of Poor Polish Speaking Romanians (Soho Theatre), Bites (Bush Theatre), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Manchester Library Theatre), Arabian Nights (Young Vic), and Medea (Monstrous Regiment). Her television includes Happy Valley, New Tricks, Last Tango in Halifax, Little Howard’s Big Question, True Dare Kiss, Hollyoaks in the City, At Home with the Braithwaites, Burnside, and EastEnders.

Jessica Murrain plays Samia. Her previous theatre credits include Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), Peter Pan (National Theatre/Troubadour White City), A Christmas Carol (RSC), King Lear (Duke of York Theatre), The Wind in the Willows (Sherman Theatre), Skate Hard Turn Left (The Pack/BAC), DIGS (Theatre With Legs/Camden People’s Theatre/Pleasance Edinburgh), Messiah (Bristol Old Vic), The Long Trick (Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol/VAULT Festival), and A Christmas Treasure Island (Hull Truck). Her television credits include Doctors, and Soulmates, and for film Romeo and Juliet.

URSA MAJOR

by Joe White

Two strangers learn that they can help one another move forwards in Joe White’s Ursa Major.

Joe White’s debut play Mayfly premièred at the Orange Tree in 2018, for which he won Most Promising New Playwright at the OffWestEnd Awards and was nominated for Best New Writer at The Stage Awards. He has written work for The Old Vic, Lyric Hammersmith, Bush Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Birmingham REP and BBC Radio 3. In 2014, he was selected for the BBC Writersroom 10 and won the Channel 4 Playwriting Award. In 2015, he was the Writer in Residence at Pentabus Theatre Company, and in 2017, he was selected for the Orange Tree Writers Collective and the Old Vic 12. In 2019, he was selected for the BBC TV Drama Writers Programme, through which he is developing a pilot with STV. He is currently under commission with Sheffield Theatres, Audible and Carnival Films.

Fisayo Akinade plays Jay in Ursa Major. His previous theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, The Antipodes, Antony and Cleopatra, The Barber Shop Chronicles (National Theatre), Shipwreck (Almeida), The Way of the World, Saint Joan, The Vote (Donmar Warehouse), Pigs and Dogs, The Crossing Plays (Royal Court), The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Globe), Barbarians (Young Vic), As You Like It (New Wolsey, Ipswich), Refugee Boy, Waiting for Godot (Leeds Playhouse), and Neighbours (HighTide). His television credits include Martin’s Close, Silent Witness, A Very English Scandal, In the Dark, A Midsummer Night’s Ordinary Lies, Cucumber, Banana, and Fresh Meat, and for film The Personal History of David Copperfield, The Girl with All the Gifts, and The Isle.

Sasha Winslow plays Callisto in Ursa Major. As a teacher and director, she has worked with the Young Vic Neighborhood Theatre, the RebElders of Southwark Playhouse and is an active member of Cardboard Citizens. Her acting credits include Here For Life.

Anna Himali Howard directs. Her previous theatre credits include I Wanna Be Yours (Paines Plough/Bush Theatre), A Small Place (Gate Theatre), Albatross (RWCMD/Paines Plough/Gate Theatre). As a theatremaker, her credits include Jane Anger (Yard Theatre Live Drafts), Mahabharat/a (Camden People’s Theatre), and The Beanfield (New Diorama Theatre, national tour). Howard was Associate Director on Fleabag (Drywrite/Soho Theatre international tour), was Paines Plough’s Trainee Director in 2016 and is an alumnus of the Birmingham REP Foundry. She was recently a Staff Director at the National Theatre.

Shankho Chaudhuri is Designer, with Lighting Design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, Sound Designer and Composer: Anna Clock, and Casting by Sarah Murray.

Orange Tree Theatre  

Listings

1 Clarence Street, Richmond, TW9 2SA

INSIDE/OUTSIDE

Box Office: 020 8940 3633

orangetreetheatre.co.uk

Inside:                  Thursday 25 – Saturday 27 March 2021

Outside:              Thursday 15 – Saturday 17 April 2021

Performance Times: 7.30pm (Evenings) & 2.30pm (Saturday Matinees)

Tickets: from £10 on sale now

Audio described performances

Inside:                  26 March at 7.30pm

Outside:               16 April at 7.30pm

Captioned performances
Inside:                  27 March at 2.30pm
Outside:               17 April at 2.30pm

ABOUT THE ORANGE TREE THEATRE

The Orange Tree (OT) is an award-winning, independent theatre. Recognised as a powerhouse that creates high-quality productions of new and rediscovered plays, entertaining 70,000 people across the UK every year. Since March 2020, the OT has been in hibernation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. An independent theatre and registered charity that relies on ticket income, closure poses significant risk to the OT.

The OT’s home in Richmond, South West London, is an intimate theatre with the audience seated all around the stage: watching a performance here is truly a unique experience. We believe in the power of dramatic stories to entertain, thrill and challenge us; plays that enrich our lives by enhancing our understanding of ourselves and each other.

As a registered charity (266128) sitting at the heart of its community, we work with 10,000 people in Richmond and beyond through participatory theatre projects for people of all ages and abilities.

The Orange Tree Theatre’s mission is to enable audiences to experience the next generation of theatre talent, experiment with ground-breaking new drama and explore the plays from the past that inspire the theatre-makers of the present. 

Artistic Director Paul Miller           

Executive Director Hanna Streeter

Website orangetreetheatre.co.uk | Email [email protected]

Twitter @OrangeTreeThtr | Facebook/Instagram OrangeTreeTheatre

Thomas Hopkins & Michael Quinn for Ginger Quiff Media, Amy Hart, Guy Chapman,
and Bailey Harris-Kelly with Stream.Theatre
Shane Richie to star in digital revival of
Scaramouche Jones or the Seven White Masks
Streaming: Friday 26th March – Sunday 11th April 2021

Much-loved and multi-talented stage and screen actor Shane Richie (EastEnders; The
Entertainer; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here) will take on the role of the titular tragic clown in the digital revival of Justin Butcher’s absorbing solo show, Scaramouche Jones. Filmed in a London theatre, and available to stream on Stream.Theatre from Friday 26th March to Sunday 11th April, this is the latest production from Ginger Quiff Media – the OnCom award-winning team behind the acclaimed revivals of Martin Sherman’s Rose starring Dame Maureen Lipman, and Little Wars (The Guardian and New York Times top picks) featuring Juliet Stevenson and Linda Bassett.

Richie swaps the I’m A Celeb Welsh castle for the digital stage, taking on the role made famous by the late great Pete Postlethwaite. Directed by Olivier Award-nominee Ian Talbot (The Pirates of Penzance, Regents Park Open Air Theatre; The Mousetrap, West End), this bizarre, comic, and heartfelt piece tells of a clown unmasked. Butcher’s magical storytelling bursts with exoticism and lyrical prose as Scaramouche finds himself caught in the riptides of a cruel and changing world.

This powerful one-man drama recounts an epic and mesmerising tale of a life shaped by extraordinary misfortunes, from the shores of Trinidad to England by way of slave ships, Italian royalty, and Croatian concentration camps. A witness to pivotal moments of the 20th century, Scaramouche finds himself at the dawn of a new millennium, marking his own centenary and preparing for death.

Shane Richie comments, I am honoured to walk in the footsteps of the legendary actor Pete Postlethwaite and take on the role of Scaramouche Jones in Justin Butcher’s amazing play.

Thomas Hopkins and Michael Quinn of Ginger Quiff Media add, We’re thrilled to continue to expand our digital portfolio, with what we consider to be one of the greatest British plays. It’s exciting to be working with Shane to bring the character of Scaramouche Jones to life on stage and straight into your living rooms.

Photo credit Bonnie Britain

LOCKDOWN ANGELS HONOURED AT THIS YEAR’S WHATSONSTAGE AWARDS

As a reflection of our times, 21^st Annual WhatsOnStage Awards were not only live streamed from The Turbine Theatre this evening, but, in this unique ceremony, a select group were honoured as Angels, following nominations from the public. As a thank you for all their love and support during lockdown, the 21 Angels will receive a complimentary night at the theatre when live performances are able to resume.

From midwives to Sainsbury’s staff, and from Nightingale volunteers to amateur dramatic managers, these people have been a beacon of hope and light throughout the pandemic. Whether they reached out offering jobs to those whose income was completely cut off as the curtain came down on theatre, or launched events like Broadway Bingo or Fizz and Quiz Nights, these angels kept spirits high throughout the tough months of last year. Receiving this well-deserved title and prize were David Ashford, Elaine and Graeme Blackmore, Dave Chalfin, Steph Canning, Lynn Darcy, Lucie Devine, Amanda Dunford, Denis Fuller, Kate Golledge, Andrea Grey, Leontine Hass, Philip Joel, Charlie Kristensen, Yvette McDonnald, Scarlett Maltman, Charlie Morrison, Alun and Esther Williams, Corrine Priest, Kristie Winsen, Alex Young, Rita Zeta-Jones (aka Jessica Boshier)

Presented by Jodie Prenger and Tom Read Wilson, featuring Amy Hart and Oscar Conlon-Morrey, the evening saw performances from musical theatre stars representing shows that were cut short in 2020, or are due to open in the coming years. This included Cedric Neil performing “Gotta Start Somewhere” from Back to the Future the Musical and Ivano Turco performing “Only You, Lonely You” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s brand-new West End musical Cinderella.

Sita McIntosh, Chief Operating Officer of WhatsOnStage, said this evening, “We were overwhelmed by the sheer number of entrants – each of which told a unique story of solidarity, hope, love and camaraderie during a year that few could have ever foreseen. The “Angels” prizes were set up to reward those from all walks of life and, with nurses, teachers, supermarket staff and more among those on this final list, we’ve hopefully captured what makes our audiences truly special. Here’s to getting our country’s beloved venues safely back in action so we can all share the magic of live performance once more!”

The full list of Angels is below:

David Ashford

A true theatre angel who has invested in new shows to get them off the ground (and then buying tickets) as well as sponsoring 2020 graduates to enable them to finish their studies.

Elaine and Graeme Blackmore

Set up a free community online stand-up event (Whole Lotta Comedy) in their local area to bring people together and keep them entertained during the pandemic.

Dane Chalfin

A voice coach who set up online six-week courses for West End and touring professionals during the pandemic as a lifeline for out of work performers, one of whom described them as a “life-raft during these dark times”.

Steph Channing

As a Customer Experience Manager for Sainsbury’s in Sydenham she reached out via Twitter to the theatre community and offered temporary work, employing over 100 theatre workers at their most desperate time when all of their income dried up overnight.

Lynn Darcy

An amazing midwife nominated for her kindness and compassion by the mother she assisted when her daughter was sadly born sleeping.

Lucie Devine

During the first lockdown Lucie created Broadway Bingo – a free online event designed to bring the musical theatre crowd together and raise money for various charities too.

Amanda Dunford

Nominated by her husband for her dedication to her family, friends and students during the pandemic – always happy to go the extra mile to help others.

Denis Fuller

Denis is 62 and has been the premises manager of an Am Dram company for over 30 years. Despite being high-risk himself, he and his wife have worked tirelessly during the pandemic to keep the society going, checking in with members (especially those that live alone) and making sure that everyone is OK.

Kate Golledge

Kate created an online group for emerging directors in Lockdown One to learn from each other and chat to one another, and 12 months on they are still together. It was said of her “she is extremely generous with her time and mentorship”.

Andrea Grey

During the pandemic Andrea has continued to champion the work of Curve in Leicester through sponsorship. This enabled the theatre to engage three Community Ambassadors to provide free tickets to ethnically diverse and working class individuals and groups who had never attended a Curve production before.

Leontine Hass

Leontine has helped her performing arts students by providing online learning and industry talks and put together a Kander & Ebb revue cast recording to keep them engaged and connected during the pandemic.

Philip Joel

Despite his own struggles during the pandemic, Philip has kept the whole theatre community laughing and raised spirits, always available for a one-to-one chat and advice to help performers struggling to cope.

Charlie Kristensen

Charlie has been described as a ray of light for his anti-bullying campaign “Cheer Up Charlie” that aims to raise awareness and give people the support and confidence to deal with bullying in their lives, particularly young people who are mocked for their musical theatre dreams.

Yvette McDonnald

Throughout the pandemic Yvette organised Fizz & Quiz nights, sessions focused on self-care, resilience and well-being, cake-baking masterclasses and even an online Carol service. One of her nominators said, “These events have helped me to relax, laugh and even learn a new skill”.

Scarlett Maltman

Scarlett is a NHS Nightingale volunteer who organised affordable counselling for hundreds of performers during the pandemic who needed help and support to cope with the loss of work, income and confidence.

Charlie Morrison

Charlie is the founder of the West End Musical Choir and when COVID hit she made sure that the choir kept singing all year by moving rehearsals online and keeping everyone connected during lockdown which provided much needed sanity for many, especially those living alone.

Corrine Priest

Despite suffering abuse and harassment herself in a London tube station, Corrine has been a beacon of light during the pandemic with her uplifting and refreshing posts on social media urging everyone to stay strong and positive.

Alun and Esther Williams

Alun and Esther from Future Automation in Bedford have been described as the “most supportive, loyal and generous theatre-goers imaginable”. When no public funding was forthcoming they made a very generous donation to their local theatre with the promise of more if needed.

Kristie Winsen

Kristie has created a monthly at-home musical theatre concert that is broadcast over Zoom called “Uplift” with the aim of showcasing uplifting showtunes performed by singers all over the world. Despite the work and expense of putting these concerts together they have always been free enabling as many people as possible to enjoy them.

Alex Young

Alex set up the Corona Day Plays Theatre Company where anyone can join and take part in a fun reading of a different script each week. The group has grown from around 20 people at the beginning to over 300 helping people to make new friends, stay connected and have some fun!

Rita Zeta-Jones (aka Jessica Boshier)

Described by one nominator as “hands down, my favourite London night in” Round to Rita’s became the weekly highlight for many people during Lockdown for her singalong musicals and cabarets on Instagram Live keeping people entertained and their spirits up

Streaming on YouTube and Instagram

5*****

Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Black Apron Entertainment and English Touring Theatre’s Children’s Children manages to say more in 15 minutes about the reality of Black life in the UK than many full-length films.

Directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu and Rikki Beadle-Blair and filmed at The Prince of Peckham, the five short films see five characters working or drinking in the pub perform monologues. It is not until the final credits that the dates the pieces were written is revealed, and the realisation that they cover 170 years of Black British history is a hammer blow. All the monologues feel current and relevant today, providing a wakeup call to how little has changed.

Amber James, who also performs Little Brown Girl, has curated the five monologues, each of which has its own style and rhythm, but are all beautifully written and sensitively performed by Kayla Meikle, Amber James, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Sule Rimi and Khai Shaw. The attitudes towards Black women in Britain are explored and the strength of Black women is celebrated. The failures of integration are skewered in Apparently – the least theatrical, but none the less devastating monologue performed by Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, and the inequalities and systematic racism of British society are laid bare before the most modern piece – a rallying cry that A Change Must Come.

Flawlessly curated, directed and performed, Children’s Children is stunning – unflinchingly delivering a stark message of inequality but also celebrating strength and resilience. Unmissable.

Children’s Children and a making of film are available to watch here:

www.instagram.com/englishtouringtheatre

www.youtube.com/user/ETTonYT

Streaming online 12 – 14 March – Book via https://treasonthemusical.com/

4****

Reviewed by Claire Roderick

This slick concert version of Treason is a tantalising taste of what is to come in a full musical production in 2021/22.

While Guy Fawkes is the most familiar name in English folklore around the gunpowder plot, Treason concentrates on four other members of the conspiracy, Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Tom Winter and John Wright, only introducing Fawkes as a non-speaking character as they draw in more men to carry out the plot. The oppression of Catholics under Elizabeth I meant that there were great hopes of a fairer future under James, who promised much but continued persecuting Catholics when he took the throne, leading the men into a desperate act of rebellion. Treason explores the pressures and tensions between love of God, love between husband and wife, and love of charismatic leaders with great passion.

Any new musical about historical rebellion will draw comparisons with Hamilton and Les Mis, but Treason’s creators have their own confident vision. Daniel Boys is a hoot as King James, and although the first few bars of his number make you think of Hamilton’s George, James is a very different petulant king, although both roles serve as light relief amongst the serious politics. The mournful folk airs that are mostly sung by the female characters are hauntingly beautiful, and sung exquisitely by Rebecca LaChance, Sharon Rose and Lucie Jones. Blind faith, sung by Lucie Jones and Bradley Jaden as Martha and Thomas Percy is a heart-breaking duet. The plotters songs are rousing with fabulous driving beats and soaring harmonies from Cedric Neal, Waylon Jacobs, Emmanuel Kojo, Oliver Tompsett and Bradley Jaden, with Oliver Tompsett on fire as Catesby, especially singing The Cold Hard Ground, which reveals the grief and anger behind his actions. The rousing finale will definitely bring an entire auditorium to their feet.

The concert is only 50 minutes, and in this production, songs are linked by a spoken verse narration from Debris Stevenson, who is phenomenal. Some of the rhymes are a little tortured in the first part of the show, but Stevenson makes Ricky Allan and Kieran Lynn’s writing fizz and sparkle as the momentum builds. An expanded version of the show would bring some necessary further characters and character expansion, especially for Martha, but it would be exciting to keep the narrator’s fire pivotal as well.

As a concert, Treason packs a powerful punch – I can’t wait to see how it develops into a full-scale musical. An exciting prospect that will surely bring the house down.

Queen & Ben Elton’s
Smash Hit Musical

WE WILL ROCK YOU

Sheffield City Hall

Monday 29 August – Saturday 3 September 2022

Queen & Ben Elton’s smash hit musical ‘We Will Rock You’ is coming to Sheffield City Hall for 8 performances 29 August to 3 September 2022 – tickets on general sale 10am Friday 19 March 2021 from www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk.

With 24 of Queen’s biggest hits and Ben Elton’s hilarious futuristic comedy writing combined, comes a show that boasts the scale and spectacle that marked the band’s legendary live performances. This global phenomenon will continue to be one of the most spectacular touring musicals.

‘We Will Rock You’ has seen unprecedented success in theatres and arenas all around the world since it began in 2002. The show has received continuous rave reviews and standing ovations in every town and city it has visited, and will be ready to pick up exactly where it left off when the new UK tour begins in 2022 with over 16 million theatergoers in 19 countries being thrilled by this awe-inspiring production.

“This show is all about legend,” says Ben Elton. “We take the legend of Queen and create our own fantastical story of young kids battling the mighty corporations who want to suppress their individuality and their love of music. They need a hero who can help them in their struggle, and we have two – the dreamer Galileo and the sassy rock chick Scaramouche. Guess who ends up winning?”

Expect your favourite Queen songs including ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘We Will Rock You’, and, of course, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Says Brian May: “The amazing bonus is that Ben’s script subtly works as a metaphor too. People definitely come out of the theatre feeling that in a strange way they now know us, Queen, and our struggle, our journey. This is a stunning state-of-the art new-look production of WWRY – but of course the original story is now more relevant than ever. We’re confident WWRY fans will love revisiting the world’s first true Rock Theatrical, and a whole new generation will now discover the VIBE!”

Tickets for the 8 performances of We Will Rock You at the Sheffield City Hall 29 August until 3 September 2022 go on general sale 10am Friday 19 March 2021 from www.sheffieldcityhall.co.uk. 

DAVID IAN

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

BARRY AND FRAN WEISSLER
ANNOUNCE STAR CASTING FOR THE FORTHCOMING TOUR OF

THE INTERNATIONAL MUSICAL SENSATION

FAYE BROOKES TO STAR AS ‘ROXIE HART’,

SINITTA AS ‘MAMA MORTON’ AND

DIVINA DE CAMPO AS ‘MARY SUNSHINE’

WITH

DJALENGA SCOTT AS ‘VELMA KELLY’

AND JOEL MONTAGUE AS ‘AMOS HART’

David Ian in association with Barry and Fran Weissler are delighted to announce star casting for the 2021/2022 UK tour of the international musical sensation CHICAGO.

Fresh from her success on Dancing on Ice, Coronation Street’s Faye Brookes will play ‘Roxie Hart’. Returning to the stage for the first time in over 20 years will be international recording artist and pop star Sinitta as ‘Mama Morton’. They are joined by the outrageous and super talented RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Divina De Campo who will make her musical theatre debut as ‘Mary Sunshine’. Leading West End stars Djalenga Scott and Joel Montague will play the roles of ‘Velma Kelly’ and ‘Amos Hart’. The role of ‘Billy Flynn’ will be announced soon. 

The cast will also include Ishmail Aaron, Michelle Andrews, Delycia Belgrave, Joel Benjamin, Tanisha-Mae Brown, Callum Fitzgerald, Emily Goodenough, Billy Hardy, Aaron Jenkins, Liam Marcellino, Theo Reece, Hollie Jane Stephens and Harrison Wilde. 

Following recent government announcements, the producers of the show are currently finalising the dates for the 2021/2022 tour with a scheduled opening for September 2021. Full tour dates will be announced soon. Existing ticket holders will be contacted directly as soon as possible. The production would like to thank all customers and really appreciate their patience during this time.

Faye Brookes (Roxie Hart) has recently reached the final of this year’s series of ITV’s Dancing On Ice. She is best known for her role as Kate Connor in ITV’s Coronation Street, for which she won a National Television Award. Her theatre credits include Princess Fiona in Shrek and Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, both on national tour, Ann/Edna in That Day We Sang directed by Victoria Wood at Manchester’s Royal Exchange, Liesl in The Sound of Music at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Frenchy in Grease at the West End’s Piccadilly Theatre. Faye’s other TV credits include Agnes Franklin in Our Girl and Helena in Atlantis, both for the BBC.

Sinitta (Mama Morton) is an international recording artist having released 15 hit pop records including So Macho, Toyboy and Cross My Broken Heart. No stranger to the stage, she has appeared in the West End productions of Cats, Little Shop of Horrors, Hair, Smokey Joe’s Café and as the female lead in Mutiny! Since the mid-00s Sinitta has remained in the spotlight becoming a mentor to young emerging talent as Simon Cowell’s right-hand woman on The X Factor.

Divina De Campo (Mary Sunshine) is a seasoned British drag queen and singer who was recently crowned runner up on the first Series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Known for her high soprano and four -octave range, Divina has been featured on ITV’s The Voice and the BBC’s All Together Now.  

Djalenga Scott (Velma Kelly) West End credits include Lily St Regis in Annie at the Piccadilly Theatre, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the New London and Chicago at the Adelphi, Cambridge and Garrick Theatres. Her other credits include Anita in the national tour of West Side Story, Rizzo in Grease at Curve Leicester, Magenta in The Rocky Horror Show and Carmen in Fame, both on European tours, the US tour of Batman Live and Bombalurina in Cats at Kilworth House. Djalenga’s screen credits include Scarlett/Esme in Trapped for the BBC and Alexandra in the film I Give It A Year.

Joel Montague (Amos Hart) most recently appeared as Ogie in the West End production of Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre and Mendel in Falsettos at The Other Palace. His many other West End credits include School of Rock at the New London Theatre, Funny Girl at the Savoy Theatre and Menier Chocolate Factory, Urinetown at the Apollo and St James Theatres and Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace. His UK touring credits include Fat Friends The Musical, Sister Act The Musical, and Eddie and Dr. Scott in The Rocky Horror Show. He also played Gangster 2 in Kiss Me, Kate at the Sheffield Crucible and Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls at the Theatre Marigny in Paris. 

Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, CHICAGO is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today’s tabloids.

Created by the musical theatre talents of John Kander, Fred Ebb and legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, CHICAGO’s sexy, sassy score includes the show-stopping songs “Razzle Dazzle”, “Cell Block Tango”, and “All That Jazz”.  Winner of six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy, CHICAGO is the longest running American musical in Broadway and West End history.

Since it opened in New York in 1996, CHICAGO has played in 36 countries worldwide, and been performed in English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, French, Danish, Japanese and Korean.  Worldwide it has been seen by an estimated 33 million people, grossed over $1.7 billion and played over 32,500 performances.

CHICAGO, which is based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, has a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb.  The 1996 Broadway revival of CHICAGO was choreographed by Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse, directed by Walter Bobbie, and produced by Barry and Fran Weissler.

RE:EMERGE SEASON COMING TO THE

HAROLD PINTER THEATRE, PRODUCED
BY SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS

Following a year of extraordinary challenges, and as British theatre begins to find ways to re-emerge from the devastating impact of the enforced shutdown, SFP today announces a season of new plays for a new world. The RE:EMERGE season will create a space for vital, new voices and fresh talent in the West End and beyond, working alongside some of the industry’s greatest theatremakers and artists.  The extraordinary collection of plays curated by SFP alongside Ian Rickson – who becomes Artistic Director for the season – tackles urgent issues integral to rebuilding our society, including structural inequality, climate change and the economics of truth in an internet age. Supported by Arts Council England, RE:EMERGE will support the theatre-makers of the future, provide vital work for the freelance community and celebrate the live experience as we begin to build back to the full reopening of British Theatre.

The RE:EMERGE season intends to open to socially-distanced audiences from May to help
re-open and re-energise our theatres, and will be staged in a Covid safe environment following government advice and adhering to social distancing guidelines; and in line with Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre’s See It Safely campaign. Alongside the season, SFP also intends for the comedy The Comeback to return to the West End following its enforced shutdown in December.

Announced today as part SFP’s RE:EMERGE season so far is:

• Amy Berryman’s WALDEN, directed by Ian Rickson, starring Gemma Arterton, Fehinti Balogun and Lydia Wilson.

• Yasmin Joseph’s J’OUVERT, directed by Rebekah Murrell, starring Annice Boparai, Gabrielle Brooks, Sapphire Joy and Zuyane Russell.

• Joseph Charlton’s ANNA X, directed by Daniel Raggett, starring Emma Corrin and Nabhaan Rizwan.       

• Tickets from £10, with over 600 tickets per week under £15

SFP plans to open the season in May in line with the government’s roadmap. Further information regarding performance and on-sale dates will be released in the coming weeks, and audiences can sign up today at www.sfp-reemergeseason.co.uk to be the first to hear more news. Tickets for the previews will be priced from £5, and from £10 for the runs post press night, with a top price ticket of £49.50. There will be 600 tickets each week priced under £15.

There is intention for all three productions to be filmed for a future broadcast life, with J’OUVERT being shown on BBC Four as part ofBBC Lights Up – a season of plays for BBC radio and TV, produced in partnership with theatres across the UK and continuing BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative.

Sonia Friedman said today, After what has been such a devastating year for so many it fills me with the greatest joy and hope to announce RE:EMERGE, an SFP Season of bold, new work for a bold, new world as we begin to build back to the full reopening of British Theatre.

“Yasmin Joseph’s J’OUVERT, first seen at Theatre503 and currently in rehearsals to be filmed for the BBC, reveals Notting Hill Carnival through the eyes of two best friends navigating the joys and dangers of young Black womanhood in 21st Century Britain. Whilst Amy Berryman’s WALDEN depicts the intensity of familial love and loss as the climate emergency encroaches ever closer, Joseph Charlton’s ANNA X delves deep into the corruption of truth and reality through the all-consuming lies we tell the world about ourselves over social media. These extraordinary plays, each one with a distinct and powerful voice, will thrill, move and delight audiences.

“We hope that the RE:EMERGE Season will help the immense effort being made across our industry to reopen our theatres, with the most exciting, new talent working in tandem with some of our greatest theatre makers and artists. And this is just the beginning – we have so much more to come.

“We are deeply thankful for the commitment of all the extraordinary group of writers, actors, directors, designers, stage managers, technicians and theatre makers who have agreed to be a part of this season – just when theatre needs them most. I am also incredibly grateful to Ian Rickson, one of my closest and most dedicated long-time collaborators, for his vision and co-curation of this Season. And my thanks must also extend to my incredibly committed team, who have worked so passionately under very challenging circumstances to help bring this season of work together. I would also like to thank Arts Council England, whose support has made RE:EMERGE possible. After an incredibly difficult year, I cannot wait for us all to ‘re-emerge’ from our homes and return to the theatre, where together we can be entertained, enthralled, challenged and dazzled by these astonishing works.”

Twitter: @SFP_London #ReEmergeSFP

Instagram: @SFPOfficial #ReEmergeSFP

Facebook: /SoniaFriedmanProductions #ReEmergeSFP

WALDEN

A debut play by Amy Berryman

Cast: Gemma Arterton, Fehinti Balogun, Lydia Wilson

Directed by Ian Rickson; Design by Rae Smith; Lighting Design by Azusa Ono

Music by Mark Bradshaw; Sound Design: Emma Laxton; Casting: Amy Ball

After returning from a year-long Moon mission, Cassie, a NASA botanist, finds herself in a remote cabin in the woods, where her estranged twin sister, Stella, a former NASA architect, has found a new life with climate activist Bryan. Old wounds resurface as the sisters attempt to pick up the pieces of the rivalry that broke them apart.

Amy Berryman‘s full-length plays include Walden, The New Galileos (O’Neill Finalist 2019), and Three Year Summer. Her play Epiphany was a finalist for Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries and is a Semi-Finalist for the O’Neill 2020. Rising Phoenix Rep commissioned her play The Whole of You for Cino Nights in LA, directed by Daniel Talbott. Her work has been developed at Premiere Stages, People’s Light, Bay Street Theatre, Caltech, Portland Stage, PROP Thtr, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Valdez Last Frontier Theatre Conference, AMiOS, and Eden Theatre Co. The short film she wrote, co-produced, and starred in You Are Everywhere won Best Drama in the LA Short Film Festival 2018.

Gemma Arterton’s theatre credits include Saint Joan (DonmarWarehouse), Made In Dagenham (Adelphi Theatre), The Duchess Of Malfi, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Master Builder (Almeida Theatre) and The Little Dog Laughed(Garrick Theatre). Her television credits include Black Narcissus, Urban Myths: Marilyn And Billy, Inside No. 9, Tess Of The D’Urbevilles, Lost In Austen and Capturing Mary; and for film, her credits include Kingsman 3: The King’s Man, Summerland, Murder Mystery, Vita & Virginia, The Escape, Their Finest, Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters, Song For Marion, Tamara Drewe, Clash Of The Titans, The Disappearance Of Alice Creed, Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time, Quantum Of Solace, The Boat That Rocked and St Trinians.

Fehinti Balogun’stheatre credits include The Importance of Being Earnest (Vaudeville Theatre), Blue Door (Theatre Royal Bath), Against (Almeida Theatre), Myth (RSC) and King Lear (The Old Vic). For television his credits include I May Destroy You, Urban Myths, Informer and the forthcoming Viewpoint;and for film his credits include Juliet, Naked. Alongside his acting career, he delivers talks on climate change aimed at a more rounded inclusion in the conversation, which he is adapting into a play with Complicité. As a result of these talks, he has toured around London and south England discussing climate change and taking part in international climate discussions. 

Lydia Wilson’s theatre credits include The Duchess Of Malfi (Almeida Theatre) King Charles III (Almeida Theatre, West End and Broadway), Hysteria (Hampstead Theatre), ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (Cheek By Jowl), The Acid Test, The Heretic (Royal Court Theatre), Blasted (Lyric Hammersmith), Pains Of Youth (National Theatre) and The House Of Special Purpose (Chichester Festival Theatre). For television, her credits include Flack, Requiem, Ripper Street, Misfits, The Making of a Lady, Dirk Gently and Black Mirror: The National Anthem, South Riding, Crimson Petal and the White; and film credits include Love is Thicker Than Water, About Time and Never Let Me Go.

Ian Rickson was the Artistic Director of the Royal Court from 1998 to 2006, where he directed The River (also Broadway), Jerusalem (also West End and Broadway), The Winterling, The Night Heron and Mojo (also Chicago), all by Jez Butterworth; Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen and This is a Chair by Caryl Churchill; Dublin Carol and The Weir by Conor McPherson (also Dublin, Chicago, West End and Broadway); The Seagull by Anton Chekhov (also Broadway); Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett; Alice Trilogy by Tom Murphy; The Sweetest Swing in Baseball and Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman; Fallout by Roy Williams; Mouth to Mouth by Kevin Elyot; The Lights by Howard Korder; Pale Horse and Some Voices by Joe Penhall; Ashes and Sand by Judy Upton and Killers by Adam Pernak.

In the West End, Rickson has directed Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Rosmersholm (The Duke of York’s Theatre), Uncle Vanya (also filmed for the BBC), The Birthday Party, Old Times, Betrayal and The Children’s Hour (all at the Harold Pinter Theatre); and at The National Theatre, Translations by Brian Friel, Evening at the Talk House by Wallace Shawn, The Red Lion by Patrick Marber, The Hothouse by Harold Pinter and The Day I Stood Still by Kevin Elyot. Productions at The Old Vic include Electra by Sophocles. Productions at the Young Vic include The Nest, Now We Are Here and Hamlet. Productions at the Almeida Theatre include Against by Christopher Shinn and Parlour Song by Jez Butterworth. Work on screen includes Fallout (Company Pictures for Channel 4) and Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett (BBC4), and on radio In Therapy (BBC Radio 4). Rickson also works with PJ Harvey and Kae Tempest on their music and poetry shows.

J’OUVERT

A new play by Yasmin Joseph

Cast: Annice Boparai, Gabrielle Brooks, Sapphire Joy, Zuyane Russell    

Directed by Rebekah Murrell; Designed by Sandra Falase in collaboration with Chloe Lamford

Lighting Design by Simisola Majekodunmi; Sound Design by Beth Duke

Movement by Shelley Maxwell; Casting by Isabella Odoffin

“What people you know can party through all of the earth’s elements?”

Carnival is here. The streets of Notting Hill are alive with history and amongst the pulsating soca, dazzling colour, and endless sequins and feathers, Jade and Nadine are fighting for space in a world they thought was theirs. A timely reflection on the Black British experience and sexual politics of Carnival, J’Ouvert is a piercing, hilarious and fearless story of two best friends, battling to preserve tradition in a society where women’s bodies are frequently under threat.

J’Ouvert originated at Theatre503 in a co-production with Bad Breed and Tobi Kyeremateng.

Yasmin Joseph is a London-based writer. Her debut play J’Ouvert premièred at Theatre503 in 2019 and she was nominated for the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright Award, and most recently won the 2020 James Tait Black Prize For Drama. She is the current writer-in-residence at Sister Pictures, and is on attachment at the Royal Court Theatre as a winner of the Channel 4 Playwrights scheme. She is also under co-commission with Soho Theatre and The Actors Touring Company as part of the Soho Six, The Place Theatre in Bedford with the Retired Caribbean Nurses Association and Clean Break.

Annice Boparai plays Nisha. Her theatre credits include Border Control, 17 (The Vaults), Hear Me Now Monologues, Behind the Blast Wall (Theatre503), Service Ellandar Productions (White Bear), Tamasha Scratch Night (Leicester Curve/Soho), J’Ouvert (Theatre503), Trojan Horse (Summerhall Main Hall, Edinburgh), The Canary and the Crow and 17 (Gig), Silently Hoping (Arcola Theatre), Earlsfield Stories (Tara Arts), If and When (SohoTheatre) and The Lights (Royal Court Theatre/Oxford School of Drama).

Sapphire Joy plays Jade. Her theatre credits include Anansi The Spider (Unicorn Theatre), Grey (Ovalhouse), J’Ouvert (Theatre503), Twelfth Night (Southwark Playhouse), Our Country’s Good (Nottingham Playhouse), The Interrogation of Sandra Bland (Bush Theatre) and Imogen (Shakespeare’s Globe). Her television credits include Speak For Herself, Casualty, Seconds From Disaster: Jonestown Cult Suicide and Crimewatch.

Gabrielle Brooks plays Nadine. Her theatre credits include Anna Bella Eema (Arcola Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Twelfth Night (Young Vic), The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse), The Wizard of Oz (Sheffield Theatres), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible), Lazarus (King’s Cross Theatre), The Strangers Case (Liverpool Everyman Theatre), The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre), I Can’t Sing (London Palladium) and Our House (Savoy Theatre). For television her credits include Shadow and Bone and Coming Down The Mountain. For film, her credits include Notes on A Scandal. She has created and produced BlackStage UK – an emotional and educational exposé on what it means to be Black in the UK Arts industry, featuring 30 Black and Black mixed-raced workers from across the sector and from all over the UK.

Zuyane Russell is a DJ, and has been involved with carnival since the age of eleven in a variety of roles. In addition to DJing, she has worked as a choreographer, MC, and as a costume designer. Outside the carnival world, Zuyane has a career in law. J’Ouvert marks her professional stage debut.

Rebekah Murrell directs. She is an actor and director from London. She made her professional directing debut with J’Ouvert by Yasmin Joseph which premièred at Theatre503 in 2019. She is currently directing a community project for The Place Theatre in Bedford with the Retired Caribbean Nurses Association, and an audio drama for Audible with students at LAMDA.

J’Ouvert will be adapted for the screen as part of BBC Lights Up, an unprecedented season of plays for BBC radio and TV, produced in partnership with theatres across the UK and continuing BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine initiative. The film will be screened on BBC Four and iPlayer this Spring.

ANNA X

A new play by Joseph Charlton

Cast: Emma Corrin, Nabhaan Rizwan     

Directed by Daniel Raggett; Set and Video Design by Mikaela Liakata and Tal Yarden

Lighting Design by Jessica Hung Han Yun; Sound Design by Mike Winship

Costume Design by Natalie Pryce

Anna. 25. Curator. Retired intern. Previously @RAW magazine. I ♥ art, fashion, NYC.

Ariel. 32. CEO of @GenesisApp. A social and dating network by invitation only. SF-NYC-LDN.

Immersed in an addictive world of front-row fashion shows, private views, and endless parties, Anna and Ariel find themselves struggling to keep up with New York’s dazzling social elite. How far will two outsiders go to construct the identities they want? And at what price?

Golden Globe Award-winner Emma Corrin and Royal Television Society’s 2019 Breakthrough star Nabhaan Rizwan make their West End debuts in this searing tale of self-invention, determination, and deceit. Inspired by real events, ANNA X is a new play by Joseph Charlton, directed by Daniel Raggett which originally ran at the Vault Festival in 2019. 

Joseph Charlton is a multi-award-winning writer from the north east of England. He is currently adapting his play Brilliant Jerks into an eight-part series for the BBC.He worked previously as a journalist.

Emma Corrin makes her professional stage debut playing Anna.For television, her credits include playing Lady Diana Spencer in the award-winning The Crown -for which she recently won a Golden Globeand a SAG nomination, and Pennyworth. For film her credits include Misbehaviour, and the forthcoming My Policeman.

Nabhaan Rizwan plays Ariel. His theatre credits include Little Revolution (Almeida Theatre) and The Undergrowth (Royal Court Theatre). For television his credits include Informer (RTS Breakthrough Award), Industry, The Accident and the forthcoming Station Eleven;and for film, Mogul Mowgli, 1917 and the forthcoming Last Letters From Your Lover.

Daniel Raggett is a director who has worked with theatres including the Young Vic, Headlong, the Almeida and the National Theatre; and as an associate director on productions in the West End and on Broadway. His recent work includes Jean Cocteau’s The Human Voice at the Gate (also adapted) and, as associate, All About Eve in the West End and West Side Story and Network on Broadway.

SEE IT SAFELY

The venue has been granted the use of Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre’s See It Safely mark. The mark certifies that they are complying with the latest Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines, to ensure the safety of their staff and audiences. Ticket holders can find out more here [https://officiallondontheatre.com/see-it-safely/] about the measures that have been put in place ahead of their visit, and what they will need to know beforehand.

Listings Information 

RE:EMERGE Season

Harold Pinter Theatre

Panton St, London SW1Y 4DN

Box Office: 0844 871 7622

www.atgtickets.com

TICKETS

Preview tickets from £5 to £44.50

Post press night tickets from £10 to £49.50

Over 600 tickets per week £15 or less

West End star Lara Martins

releases Canção: The Debut Album

The Phantom of the Opera’s longest serving Carlotta, Lara Martins, has released a moving and eclectic debut album, Canção. Featuring 22 songs encompassing tango, Brazilian music and Portuguese fado, Lara celebrates the music of her homeland, Portugal with the grace, expertise and powerful theatricality of an accomplished West End performer.

www.laramartins.com

Instagram: @laramartins19

YouTube: LaraMartins

Facebook: LaraMartins25

Twitter: @LaraMartins_25

Having moved to the UK to study opera at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Lara joined the London company of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera in 2012 and went on to play the role of Carlotta more than 1680 times over six years.

Despite the many Covid-19 restrictions in place and challenges of raising her two young children in lockdown, Lara created Canção in the last year.

An award-winning, experienced international singer, Lara has performed in operas across the world including roles such asthe Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute and Cunegonde in Candide (Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon) to name a select few. Lara’s repertoire reveals a singer with great versatility from Mozart to Sondheim, Donizetti, Richard Strauss, Manuel de Falla, Kurt Weill, Gershwin, Bernstein or Lloyd Webber.

Lara has performed from Russia to Switzerland and from Portugal to the UK including gala concerts at many of the world’s finest opera houses including Opera de Toulon, Opera de Marseille, Opera d’Avignon and the Floral Hall at the Royal Opera House, London.

Canção features songs performed with a piano, cello and bandoneon, giving room and space for Lara’s voice to guide and define the album’s journey. Lara performs stunning fado classics including Trova do Vento Que Passa [“Song of the Passing Wind”], Com Que Voz [“With Which Voice”] and Abandono [“Abandonment”]. Portuguese pianist and composer, Daniel Bernardes composed 2 compositions for Lara Martins on Canção.

Canção features the first complete recording of Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri’s 13 love songs ever made.

Album: CANÇÃO

Artist: Lara Martins

Label: Artway Records

Genres: Tango, Brazilian Music, Classical & Fado

Release Date: January 2021

Liner Notes: https://issuu.com/artwayrecords/docs/_booklet_can__o_final

Lara Martins Online: https://www.laramartins.com

Each song on Canção forms part of a careful selection of important musical and cultural influences on Lara’s career and life, as she says in her own words,

“A reflection of the society in which it is found, this repertoire also represents a collective identity, acting as a link in the intercultural chain. With this principle in mind, and with my own cultural roots as a starting point, I decided to explore the triangle between the Tango (Astor Piazzolla), Brazilian music (Guarnieri) and Fado (three themes which Amália Rodrigues made her own), with the addition of a touch of modernity in the form of two miniatures by Daniel Bernardes.”

Canção was produced by author and musicologist, Tiago Manuel de Hora, co-founder of the Portuguese cultural management company, Artway Culture & Arts which programmes a series of concerts, shows and album recordings for special projects.

CANÇÃO Musicians:

Lara Martins: soprano

Olga Amaro: piano (1-4, 7-19)

Filipe Quaresma: cello (4)

João Gentil: bandoneon (1-4)

Daniel Bernardes: piano (5-6, 20-22)

CANÇÃO Track Listing – Total track time: 54:37

Astor Piazzolla ( 1921-1992)

1. Balada para un Loco (Ballad for a Madman) 5:06

2. Oblivion 3:49

3. Los Pajaros perdidos (The Lost Birds) 3:27

4. Millonga de la anunciación (Millonga of the annunciation) 3:20

Daniel Bernardes (1986 -) Duas miniaturas para Sophia (Two Miniatures for Sophia)

5. I – _Data (Date) 2:42

6. II – _Barco (Boat) 3:33

Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (1907 – 1993)

7. Canção do passado (Song of the Past) 1:42

8. Se voce compreendesse (If you understood) 2:03

9. Milagre (Miracle) 1:13

10. Voce (You) 2:26

11. Acalanto do amor feliz (Nurture of a happy love) 1:32

12. Em louvor do silêncio (In Praise of Silence) 1:29

13. Ninguém mais (No-one Else) 1:34

14. Por que (Why?) 1:12

15. Cantiga da tua lembrança (Song of your memory) 1:04

16. Talvez (Maybe) 1:38

17. Segue-me (Follow me) 1:21

18. Canção tímida (A shy song) 1:40

19. Voce nasceu (You were born) 1:36

Alain Oulman (1928-1990)

20. Trova do vento que passa (Song of the Passing Wind) 4:03

21. Com que voz (With which voice) 3:29

22. Abandono (Abandonment) 4:36

Label, Artway Records: www.artway.pt/records

Management: Global artists/ Michael Garret

“THE PRINCE OF EGYPT” TO RESUME PERFORMANCES 1 JULY 2021

GRAMMY® NOMINATED HIT MUSICAL EXTENDS

PUBLIC BOOKING TO 8 JANUARY 2022

THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, the hit musical based on the classic DreamWorks Animation film, will resume performances at London’s Dominion Theatre on Thursday 1 July 2021 with public booking now extended until Saturday 8 January 2022. Tickets will be on sale from 12 noon (GMT) today (Friday 12 March 2021) and are available via www.ThePrinceofEgyptMusical.com

For the safety of audiences and The Prince of Egypt company, and out of an abundance of caution in allowing for delays in the current steps set out in UK Government’s roadmap, performances between Thursday 1 July and Saturday 4 September 2021 will take place under Step 3 protocols (social distancing)*. Performances from Monday 6 September 2021 onwards will operate under Step 4 protocols (all legal limits on social contact removed). The entire epic stage production, complete with its cast and orchestra of almost 60 artists, will be presented in its original form at all performances.

Producers DreamWorks Theatricals, Michael McCabe and Neil Laidlaw said in a joint statement: “Following the latest UK Government guidance on the easing of lockdown restrictions, we are delighted to confirm the return of The Prince of Egypt to the Dominion Theatre from Thursday 1 July 2021. The sheer size of this historic venue allows for full social distancing and, as soon as all legal limits on social contact are removed, we will return to our full audience capacity at the earliest opportunity. In re-opening, we are proud to re-unite our exceptional company and provide employment again for 149 uniquely talented individuals. We’d like to thank each and every one of them for their unwavering commitment and resilience during this difficult time for everyone in our industry. We look forward to telling this beloved story once again and experiencing the euphoric reactions that we were privileged to receive from audiences in 2020.”

The acclaimed Original Cast Recording of The Prince of Egypt received a 2021 Grammy® Award nomination for `Best Musical Theatre Album’. Released by Ghostlight Records and available onCD, digital and streaming formats, the album is produced by Dominick Amendum and Stephen Schwartz, with Kurt Deutsch serving as Executive Producer.

Journey through the wonders of Ancient Egypt as two young men, raised together as brothers in a kingdom of privilege, find themselves suddenly divided by a secret past. One must rule as Pharaoh, the other must rise up and free his true people; both face a destiny that will change history forever.

The cast of 43 is led by: Luke Brady (Moses), Liam Tamne (Ramses), Christine Allado (Tzipporah), Alexia Khadime (Miriam), Joe Dixon (Seti), Debbie Kurup (Tuya), Mercedesz Csampai (Yocheved), Adam Pearce (Hotep), Tanisha Spring (Nefertari) and Silas Wyatt-Barke (Aaron). Cast subject to change.

The Prince of Egypt has music and lyrics by Grammy® and Academy Award®-winner Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell), a book by Philip LaZebnik (Mulan, Pocahontas) and features 10 brand new songs written by Stephen Schwartz, together with 5 of his acclaimed songs from the DreamWorks Animation film (Deliver Us, All I Ever Wanted, Through Heaven’s Eyes, The Plagues and the Academy Award®-winning When You Believe, which was a global hit for Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey).

The Prince of Egypt is directed by Scott Schwartz with choreography by Sean Cheesman;set designs by Kevin Depinet; costume designs by Ann Hould-Ward; lighting design by Mike Billings; sound design by Gareth Owen; projection designs by Jon Driscoll; illusions by Chris Fisher; wigs, hair and makeup design by Campbell Young Associates; orchestrations by August Eriksmoen; musical supervision and arrangements by Dominick Amendum; musical direction by Dave Rose; casting by Jim Arnold CDG and children’s casting by Verity Naughton CDG.

The Prince of Egypt is produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (a division of Universal Theatrical Group), Michael McCabe and Neil Laidlaw together with John Gore, Tom Smedes and Peter Stern, Ramin Sabi, The Araca Group, James L. Nederlander and Michael Park.

A milestone in cinematic achievement, the classic DreamWorks Animation film has been captivating audiences across the world for more than two decades. It has been hailed as “one of the greatest animated films of all time” (Evening Standard) and “a stunning film” (The Guardian).

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Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube: @PrinceOfEgyptUK

Official website: www.ThePrinceofEgyptMusical.com 

*Please note: Should the Government timeline change, or be delayed for any reason, the schedule will be adjusted as necessary to ensure that all performances can continue safely under Step 3 protocols. Should all legal limits on social contact be lifted on or before Thursday 1 July 2021, then performances will operate according to Step 4 protocols at the earliest opportunity.