Don't bother, they're here
Auburn Jam Music are delighted to be releasing ‘You Will Be Found’ by #CheerUpCharlie & West End Friends, a fundraising charity single in aid of youth charity The Diana Award, on Sunday 15 November to tie in with the start of National Anti-Bullying Week (16-20 November).
The star-studded single is led by ten-year-old Charlie Kristensen from Wokingham, whose experience of being bullied started the viral #CheerUpCharlie campaign
The Barn Theatre has announced an all-star West End line up for their sixth virtual concert, The Barn Theatre Presents: The Music of Gus Gowland, which will celebrate the work of musical theatre composer Gus Gowland (Pieces of String – one of the few shows that I actually watched online during lockdown).
The concert, which will be hosted by Barn Theatre producer Jamie Chapman Dixon, is the sixth edition of the Barn Theatre in Cirencester’s virtual concert series, The Barn Presents:, which celebrates the work of British musical theatre writers. Continue reading “News: The Barn Theatre Presents – The Music of Gus Gowland”
I wasn’t going to write up Turn Up London but in the end, it was just too darn good to leave unremarked. I’m just going to whip through my highlights though, and urge you to stay tuned for any future for this excellent and essential project. Continue reading “Review: thoughts on Turn Up London”
Theatrical superstars Sharon D. Clarke, Noma Dumezweni, Clive Rowe, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Johnnie Fiore, Brenda Edwards, Zaris-Angel Hator, Rachel Adedeji, Aisha Jawando, Norm Lewis, Brittney Johnson, Brandi Chavonne Massey and Joe Aaron Reid and more join the lineup for TURN UP! , a live stream event supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
The live stream event is streaming for The Bail Project, The Okra Project, The Black Curriculum and UK Black Pride – in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
TURN UP! will stream on Friday 10th, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th July at 7.30pm prompt. The performance streamed on Sunday 12th July will be captioned. Tickets cost £10 for one stream/show, or you can watch all 3 nights for £25, all profit (after streaming costs and applicable taxes) will be split between our four charities, tickets are available now from club11.london/turn. Continue reading “News: even more black MT talent turning it up for TURN UP!”
Black voices from across the West End, Broadway, activism, community leadership and beyond will unite at TURN UP! to raise funds and awareness for four charities – The Bail Project, The Okra Project, The Black Curriculum and UK Black Pride – in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Under the creative direction of Nicole Raquel Dennis and Ryan Carter, TURN UP! will stream during July 2020. The online concert will be recorded with a live band on stage at Cadogan Hall, with a handful of exclusive at home performances and voice overs from the USA and UK. Continue reading “News: Black MT talent are turning it up with TURN UP!”
BEST DIRECTOR FOR A PLAY OR MUSICAL
Lynette Linton; Sweat: Gielgud Theatre
Roy Alexander Weise; Nine Night: National Theatre
Nancy Medina; The Half God of Rainfall: Kiln Theatre
BEST PRODUCER
Tobi Kyeremateng; Babylon Festival: Bush Theatre
BEST CHOREOGRAPHER
SPONSORED BY HARLEQUIN FLOORS
Rachael Nanayonjo; Sleeping Beauty: Theatre Royal Stratford East
Alesandra Seutin; Boy Breaking Glass: Sadlers Wells
Shelley Maxwell; Equus: Theatre Royal Stratford East Continue reading “Nominations for the 2019 Black British Theatre Awards”
“Remember when you used to play Mozart?”
I’ve been lucky enough to see Cassidy Janson in a number of productions over the years and I’ve been a fan from the start, from stepping into Julie Atherton’s not-inconsiderable shoes in Avenue Q onwards, so I was mightily pleased when she was announced as the replacement for Katie Brayben in the lead role in Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. I really enjoyed the show when it opened last year and thought Janson would be a good fit but in finally getting to see her, I couldn’t have imagined how perfect a marriage of performer and material this would be.
As Carole King, one of the most successful songwriters of the last century, she thoroughly imbues the character with an engaging sense of life and vivid musicality that just bursts from the stage. Through a decade of huge change as this ebullient Manhattan teenager becomes a wife and mother as well as writing some of the biggest pop hits around, Janson keeps us thoroughly engaged with Douglas McGrath’s sometimes-a-bit-too-functional book whether acting, singing or acting through song – if she weren’t already a star, I’d say it’s a star-making performance. Continue reading “Re-review: Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Aldwych”
“Everything seems to be
Some kind of wonderful”
Where Broadway leads, the West End will surely follow and so it is little surprise that Tony-winning Beautiful – The Carole King Musical found its way over here to the Aldwych Theatre. And I’m pleased to report that the transatlantic passage has gone most smoothly indeed to deliver an absolute treat of a show. When three of its four leading personnel are still very much alive and kicking, it is perhaps no surprise that Douglas McGrath’s book treads a rather respectable path through the first ten years of King’s career. But then she would be the first to say, with typical self-deprecating charm, that her life is hardly the most exciting, her dreams never the loftiest – it just so happens that beneath this veneer of ordinariness lay an absolute treasure trove of extraordinary music.
And as musical gem follows musical gem – both from the collaborations of King and sometime partner Gerry Goffin, and also from their friends and writing rivals Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann – this feels utterly the point. Life isn’t always chock-a-block with drama, motivations don’t always have to spring from some momentous event, the cult of the tortured artistic soul is far from the be all and end all (Billington seems to suggest being “a shy, well-adjusted woman struggling to reconcile a career with a failing marriage” is something of a crime!) and I’d say that Beautiful is no weaker a biopic for not having such narrative peaks and troughs, reinventing personal history in the name of drama. Continue reading “Review: Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Aldwych Theatre”