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News: Songwriters Anderson & Petty announce A Christmas Wish

Songwriters Anderson & Petty have announced A Christmas Wish, a virtual concert with West End stars from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, SIX: The Musical, Wicked and more, available to stream at select times from 17 December – 20 December 2020. The concert is hosted by Ben Stock and Hilary O’Neil and is in aid of theatrical charity Acting For Others who provide emotional and financial support to theatre workers in times of need through 14 member charities.

Sign up and buy tickets here: www.stream.theatre/home Continue reading “News: Songwriters Anderson & Petty announce A Christmas Wish”

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News: Scots in the City returns online for St Andrew’s Day

An all-Scottish line-up of stars of stage and screen will perform in Scots in the City on Sunday 29 November. The concert, held in early celebration of St Andrew’s Day (30 November), will be livestreamed from the Phoenix Arts Club in the heart of London’s West End. 

The show is produced by West End leading performers Kieran Brown (The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Les Misèrables) and Shona White (MAMMA MIA!, Les Misèrables, Chess), who set up Scots in the City to promote the very best of Scottish culture outside the motherland, with a focus on Musical Theatre. This is the third show in their concert series. Continue reading “News: Scots in the City returns online for St Andrew’s Day”

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News: the Hippodrome to host music, magic and comedy this winter

Fourth Wall Live and The Hippodrome Casino London are thrilled to announce a series of over 40 shows at the Hippodrome Casino this winter. The season runs from 18 November every week for 5 weeks and will include two shows nightly at 7.00pm and 9.00pm.

The series will feature stars from the world of musical theatre, comedy and magic with all tickets priced £20. Audiences will be safely socially distanced following the most up-to-date safety guidelines. There will be 130 tickets on sale per show and tickets go on sale soon. Sign up at www.fw-live.com for advance presale and further announcements. Continue reading “News: the Hippodrome to host music, magic and comedy this winter”

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News: The Barn Theatre Presents – The Music of Daniel and Laura Curtis.

This may or may not have been planned as a birthday surprise for me…but the Barn Theatre have announced a new virtual concert series showcasing the works of Britain’s musical theatre composers, beginning with The Barn Theatre Presents: The Music of Daniel and Laura Curtis.

Daniel and Laura Curtis are award winning musical theatre composers and lyricists, whose work has been performed at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium. The pair have been described as “a magical, formidable writing team” by Success Circuit, with Broadway World declaring their music “simply lovely to listen to”. I reviewed their album Overture a few years back too and enjoyed it. Continue reading “News: The Barn Theatre Presents – The Music of Daniel and Laura Curtis.”

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The Barricade Boys announce a Christmas Cabaret season with an amazing guest cast

As Mrs Merton might have asked, what first attracted you to musical theatre supergroup The Barricade Boys…?

Clearly, it was their cumulative musical talent – between them, Scott Garnham, Simon Schofield, Craig Mather and Kieran Brown have racked up credits in pretty much every major musical from The Phantom of The Opera, Wicked and Billy Elliot to Jersey Boys, The Sound Of Music and Les Misérables. And now they’re bringing their cabaret show to The Other Palace’s Studio for a Christmas season which is enough to bring festive cheer to even the most Scrooge-like of hearts. Continue reading “The Barricade Boys announce a Christmas Cabaret season with an amazing guest cast”

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Festive review: Leslie Odom Jr / Megan Hilty / Eyles & Gould / All Aboard! The Sleigh Ride

“Its simple truth speaks volumes in a world where hatred rages”

Following on from the re-release of his self-titled album earlier this year, Leslie Odom Jr gives us another opportunity to sink into his world of soulful jazz with an album of reinterpreted holiday classics in Simply Christmas on S-Curve Records. And I do mean sink into like the most comfortable sofa you can imagine, in front of a log fire and drinking a nice cup of Charbonnel and Walker, for this is rich and luxurious stuff – as evidenced halfway into opening track ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ when a softly funky breakdown envelops you in its warmth like a marshmallow on top of that hot chocolate.

Dangerously seductive in Hamilton, Odom Jr will lose precisely zero fans here with this lush yet restrained style. Arrangements are kept simple, allowing heartfelt vocals to imbue tracks like ‘The First Noel’ and ‘The Christmas Song’ with renewed life. Equally, the piano and vocal improvs in ‘My Favourite Things’ keep things utterly fresh without losing sight of the overall vision of the record. The gentle guitar accompaniment to The Carpenters’ ‘Merry Christmas Darling’ is a thing of loveliness and Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson’s new festive standard ‘Winter Song’ blooms gorgeously under the treatment.  Continue reading “Festive review: Leslie Odom Jr / Megan Hilty / Eyles & Gould / All Aboard! The Sleigh Ride”

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Album Review: As Long As I Have Music – the songs of Rob Eyles & Robert Gould

“There’s still music in the air…”

As Long As I Have Music – the songs of Rob Eyles & Robert Gould is a new album showcasing the new musical theatre writing partnership of composer Eyles and lyricist Gould. Gould has been a prolific writer for some time now, as evidenced on his last CD Words Shared With Friends and whilst Eyles may be a newer composer, the pair have clearly found a rich vein of collaboration. The album features songs from two Eyles & Gould musicals – Stiles + Drewe Award finalist A Pebble for Aaron and The Wonderful Musician, a new musical-in-development based on the Grimm Brothers Fairy Tale, with a smattering of other songs too to complete the collection. 

The brace of songs from The Wonderful Musician are both strong – Joe Sterling capturing a beautiful sense of optimistic innocence in the title track and Michael Riseley and Kayleigh McKnight soaring on ‘Perfect Companion’. But it’s the trio of tunes from A Pebble for Aaron that stand out. Kieran Brown’s reflective ‘The Flowers Have Faded’, the raw anger of Keith Ramsay’s ‘I Want You To See You’ and the aching pain of Shaun McCourt’s ‘Losing Him’ are point towards a richly emotional and poignant musical that is touching even in these brief excerpts here. The marriage of longing melody and lyrical meaning works superbly well here.  Continue reading “Album Review: As Long As I Have Music – the songs of Rob Eyles & Robert Gould”

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Album Review: Love, Lies & Lyrics – The Words of Lesley Ross

“Why do whores only sing in musicals?” 

Showcasing the work of a lyricist is a different prospect from that of a composer, something that is immediately apparent from glancing at the cover and booklet of Love, Lies & Lyrics – The Words of Lesley Ross, the latest new musical theatre CD emerge from the nurturing cocoon of SimG Records. This album features music from 4 different writers, taken from over a dozen musicals, with the now customary array of West End stars – over 30 in number here – so it can’t help but be highly eclectic as a collection, in something of a similar vein to Robert Gould’s collection from last year.

The diversity of this approach certainly has its benefits, especially as man of the songs are around the 2 minute mark, as it means the album can bounce around wryly comic observation songs like ‘Pick A Ticket!’ and ‘Him in 23B’ to the more heartfelt but still story-led balladry of Nigel Richards’ ‘And In My Heart’ and Annalene Beechey’s ‘Song for Someone’. If I had to pick, Madalena Alberto’s plaintive lullaby ‘I Will Be There’ is the highlight of the record – its gorgeously delicate emotion coming from a perfect confection of lyric, music and performance.  Continue reading “Album Review: Love, Lies & Lyrics – The Words of Lesley Ross”