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Review: West End Musical Celebration, Palace Theatre

Ben Forster, Alice Fearn, Sophie Evans, Layton Williams, Rachel John, Trevor Dion Nicholas and Shanay Holmes join forces for a West End Musical Celebration at the Palace Theatre

“There’s a party to start in a new part of town”

Brought to you by the producers of West End Musical Drive In and West End Musical Brunch, West End Musical Celebration sees the collaborative, communal, concert spirit finally brought into a bona fide West End space in Palace Theatre.

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but nor does it pretend or need to. Pulling together a top tier company including Alice Fearn, Layton Williams, Rachel John and Trevor Dion Nicholas and giving them some of the best showstoppers around, you can hardly go wrong. Continue reading “Review: West End Musical Celebration, Palace Theatre”

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News: Lauren Samuels & Sophie Evans announce new album

Lauren Samuels and Sophie Evans first found fame when they met on the hit BBC1 show Over the Rainbow. Both ladies made it to the final and were highly praised by Andrew Lloyd Webber and have gone on to have hugely successful stage careers. To celebrate a decade since the show first aired, Sophie and Lauren have reunited to record Chasing Rainbows, Finding Judy, a stunning album of songs made famous by Judy Garland, the original Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. The first single from the album, ‘The Rainbow’s End’, is available now.

The idea for the album was born out of a desire Lauren & Sophie had not only to collaborate and to celebrate how they met, but also to bring Judy’s music to a new audience – hearing these classic songs performed by younger voices. The album has been beautifully produced by Grammy-nominated producer James McMillan. Continue reading “News: Lauren Samuels & Sophie Evans announce new album”

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News: line-up for Monday Night at the Apollo #2 revealed

The star line up has been confirmed for the second concert of the series for Monday Night at the Apollo – which will be performed in front of a socially distanced audience at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue on Monday 14 June, and simultaneously livestreamed to viewers at home via the theatre discovery platform Thespie, which is dedicated to bringing the best live and recorded theatre to audiences around the world.

Shan Ako (Les Miserable, Xfactor), Arthur Darvill (Once, Doctor Who), Sophie Evans (Wicked, Wizard of Oz), Sandra Marvin (Waitress, Emmerdale) and Oliver Tompsett (&Juliet, Wicked) will join on-stage for an intimate night of music and theatrical chat, featuring ovation worthy performances of songs from their favourite genres. Host Greg Barnett (Miss Littlewood, Swallows and Amazons) invites his audience behind the curtain to catch these castmates as you’ve never seen them before. Sharing their most cherished memories and experiences from their careers, alongside performances of music personal to them, West End royalty celebrate the craft and industry they’ve so dearly missed. Continue reading “News: line-up for Monday Night at the Apollo #2 revealed”

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Review: West End Musical Drive In, Episode 3

Sophie Evans, Alice Fearn, Emma Hatton and Laura Pick have a wicked time in the rain at the West End Musical Drive In

“Are you here to distract me
So I make a big mistake?”

The third instalment of the West End Musical Drive In’s streaming offer (reviews of episode 1 and episode 2) sees them land with a Wicked focus, spotlighting four current and recent members of the West End cast, along with a cheeky guest appearance from Carl Man. So it was Sophie Evans, Alice Fearn, Emma Hatton and Laura Pick taking their individual moments to shine in the pouring rain of a Great British summer.

As with the first, co-producer Shanay Holmes acted as MC with an ever-impressive amount of energy and also taking the opportunity to show off her mighty fine vocals with a song or two herself (the closing ‘One Night Only’ is standout). And over an hour and 40 minutes or so, we’re treated to a range of musical theatre classics from some pretty powerhouse vocalists. Continue reading “Review: West End Musical Drive In, Episode 3”

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News: Lambert Jackson Productions and The Theatre Café announce the return of Leave A Light On

Lambert Jackson Productions and The Theatre Café have announced the return of popular online concert series Leave A Light On, with 70 performances being re-streamed via stream.theatre.

Shows from across the two series’ feature Zoe Birkett, Jordan Luke Gage, David Hunter, Cassidy Janson, Lucie Jones, Beverley Knight and Layton Williams many more famous West End faces.

Shows will be available to watch every day at 5pm and 8pm from 15 March to 24 April. Continue reading “News: Lambert Jackson Productions and The Theatre Café announce the return of Leave A Light On”

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News: West End Musical Drive In comes to Stream.Theatre

From the Drive-In to your home, relive the biggest musical concert series of 2020. With 10 hours of incredible live performances from over 25 of the greatest West End stars, including Layton Williams (Everyone’s Talking About Jamie), Lucie Jones (Waitress), and Alice Fearn (Come From Away), this exciting digital series will bring five fantastic West End Musical Drive In concerts directly to you. A different concert will be available to stream each week from Friday 19th February to Sunday 21st March via Stream.Theatre.

Additional casting includes, Trevor Dion Nicholas (Hamilton), Shanay Holmes (The Bodyguard), Emma Hatton (Wicked), Shan Ako (Les Misérables), Sophie Evans (Wicked), Maiya Quansah Breed (Rent), Laura Pick (Wicked), Matthew Croke (Aladdin), Jon Robyns (Les Misérables), Kelly Agbowu (Waitress), Hiba Elchikhe (Aladdin), Jodie Steele (Heathers) and 12 previous cast members of Six The Musical. Continue reading “News: West End Musical Drive In comes to Stream.Theatre”

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Review: All I Want For Christmas Is Theatre

If you’re feeling festive and missing musical theatre, then All I Want For Christmas Is Theatre is the place to be

“But it’s not like Christmas at all
I remember when you were here”

Thespie’s Reunited series has been a fun way of getting your musicals fix over the past few weeks and in a rather clever move, they’ve managed to put together a Christmas special featuring the companies already featured, plus some brand new special guests. So All I Want For Christmas Is Theatre so we get to see Team Schwartz and Team Girl Power again and my personal faves, Team Juliet as they tackle a range of festive classics.

For me though, it was the promise of concerts to come that proved most exciting. The tight harmonies of Heathers alumni Sophie Isaacs, Jodie Steele and T’Shan Williams were a particular delight on both ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ and ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ and the women of Pretty Woman are in wonderfully high spirits on both ‘Last Christmas’ and ‘Santa Baby’ so consider my appetite whetted for their forthcoming gigs. Continue reading “Review: All I Want For Christmas Is Theatre”

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Review: Unlimited: The Songs of Stephen Schwartz

Check out Wicked alumni Nikki Bentley, Sophie Evans, Alice Fearn, Alexia Khadime, Liam Tamne and more in Unlimited: The Songs of Stephen Schwartz

“Out of our night of struggle
Can we see a ray of hope?”

From Godspell and Pippin to Wicked and The Prince of Egypt, Stephen Schwartz has been composing musicals for more four decades now and so has amassed quite the songbook. So it makes sense that it is to him that Thespie have turned to launch their Reunited Series, a set of four filmed concerts premiering throughout December and featuring some pretty amazing musical theatre talent.

First up is Unlimited: The Songs of Stephen Schwartz, which gathers together nine alumni of the London production of Wicked, now in its 14th year, to cherry-pick their favourite songs and deliver them in socially-distanced concert style in the swanky Kimpton Fitzroy Hotel. Not only that, there’s a guest appearance from the man himself, Schwartz introducing the gig from his piano with a soaring snatch of Pippin. Continue reading “Review: Unlimited: The Songs of Stephen Schwartz”

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News: Thespie to stream concerts throughout December

Theatre discovery platform Thespie has announced the Reunited Series, bringing together more than two dozen of the UK’s top musical theatre artists for a series of filmed concerts premiering throughout December.

Developed by Aimie Atkinson, Thespie’s Creative Producer and the Olivier nominated star of Pretty Woman and SIX), each concert presents ensemble music performances (filmed in COVID-secure London venues), and ranges from musical theatre hits, to pop music, to favourite Christmas songs. The program of each concert has been developed by the artists involved and will also include intimate interview footage. Continue reading “News: Thespie to stream concerts throughout December”

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News: You Will Be Found by #CheerUpCharlie & West End Friends to be released on 15th November

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. Charlie is joined on the song by numerous stage and screen stars including Wendi Peters, Layton Williams and Michael Xavier, with Iain Armitage, Michael Ball, Rufus Hound, and Faye Tozer amongst many famous faces reading their supportive messages on the song’s video. The single is available to pre-save now on iTunes, Deezer, Spotify and Tidal at https://ditto.fm/you-will-be-found. Continue reading “News: You Will Be Found by #CheerUpCharlie & West End Friends to be released on 15th November”