Masterclass at The Theatre Royal Haymarket

This month there are two excellent Masterclasses from the Theatre Royal Haymarket. the first is being held at the Brighton Festival Fringe today (17th May).   Richard Jordan, theatre producer, will be joining Caro Newling, co-director of Neal Street Productions (which she runs alongside Pippa Harris and Sam Mendes).  This producer panel will be demistifying the baffling production side of the industry, and you will be able to find out how to mount and promote a show - and what it might cost!

The next class on 19th May is being held at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, as usual.  This will be hosted by two of London's hottest young stars - Sienna Millar and Sheridan Smith.  They are both appearing in the Haymarket's FLARE PATH, by Terence Rattigan, and directed by Trevor Nunn.  They will be in discussion with leading theatre journalist Matt Wolf and taking questions from the audience.  This will be a fantastic opportunity to gain insight into a life in the spotlight and the rigours of appearing in the West End.

This event will be followed by a special fundraising afterclass, giving a select group the unique chance to join Sheridan and Sienna for an exclusive champagne tea.

For more details go to the Haymarket Masterclass Website

Performances, Auditions and Workshops with A Stage Kindly

This morning I received this message from Katy Lipson and Giles Howe, Producers of A Stage Kindly:

"This Thursday (7th) and the following Tuesday (12th) are very special dates in the Musical Theatre calendar, not least of all because A STAGE KINDLY are presenting their latest exclusive new-writing revue the ‘April Revue’.

There is a late-night performance on the 7th starting at 10pm, at London’s Little Opera House at The King’s Head Theatre Islington, and both a 3pm matinee and an 8pm show on the 12th - featuring extra material and even more performers at East London venue The Space.

The large cast of talented professional vocalists will be bringing to life some of the best material from a whole host of new musicals, especially selected from hundreds of submissions from all around the world, giving you an exclusive taste of what to look forward to from the hottest new writing talent.

The program of music spans the whole range of the Musical Theatre genre with some classic traditional musical comedy to the most cutting edge contemporary shows, proving once again that there is so much to enjoy beyond the West End!"

The director of the April revue Paul Taylor-Mills is also going to be working with A Stage Kindly on a series of workshops for performers.

A Stage Kindly also has auditions coming up for their forthcoming production – the UK Premiere of the hilarious American musical comedy SLAY IT WITH MUSIC. If you are a professional performer and would like to be contacted with audition details the producer's email address is: astagekindly@aol.com

To Book seats for the APRIL REVUE box office details are here:  www.astagekindly.com.

The Sondheim Student Performer of the Year

The judges for the Sondheim Student Performer of the Year have all been chosen now.  It will be hosted by Haydn Gwynne, whose song won the Styles and Drewe prize last year.  The prizes will be presented by Julia McKenzie, George Stiles and Antony Drewe (the composer/lyricist team behind Olivier Award winning Honk, Mary Poppins and Betty Blue Eyes).  The judging panel includes West End stars Anna Francolini and Kerry Ellis, music journalist from the Independent Edward Seckerson, Tony Award winning musical director and arranger Sarah Travis and Timothy Sheader, the Artistic Director of the Open Air Theatre Regents Park.

Students from twelve leading Drama Schools take part, and each performer has to sing a song by Sondheim and a new musical theatre number.  The award takes place at the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue on May 22nd.  Tickets to this event can be obtained through this link here.

Finding Funding for Studying the Performing Arts

Not all Schools and Colleges for the Performing Arts are part of the government grant scheme and so once you get your treasured place to study dance, drama or music it can be difficult to get funding to support you.

Mrs Worthington has found a really good website to help you with this.  It is called Creative Choices and helps you find funding bodies for all artistic courses that may not be available to the usual funding sources. It also gives you lots of other help with career choices, finding jobs etc.  There is a link to it here

A Gap in Musical Theatre Training

David James, who runs the BML Librettists Workshop, told me that as far as he knows there is nowhere in this country that you can train to be a choreographer or director of musical theatre.  Directing and choreography in musical theatre requires very special skills which we should be teaching.  Now that the musical theatre world is growing in Britain it about time we designed courses to equip young creatives.  If anyone reading this blog knows of a course that covers this do let me know - because so far I have yet to find one!

Arts Ed Dance Show

Arts Ed School is presenting their Spring dance show for years 7 - 13 from 21st to 25th March.  To book tickets for this go to the link here.  Places for Arts Eds shows fill up very quickly!

RADA Spring Productions

Major drama schools do not always have open days so the best way to see what they are like before your audition is to go and see a show there.  The Spring productions at RADA are on over the next two weeks and as usual there is some really exciting and inspirational theatre on offer:  THE BROTHERS SIZE by Tarell Alvin McCraney from 15th to 26th March, A WASTE OF TIME by Robert David MacDonald from 16th to 26th March and THE CRUCIBLE by Arthur Miller from 17th to 26th March.   The link to their website to book tickets is here.