Aria Entertainment has revealed the 37-strong company who will star in the seven new musicals chosen for this year’s From Page To Stage festival which will launch at the Southwark Playhouse next week.
Returning for its sixth year and running from 11 until 25 September, the prestigious musical theatre event created by leading independent theatre company Aria, will feature staged readings and showcase performances of the seven new works selected from over 150 entries submitted by writers from across the UK and internationally.
Directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, the first of the staged readings on Tuesday 11 September (3.30pm and 8pm) will be the Dickens-inspired The Astonishing Times of Timothy Cratchit. With music and lyrics by Andre Catrini and book by Allan Knee, the musical will feature Felix Mosse (Aspects of Love); Barry James (Les Misérables); Beverley Klein (Fiddler on the Roof); Jessie May (Mamma Mia!); Rebecca Bolton (Spring Awakening); Gavin James (Sweeney Todd ); Nicholas Mclean (The Book of Mormon); Cornelius Clarke (Juno and the Peacock); and Jake Small (Mamma Mia!). Musical direction will be by Nathan Jarvis.
Amy Corcoran will direct Tasha Taylor Johnson’s musical comedy Cult! on Monday 24 September (8pm). With musical direction by Phil Cornwell, the cast includes Genevieve Nicole (Pippin); Ashley Samuels (Fun Home); Michael Storrs (Impossible); Janet Kumah (The Bodyguard the Musical); Laura Mansell (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert); Josie Kemp (Les Misérables); Robbie Shepherd-White (Flashdance); and Miles Western (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert).
The staged reading will conclude on Tuesday 25 September (3.30pm and 8pm) with Richard Rodgers Award-winning To Paint the Earth directed by Michael Howcroft. With music by Jonathan Portera and lyrics by Daniel Frederick Levin, the Second World War themed story of the Jewish Underground in Warsaw will feature: Fred Haig (Follies); Natalie Dunne (Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens); Rose Shalloo (A Pacifists Guide to the War on Cancer); Michele Moran (Into the Woods); Gary Tushaw (Les Misérables); Lauren Lebowitz (Footloose); Sam Peggs (Sunset Boulevard); Dale Rapley (The Addams Family); Simon Oskarsson (Return to the Forbidden Planet); Kai Spellman (Slaves of Solitude); Lottie Johnson (The Importance of Being Earnest); and Ashley Knight (Grand Hotel). Musical direction will be by Nick Barstow.
On Monday 17 and 18 September at 8pm, the remaining four musicals: Drew Dillon’s Villages; Benjamin Button by Natalie Tenenbaum and Brett Boles; Smoke by Darren Rapier and Sam Hall; and Nick Barstow and Jonathan Kirwin’s Never Change; will be performed as 25-minute extracts on the showcase evenings under the direction of Bronagh Lagan.
With musical direction by Marcus Adams, the musicals will be performed by a repertory company which includes: Simbi Akande (Ghost); Rosemary Ashe (The Phantom of the Opera); David Bardsley (The Grinning Man); Will Carey (It’s Only Life); Adam Linstead (Broken Wings); Emma Salvo (The Toxic Avenger); Lawrence Smith (All The Angels) and Benjamin Stratton (The Navigator).
Presented by leading independent producer Katy Lipson, the From Page To Stage festival has gone from strength to strength since the event’s launch in 2013. Casting for this year’s festival was by Jane Deitch.
Alongside the 2018 FPTS Festival at Southwark Playhouse, Aria’s Lipson is also producing the European premiere of Bill Russell and Janet Hood’s new musical Unexpected Joy at Southwark Playhouse in parallel to the festival. Running until 29 September, the show’s press night is on Friday (7 September).
Angela Thomas
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