Tony Award-winning composer, librettist and record producer Claude-Michel Schönberg will be making a special guest appearance in concert The Barn Presents: The Music of Annabel Mutale Reed, celebrating the work of musical theatre playwright, lyricist and director Annabel Mutale Reed. The concert will debut on the Cirencester venue’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter channels on 11 July 2020 at 7.30pm BST.
Schönberg will be chatting about mentoring Mutale Reed and her collaborators as well as why he thinks it is so important to champion new musical theatre writing. The concert is the fifth in the Barn Theatre’s popular on-line series showcasing the work of Britain’s musical theatre composers.
The concert line up will feature: Natalie Brown (Motown); Ali Ewoldt (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables); Jemal Felix (Kinky Boots, The Book of Mormon); Danielle Fiamanya (& Juliet, The Color Purple); Connor Going (The Choir of Men); Gabrielle Lewis Dodson (The Boy Friend, 42nd Street); Sam Oladeinde (The Prince of Egypt, Hamilton); Kathy Peacock (Les Misérables); Jack Remmington (The X Factor); Sharon Rose (Hamilton, Caroline, or Change); Robin Simões da Silva (Spring Awakening), Anton Stephans (The X Factor), Leah St Luce (Mamma Mia!, Beautiful); Amelia Walker (Six); and 2020 musical theatre graduate Meesha Turner.
Mutale Reed is the co-writer of the 2017 Edinburgh Festival Fringe hit STOP and is known for her directorial work including the recent concert staging of Zorro! The Musical at London’s Cadogan Hall. Other projects include an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, a play about girl guides, an adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s A Kiss For Cinderella and a pop musical inspired by the life of Elizabeth I.
Hosted by Barn Theatre producer Jamie Chapman Dixon, The Barn Theatre Presents: The Music of Annabel Mutale Reed will also include a discussion with Mutale Reed about her career to date and the creative process behind her songs. She will be joined by regular collaborators Leo Munby (co-writer of STOP) and composer Jack Trzcinski.
The concert series is part of the Barn Theatre’s Behind The Barn Door live streaming service which was launched in March in response to the theatre closedown. The service includes a full recording of the venue’s critically-acclaimed 2019 Built By Barn production of William Shakespeare’s Henry V directed by Hal Chambers.
A registered charity facing a loss of £250,000, the Barn Theatre has launched the SAVE OUR BARN campaign top raise funds to ensure the venue is able to re-open when lockdown restrictions are lifted. Supporters can donate via barntheatre.org.uk.
Launched in 2018, the ambitious project to create a major producing house at the heart of the development of Cirencester’s Grade II listed Ingleside House attracted support from leading Broadway director Jerry Mitchell and actors James Dreyfus, Matthew Kelly, Heida Reed, and Daisy May Cooper.
In just two years the Barn Theatre has gained national recognition for producing 12 Built By Barn shows attracting over 80,000 theatregoers and winning The Stage’s Best Fringe Theatre of the Year Award 2019.
With strong links to the local community already well established the theatre has worked extensively with charities including Cirencester Housing for Young People and Age UK Gloucestershire.
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.