Kerry Ellis (Wicked, We Will Rock You), Danny Mac (Sunset Boulevard, Pretty Woman The Musical) and Layton Williams (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Rent) are among the star performers to feature in the next instalment in the popular pay-to-stream musical theatre flavoured web series, The Theatre Channel.
Ellis performs ‘Always Starting Over’ from If/Then, while Mac sings ‘Moving Too Fast’ from The Last Five Years, and Layton Williams takes on ‘Hold Me In Your Heart’ from Kinky Boots in the sixth episode in the series.
Available to stream via Stream.Theatre from 7 May 2021, the new episode entitled Showstoppers also includes an exclusive interview with Hollywood star Antonio Banderas. An Academy Award and Tony Award nominee, Banderas offers an insight into his Malaga-based theatre company Teatro del Soho’s acclaimed Spanish-language revival of A Chorus Line.
The production’s version of ‘Music and the Mirror’ also provides the accompanying track for Katie Deacon’s (Mary Poppins, An American in Paris) performance showcasing the original A Chorus Line choreography by Michael Bennett which features in the episode.
Other featured performers include: sisters Amber (9 to 5 The Musical) and Jade (Les Misérables) Davies as Side Show’s conjoined twins singing ‘Who Will Love Me As I Am’ and ‘I Will Never Leave You’; and a performance of ‘There’s No Business Like Showbusiness’ from Annie Get Your Gun by the manager of The Theatre Café, Jack Malin with the revamped resident ensemble previously known as The Café Four. The New Café Five is made up of Anthony Starr (Guys & Dolls, Sheffield Crucible), Danny Becker (The Prince Of Egypt, Dominion Theatre), Kayleigh Thadani (Disney’s Aladdin, Prince Edward Theatre), M-Jae Cleopatra Isaac (Billy Elliot, Victoria Palace) and Vicki Lee Taylor (A Chorus Line, London Palladium).
Presented by Adam Blanshay Productions and The Theatre Café, the performances in the latest episode are directed by Thom Southerland (Titanic; Grey Gardens) with choreography by Ashley Nottingham (Spamalot, Singin’ In The Rain), lighting design by Aaron J Dootson, musical supervision by Michael England, production design by James Turner, videography by Ben Hewis and sound design by Keegan Curran.
The episode also includes exclusive behind-the-scenes content provided by the original producers of A Chorus Line in memory of Tony Award-winning choreographer Bob Avian who passed away in January.
Announcing the latest line-up, producer Adam Blanshay said: “With the release of Episode 6: Showstoppers, we’re celebrating several milestones. First off, as the pandemic and theatre closures have extended far beyond what anyone initially imagined, we’re overjoyed to welcome our new resident ensemble, The New Café Five, giving fresh opportunity to a remarkable new group of performers to finish the series with us.
“Moreover, based on growth and customer demand, we’re thrilled to now be launching our content on Stream.Theatre, which we hope will expand our viewership far and wide, and draw in countless new theatre fans.
“Lastly, we pay homage to the loving memory of Bob Avian, and have included a special feature on A Chorus Line – we are grateful to John Breglio, Baayork Lee and Antonio Banderas for their collaboration.”
Previous episodes (1-5) of The Theatre Channel will be available to purchase at Stream.Theatre. The next instalment, Episode 7, will celebrate the works of the unparalleled Rodgers and Hammerstein. Casting will be announced at a later date.
Angela Thomas
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