Northampton’s Royal & Derngate has unveiled plans to premiere four new musicals as part of its Made in Northampton 2021 season.
Three original musicals will debut on stage with a fourth appearing online in the culmination of a three-year development project involving a national consortium of partners in support of 150 artists.
Innovative theatre company Improbable will take to the Derngate stage with An Improbable Musical in March, followed by April de Angelis and Lucy Rivers’ Gin Craze! in the Royal auditorium in June and a concert performance of Jonny Wright and Tim Gilvin’s Scot Free in the autumn. The venue will also support the release of the digital musical On Hostile Ground by Juliet Gilkes Romero, Michael Henry, Darren Clark and Charlotte Westernra.
Announcing the productions, Royal & Derngate artistic director James Dacre said: “Over five years up to 2017 Royal & Derngate welcomed an audience of more than 200,000 to 50 visiting musicals. Only one of them was a new work. Almost all of these 50 shows had played in our larger Derngate auditorium with little midscale musical theatre available to play in our Royal auditorium. So we set out to change this.
“Since then, we have collaborated with six consortium partners and over a hundred inspiring artists to champion new musical theatre voices. Together we will have premiered at least six entirely original musicals by 2021. Having already staged Fox-Tot! and The Season, and streamed our digital musical #ZoologicalSociety to over 130,000, today we can announce that in 2021 we will premiere four completely original musicals, showcasing some of the best new talent in British musical theatre.
“At the end of such a devastating year for our sector, I’m thrilled that as our theatre begins to emerge from the pandemic, we’ll do so alongside this inspiring range of artists who have reminded us of the importance of remaining ambitious, relevant and determined to create original work.”
Running from 19 until 27 March 2021, the Royal & Derngate and Improbable co-production, An Improbable Musical will involve the creation of a new improvised musical each night as the cast listens and responds to the members of the audience. The production will be directed by Improbable’s co-artistic director Lee Simpson with music devised and directed by Yshani Perinpanayagam.
Co-produced by Royal & Derngate, Northampton and China Plate in partnership with English Touring Theatre, the 18th century set satire Gin Craze! will take to the Royal stage from 19 June until 3 July 2021.
With book and lyrics by April De Angelis and music and lyrics by Lucy Rivers, the irreverent new musical will be directed by Michael Oakley.
Inspired by a true story, Scot Free will be premiered in concert form on 1 and 2 October 2021. With book and lyrics by Jonny Wright and music and lyrics by Tim Gilvin, the production which will be directed by Tinuke Craig has been developed by Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Perfect Pitch.
New musical On Hostile Ground will initially be released as a series of 14 music videos online from 16 February 2021. Co-created and directed by Charlotte Westenra with lyrics by Darren Clark, a book by Juliet Gilkes Romero and music and orchestrations by Michael Henry, the project emerged from the Musical Theatre Dark Room development residency held at Royal & Derngate in 2019 in partnership with China Plate, Mercury Musical Developments and Musical Theatre Network.
Tickets will go on general sale for An Improbable Musical, Gin Craze! and Scot Free on 18 December.
With the support of the Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence fund, Royal & Derngate has been leading a consortium including China Plate, Improbable, Mercury Musical Development, Musical Theatre Network, Perfect Pitch and Scottish Opera in an initiative aimed at addressing the barriers that prevent the creation of new, and original, musical theatre specifically developed for mid-scale regional touring.
Angela Thomas
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