Video has been released of Lucie Jones and Lauren Samuels performing the song ‘Seize the Moment’ from Howard Goodall’s Girlfriends as a preview of the upcoming London Musical Theatre Orchestra’s version of the show at the Bishopsgate Institute early next month.
Due to play a total of three shows at the Bishopsgate Institute on the 2 and 3 of November 2018, the concert performance of Emmy, Brit and BAFTA winner Goodall’s Girlfriends will star off-stage best friends Jones (Rent) and Lauren Samuels (Bend It Like Beckham), alongside Natasha Barnes (Funny Girl), Bronté Barbé (Beautiful – The Carole King Musical), comedian and composer Vikki Stone (Concerto For Comedian and Orchestra) and Rob Houchen (Eugenius!). The ensemble includes Lisa Bridge, Charlotte Clitherow and Tara Divina. Further casting is to be announced.
Directed by Bronagh Lagan, the production will feature new orchestrations by Simon Nathan and Goodall, performed by LMTO conducted by founder Freddie Tapner and led by Debs White.
The concert will also be recorded for release as a live cast album, which will become the first publicly available recording of the show, as well as LMTO’s debut album.
A London Musical Theatre Orchestra co-production with Bishopsgate Institute, the Second World War era story of new recruits to the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force at the famous RAF Bomber Command base will be performed in the beautiful surroundings of the Great Hall.
Commenting on the production, composer Goodall said: “My musical Girlfriends was first seen in May 1986. It was one of the few musicals to have been written at that time which set out to create the sound of mainly women’s voices, in a (hopefully) stirring polyphony of strong, independent parts and I am pleased to say it has since been revived many times in many different incarnations. It celebrates women who made huge sacrifices in the struggle against fascism in the Second World War and whose spirit and fortitude are still an inspiration to us today.”
The final production in the 2018 season, will be a reprise run of the LMTO’s 2016 and 2017 seasonal sell-out production of Alan Menken’s A Christmas Carol which will return to the Lyceum Theatre on 11 and 18 December.
Based on Dickens’ timeless tale of Scrooge and his ghostly visitors the show features music written by Tony, Olivier and eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken, with lyrics by Tony Award winner Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime) and a book by Drama Desk Award winner Mike Ockrent (Me and My Girl) and Ahrens.
With patrons including Menken, Jason Robert Brown, Michael Feinstein, Julian Fellows, Stiles and Drewe, and Stephen Schwartz, the LMTO features some of London’s most accomplished professional musicians who all share an enthusiasm for musical theatre.
Previous LMTO successes include star-packed concert versions of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s State Fair, Jerry Herman’s Mack & Mabel and the concert staging of Honeymoon in Vegas with the show’s composer Jason Robert Brown as guest conductor.
Angela Thomas
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