Aria Entertainment and Adam Lenson Productions have unveiled the cast of West End artists lined-up to showcase the work of the UK-based writing teams behind 15 new chamber musicals in The Chamber Musical Sessions Concert.
Celebrating the first year of the Aria-ALP Chamber Project, the concert at the Garrick Theatre on 4 October 2021 will feature extracts from all the long-listed shows selected from over 200 applications.
Accompanied by a house band, the performers will include: Luke Bayer (Rent), Euan Bennett (The Play That Goes Wrong), Christina Bloom (Emilia), Haydn Cox (Dear Evan Hansen), Ashley Goh (Shift+Alt+Right), Benedict Hastings (Wolf Hall), Holly-Ann Hull (Les Misérables), Jade Johnson (The Book of Mormon), Emma Kingston (In The Heights), Charlotte Payne, (Potted Panto), Maiya Quansah-Breed (Rent), Sharon Rose (Hamilton), Evie Rose Lane (Footloose), Robin Simões da Silva (Bedknobs and Broomsticks), Joe Thompson-Oubari (Fantastic Mr Fox) and Guy Woolf (Thrill Me) with Sophie Golby, Emma Harding, Sophie Holdsworth and Emelie Odukwe.
The singers will be showcasing the songs from the following writers: Christina Bloom (Detached), Cordelia O’Driscoll (Bitter/Sweet), Emelie Odukwe and Lily Vincent-Frankland (At The Centre), Freya Catrin Smith and Jack Williams (Echoes), Guy Woolf and Isla Van Tricht (How To Save the World), Tommy Antonio and Robert Casey (Harder Baby), Hilmi Jaidin (Clickbait), Jen Green and Caroline Wigmore (Elizabeth Holmes: How to bleed dry in Silicon Valley), Michelle Payne and Craig Webb (Enthusiastically, Yes!), Natalie Pound, Sam Young and Sam Hoppen (Thanks I’m Cured), Jonathan O’Neill and Isaac Savage (Letting Go), P Burton-Morgan and Robin Simões da Silva (Treehouse), Sarah-Louise Young, Richard Link and Paul Chronnell (Escape Room) and Eden Tredwell (Open Mic 1803).
As previously announced the first two shows selected for further development, mentorship, and financial support are Eartha, Eddie, and the Upside-Down Tree by Leo Munby and Annabel Mutale Reed, and Echoes by Freya Smith and Jack Williams.
Commenting on the initiative, Aria’s Katy Lipson said: “We are incredibly proud to have launched a new musical theatre writing award over the last year and to be presenting a night showcasing 15 submissions for that award on top of the set for the much-loved American chamber musical The Last 5 Years. We are hugely committed to the future of New British Chamber Musicals and cannot wait to see this award grow.”
Referring to the writers of the two winning musicals, Lenson added: “We have been aware of how few opportunities there are for writers to be supported as they develop new musicals and it has been so wonderful to collaborate with Katy to create a little more space for the UK’s writing talent.
“We hope other theatres and producers will follow our lead and commission and stage more new musical theatre. We are so excited to see what Annabel, Leo, Jack and Freya create and can’t wait to celebrate them and the other long-listed writers in the West End in October.”
Established last year in response to a lack of established British chamber musicals within mainstream publishing and licensing houses, the Aria-ALP Chamber Project is aimed at discovering and developing innovative new works.
Angela Thomas
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