Tickets are going on sale for the West End transfer of the double Olivier Award-winning Sheffield Theatres’ production of Standing At the Sky’s Edge.
Presented by the National Theatre and Various Productions, the winner of the 2023 Olivier Award for Best New Musical and Best Original Score and New Orchestrations, will begin performances at the Gillian Lynne Theatre on 8 February 2024 ahead of a press night on 28 February 2024.
Described as a love letter to Sheffield, the musical was a hit with critics and audiences when it made its sold-out debut in Sheffield in 2019. First commissioned by Sheffield Theatres and Various Productions, the musical combines new and classic songs by award-winning singer/songwriter Richard Hawley, inspired by the people of his home city of Sheffield. The piece, which also features a book by playwright Chris Bush, follows the fortunes of three families through 60 turbulent years in the high-rise Park Hill area of the city.
The musical returned to the Crucible Theatre in December 2022, selling out again, before making its London debut earlier this year in the National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre where it also played to sold-out houses.
Directed by Sheffield Theatres’ artistic director Robert Hastie, the production’s creative team also includes set and costume designer Ben Stones, choreographer Lynne Page, music supervisor, arranger and orchestrator Tom Deering, lighting designer Mark Henderson, sound designer Bobby Aitken and wigs, hair and make-up designer Cynthia De La Rosa. Casting will be announced soon.
Standing at the Sky’s Edge has also won the Best Musical Production award at the UK Theatre Awards in 2019 and the 2020 South Bank Sky Arts Award for Theatre.
Commenting on the latest development in the show’s success story, composer Richard Hawley said: “In all honesty I never really thought this story would leave the inside of our minds but to see it blossom and grow from a heartfelt set of ideas exchanged in a Sheffield pub to sell out shows at the Crucible and National theatres every single night has been a very powerful experience. The drive, focus and determination to allow the voices and history of Park Hill to be heard at last by everyone involved has been equally mind-blowing. This would’ve been more than enough for me to say the least… but the West End?… next you’ll be telling me Sheffield Wednesday are going up this season!”
Playwright Chris Bush said: “Making Standing at the Sky’s Edge has been the most extraordinary and rewarding experience of my professional career. To see audiences at the National Theatre leap to their feet for these characters and these stories with the same enthusiasm as those in Sheffield has meant the world to me.
“For all its hyper-specificity, the last few months have cemented for us that these themes of home, of love, of fresh starts and second chances, are utterly universal. I’m absolutely thrilled that we’ll get to introduce Park Hill to a whole new set of audiences in 2024.”
The musical’s director, Sheffield Theatres’ artistic director Robert Hastie, added: “We’ve all been thrilled by the response to Standing at the Sky’s Edge during great runs at the Sheffield Crucible and the National Theatre. It’s a massive achievement by everyone involved to have told this story with such passion and commitment. That we’re now able to announce this transfer to the Gillian Lynne, the perfect theatre for this story’s next chapter, I’m enormously proud and excited.”
Angela Thomas
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