USHERS: THE FRONT OF HOUSE MUSICAL Debuts at The Hope Theatre Tonight

An exciting new original British musical based on the life of working Front of House! USHERS THE FRONT HOUSE MUSICAL features Music by Yiannis Koutsakos, Lyrics by James Oban & Yiannis Koutsakos Book by James Rottger and Additional Lyrics by Maia Henry.

Produced by James Oban for Kouban Productions LTD. Directed by Max Reynolds, with choreography by Russell Smith. Musical Director: Michael Riley.

Created by @Westendproducer's Search for A Twitter Composer (#SFATC) finalists, James Oban and Yiannis Koutsakos with book by BBC Comedy actor James Rottger.

Opening this festive season at a NEW Off-West-End venue, The Hope Theatre, operated by the team of The King's Head Theatre

Ushers: The Front Of House Musical will be raising their start-up funds via crowd-funding site, Kickstarter. The minimum amount needed to get the production on the stage is £10,000. Donations can be made on: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/koubanproductions/ 1060572896.

It was confirmed today that USHERS: The Front of House Musical will open for a four week run at The Hope Theatre in December 2013. It will preview from tonight, 3rd December 2013 and press night will be on Friday, 6th December 2013.

Join the next generation of Musical Theatre stars (all of whom have sold a programme or two in their time) as they take you on a roller coaster ride through the world an audience never sees. With big, bold company numbers, Fosse-like ice-cream tray choreography and a script with heart, soul and an ice-bucket full of laughs, USHERS: The Front of House Musical promises to be a unique theatrical experience this festive season.

USHERS: The Front of House Musical follows a shift in the lives of the stagiest people in the theatre; the front of house staff! With a preview performance of a new Jukebox musical imminent, a three year work-place romance on the rocks, an untrained newbie on her first shift and an amorous manager under pressure to cut costs, what could possibly go wrong?!

USHERS: The Front Of House Musical will play The Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street London, N1 1RL. Nearest Tube: Highbury & Islington; Bus Routes: 19, 4, 43, 30 (Islington Town Hall Stop). Box Office: www.TheHopeTheatre.com; Tel. 0207 478 0160 (no booking fees). The show runs Tue, 3rd Dec - Tue, 31st Dec, playing Tuesday - Saturday at 7.30pm; Sundays at 3.00pm & 7:30pm Mon, 30th Dec at 7.30 pm Tue, 31st Dec at 3.00pm. No shows: Wed, 25th & Thu, 26th Dec. Press night: Friday, 6th December at 7.30pm Tickets: £15 / £12 (Previews: £10).

The production brings together the writing talents of Yiannis Koutsakos (music & lyrics), James Oban (lyrics) and James Rottger (book). Set within a single Front of House shift at a West End Theatre, it tells the hilarious, ridiculous and, sometimes, moving stories of the ice-cream sellers who dare to dream. Described by the show's creators as Front of House's answer to A Chorus Line, USHERS marks this writing trio's debut and is the first musical to grace the stage of the brand new Hope Theatre above the Hope & Anchor Pub on Upper Street, London.

Kouban Productions is working with The Hope Theatre which is a brand new 50 seat theatre above the world famous Hope and Anchor Pub on Upper Street in Islington, London. The Hope Theatre is London's newest and only theatre committed exclusively to new writing. Everything we do at The Hope Theatre is an experiment, and you can be part of it! The venue will be launched in November 2013 by Artistic Director Adam Spreadbury-Maher (who also founded the much-missed c*ckTavern Theatre in 2009) and is curated by Adam and the team at the King's Head Theatre - meaning that London's oldest and newest pub theatres are being run by the same team.

The Hope Theatre will host world premiere work across new writing for theatre, musical theatre and opera, and will explore different ways to work on the London Fringe in a sustainable and ethical way. Although the Hope Theatre receives no public subsidy, it opens with an in-house agreement with Equity, the UK's largest performers union, already in place, and everyone who works there will be paid a legal wage. It is hoped that exciting new companies, new performers, new writing and new producing models will be nurtured and developed at this experimental new theatre.

To listen to an early concept recording of three of the show's numbers, including the opening number, Welcome; FOH ballad, Dreams & Ice-Creams; and Showstopper, (It's Time To) Let Go, as heard at @WestEndProducer's Search for a Twitter Composer and on established musical theatre radio station Jemm3, go to: https://soundcloud.com/ushersmusical.

You can follow the show on twitter: @UshersMusical and tweet us by using the productions official hashtag #IceCreamSeller Or Like us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/UshersMusical. For further information, visit www.UshersMusical.co.uk.