The Stage today announces the shortlist for its prestigious The Stage Debut Awards 2019, in association with Access Entertainment. Voting has also opened for The Joe Allen Best West End Debut Award 2019.
The Stephen Sondheim Society and Mercury Musical Developments today announce West End Musical Director Gareth Valentine as the final judge for the 2019 Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year (SSSSPOTY), alongside the previously announced Julia McKenzie, Peter Polycarpou, and Edward Seckerson. Lyricist Charles Hart and Olivier Award-winner Jenna Russell join Nkeki Obi-Melekwe and Stiles + Drewe to complete the judging panel for the Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize. Winners will be announced at Theatre Royal Haymarket on Sunday 9 June.
Founding Executive Director Kathy Evans announced the 27 writers of nine new musicals for Rhinebeck Writers Retreat's summer weeklong residencies. This year's artists include Obie-winner Heather Christian, Kleban-winner Brian Crawley, TV and film writers Bekah Brunstetter (THIS IS US) and Cinco Paul (DESPICABLE ME), inaugural Stephen Schwartz Award winner Oliver Houser, and ASCAP Foundation scholarship winner Khiyon Hursey. The musicals cover a wide range of subjects. Four have LGBTQ themes: a historical look at Florida in the 1950s (IN A SUNSHINE STATE), a Palestinian/Israeli love story (BORDERS), a modern coming of age of a young black man (SEAN'S STORY PART I | THE AWAKENING), and a fantasy queer rock musical celebrating lady love (TL;DR: THELMA LOUISE; DYKE REMIX). Two are darkly comedic historical musicals: one featuring Mary Magdelene (A.D. 16) and the second a WWII plot to foil Hitler (OPERATION MINCEMEAT). Other subjects include the opioid crisis (ALMOST HEAVEN), the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (THE GOLDEN SPIKE), and a mystery involving a woman with a sleep disorder (NARCOLEPSY).
Spitlip, the company founded by members of supernatural theatre-comedy trailblazers Kill the Beast to produce modern comedy musicals with a genre-destroying contemporary soundtrack, are proud to announce their first ever production Operation Mincemeat.
New Diorama Theatre today announce a new season featuring its most ambitious shows ever from some of its most talented associate companies, and a programming model which could rewrite the rules of relationships between artists and theatres.
Multi-award-winning troupe Kill the Beast brings two unique horror-comedies to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August. Don't Wake The Damp and He Had Hairy Hands will be running at the Pleasance throughout the Festival, fusing comedy and theatre in a non-stop visual extravaganza.
Videos
