Kit Orton News

Robert Gould reports for BWW on the final of the 2015 Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer Of The Year at the Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea.

Robert Gould reports on the preliminary round of the 2015 Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer Of The Year Competition.

Luke McCall, a 21-year-old from Bala in North Wales, currently studying for an MA at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, is the 2014 Principality Building Society Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer Of The Year.

The Leicester Square Theatre Lounge will host a launch concert on Sunday April 13 for 'Words Shared With Friends', an album of songs with an eclectic and international mix of musical styles (pop, rock and musical theatre from the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, Israel & the USA) composed by Christopher J. Orton, Ben Messenger, Joe Sterling, Jonathan Eio, Filip von Uexkull, Tristan Bons, Omri Lahav, Dean Heller and Ty Kroll - and lyrics written or co-written by lyricist Robert Gould.

Robert Gould reports on the 2014 Principality Building Society Welsh Musical Theatre Singer Of The Year competition.

This week we loaded Dickens Abridged into the Arts Theatre and began previews. Mark Bailey's set looks magnificent (members of the team are already arguing over who gets to keep the eight-foot-tall book with the built-in guillotine)

After premiering at the Edinburgh festival six years ago, Adam Long's clever romp through the life and work of Charles Dickens has been revived for Leicester Square's Arts Theatre's delightful 2013 Christmas Show.

Week two of the Dickens Abridged rehearsals have taken a turn from the sublime to the ridiculous and back to the sublime (with a detour to the gloriously inexplicable along the way). Simon Cummin, our producer, spent the weekend searching for a prop dog for Bill Sikes. He finally found a life-size, anatomically correct, stuffed Doberman male plus mate and four puppies on eBay. Unsurprisingly, Simon was the only bidder.

First week of rehearsals for Dickens Abridged. We're at St. Luke's church in Holloway. The cast of superbly talented actor/musician/singers (Damian Humbley, Jon Robyns, Kit Orton, Matthew Hendrickson and Gerard Carey) have done a fantastic job of learning lines, blocking, choreography and music.

This Christmas, actors from West End Shows as diverse as Merrily We Roll Along, Avenue Q, Les Miserables, Spamalot, and Reduced Shakespeare will join forces in DICKENS ABRIDGED, a fast-paced musical comedy from the co-creator of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged), which will open in the West End for a limited Christmas Season at The Arts Theatre from Wednesday 27 November 2013 toSunday 5 January 2014 (press night Monday 2 December).

MYUK (Musical Youth UK) will stage a spectacular showcase at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Sunday August 11, which will bring together a cast of over 350 young voices and an array of West End star vocalists.

Robert Gould reports for BWW on the 2013 Final of the Principality Building Society Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer of the Year at the Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea.

Since 2004, there have been several other productions of The Hired Man; all of which have achieved similar resounding success. This Curve Theatre Leicester and Mercury Theatre Colchester Co-Production is no different and is nothing short of a masterpiece.

David Hunter, who reached the semi-finals of Andrew Lloyd Webber's search for Jesus, is to star as John Tallentire in an all new production of the multi award winning musical, The Hired Man.

Acclaimed for its epic, nostalgic, funny book and rousing, romantic, award-winning score, The Hired Man is arguably the finest new British musical of the last thirty years.

David Hunter, who reached the semi-finals of Andrew Lloyd Webber's search for Jesus, is to star as John Tallentire in an all new production of the multi award winning musical, The Hired Man.

Robert Gould reports for BWW on the announcement of the finalists in the 2013 Principality Building Society Welsh Musical Theatre Young Singer Of The Year.

Robert Gould reports on the Giggin4Good charity concert with a West End star cast at The Actors' Church, Covent Garden on October 7th, 2012.

Robert Gould reports on London based Canadian singer Michelle LaFortune's debut cabaret at The Pheasantry, Chelsea tonight, September 16.

Robert Gould reports on London based Canadian singer Michelle LaFortune's debut cabaret at The Pheasantry, Chelsea on September 16.