Sandy Wilson News

The Alexander String Quartet, now in its 32nd season and ranked among the world's premiere chamber ensembles, releases a monumental new recording pairing the complete string quartets of Hungarian friends and contemporaries, Béla Bartók and Zoltan Kodály, on three CDs. Bartók's six quartets and Kodály's rarely-recorded two comprisesome of the most beautiful, beguiling and ultimately influential string quartet music of the 20thcentury. The new release on the Foghorn Classics label is available from Allegro Classical on October 8.

Surflight Theatre, under the leadership of Executive Director Ken Myers presents the 1920s musical comedy The Boy Friend, from May 25 through June 16. Check out a first look at the cast in action, below!

Surflight Theatre, under the leadership of Ken Myers, Executive Director, has announced the theater's 64th Season of 'Broadway at the Beach' - the theater's 2013 season of musicals and plays kicks off April 23 through May with a TBA musical revue, the Tony-winning comedy thriller Sleuth (May 7-19), The Boy Friend (May 24 - June 16), George M! (June 19 - July 7), Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific (July 10 - 28), You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (August 21 - September 8), Our Town (September 25 - October 6), and Irving Berlin's White Christmas (December 3 - 22).

Michael Xavier, Janie Dee, Claire Moore, Hayley Gallivan, Maria Friedman, Danielle Hope, Alison Jiear, Haydn Gwynne, Sally Anne Triplett, David Bedella, Tam Mutu, Paul Kaye, Stuart Matthew Price, Lucy May Barker, James Bourne, Madalena Alberto and Jenna Russell are now confirmed as the full line up of artists for Mercury Musical Developments 20th Anniversary Gala on Sunday 14 October 2012 at the Novello Theatre.

The Alexander String Quartet, now in its 31st season and among the world's premiere chamber ensembles, releases a vibrant new recording of much-loved music by George Gershwin and Jerome Kern on its Foghorn Classics label, available from Allegro Classical.

On 14th October 2012 Mercury Musical Developments will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary with a Gala Concert celebrating British musical theatre past, present and future, for one night only, at the Novello Theatre.

Tecumseh High School's award-winning and nationally known theatre program's anticipated musical The Boy Friend opens March 23 at the Pflaumer Auditorium.

Tecumseh High School's award-winning and nationally known theatre program's anticipated musical The Boy Friend opens March 23 at the Pflaumer Auditorium.

A Song Cycle for Soho, running at Soho Theatre from 27 February until 3 March, is a musical song cycle that explores Soho's rich history.

The Finborough Theatre's 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series follows Perchance to Dream with Ivor Novello's last musical.

A Song Cycle for Soho, running at Soho Theatre from 27 February until 3 March, is a musical song cycle that explores Soho's rich history.

The Finborough Theatre's 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series follows Perchance to Dream with Ivor Novello's last musical.

Our reviewer casts her eye over the recent BBC series looking at the rise of the British musical

Anne Clare Gibbons-Brown, last seen on the New York City stage as Tricia Nixon in FIRST KIDS:THE MUSICAL, starring Ken Page (Cats, Ain't Misbehavin', Guys and Dolls, The Wiz), Ilene Graff (Grease, Promises Promises, I Love My Wife), Elizabeth Gillies (13) and directed by Tony Award winners Paul Kreppel and Murphy Cross, shot an episode of the new CBS prime-time drama 'Unforgettable' starring Poppy Montgomery (Without a Trace) and Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck, Kate & Allie) scheduled to air November 15 at 10:00 PM. Ms. Gibbons-Brown's TV credits include Law & Order, and As the World Turns, among others.

Anne Clare Gibbons-Brown, last seen on the New York City stage as Tricia Nixon in FIRST KIDS:THE MUSICAL, starring Ken Page (Cats, Ain't Misbehavin', Guys and Dolls, The Wiz), Ilene Graff (Grease, Promises Promises, I Love My Wife), Elizabeth Gillies (13) and directed by Tony Award winners Paul Kreppel and Murphy Cross, shot an episode of the new CBS prime-time drama 'Unforgettable' starring Poppy Montgomery (Without a Trace) and Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck, Kate & Allie) scheduled to air November 15 at 10:00 PM. Ms. Gibbons-Brown's TV credits include Law & Order, and As the World Turns, among others.

Part of the Finborough Theatre's Celebrating British Music Theatre series Blue Shale Theatre in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre by arrangement with Samuel French Limited presents PERCHANCE TO DREAM 'A Musical Romance' Devised, Written and Composed by Ivor Novello. Directed by Max Pappenheim. Musical Direction by Ross Leadbeater. Designed by Gregor Donnelly. Sound by Edward Lewis. Cast: Taube Brahms. Michael Burgen. Clare Louise Connolly. Laura Hanna. Amanda Hootman. Annabel Leventon. James Marchant. Rachael McCormick. Martin Milnes. Kelly Price. Claire Redcliffe. Robert Rees. James Russell. Gemma Sandzer. Katy Treharne. Details of the cast for PERCHANCE TO DREAM are below. Please also note the correct date for the press night of LULLABIES OF BROADMOOR which also plays during September. The press night is Venus At Broadmoor and The Demon Box - FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT 3.00PM The Murder Club and Wilderness - FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT 7.30PM and not Friday 1st September as previously stated. The Finborough Theatre's acclaimed 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series continues with Ivor Novello's most romantic musical, Perchance to Dream, opening at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of eight Sunday and Monday performances on Sunday, 4 September 2011 (Press Night: Monday, 5 September 2011 at 7.30pm). This rediscovery is the first professional London production in more than 25 years, and also commemorates the 60th anniversary of the death of composer Ivor Novello. Spanning the Regency, Victorian and post-war eras, and featuring a score filled with some of Novello's most ravishing songs including Love is My Reason, When I Curtsied to the King, A Woman's Heart and the classic We'll Gather Lilacs, Perchance to Dream is a classic Novello musical - an escapist 'musical romance' whose original 1945 run in the West End played for 1,022 performances. In 1818, Sir Graham Rodney, an impoverished womaniser, is the owner of Huntersmoon, a magnificent old country house, but seeks relief from his life of leisure by masquerading as the dread highwayman "Frenchy". Just at the moment when he finally finds love, the law runs him to ground with tragic results. A generation later, his estate has passed to the wrong side of the family and tragedy strikes a second time. More than a century must go by before the ghosts of Huntersmoon can finally be laid to rest... Welsh-born composer, author and actor Ivor Novello (1893-1951) was one of the most eminent British entertainers of the 20th century. As a composer, he trained in Cardiff, Gloucester (alongside eminent British composers - Ivor Gurney and Herbert Howells) and at Magdalen College School, Oxford. His musicals include Glamorous Night, Careless Rapture, Crest of the Wave, The Dancing Years, Gay's the Word and King's Rhapsody; his more than 250 songs include Keep the Home Fires Burning, I Can Give You the Starlight, Waltz of My Heart, And Her Mother Came Too, The Land of Might-Have-Been, Why Isn't It You and Primrose. His plays include Symphony in Two Flats, I Lived With You and The Truth Game. As an actor, he was one of Britain's first major film stars, appearing in over twenty films including The Call of the Blood and playing the title role in the original silent version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger; while his long stage career included many of his own plays and musicals. Novello's musical legacy is commemorated in the Ivor Novello Awards, established in 1955 to honour excellence in British music writing. This production commemorates the 60th anniversary of his death. Director Max Pappenheim recently assisted on Beating Heart Cadaver and The Goodnight Bird at the Finborough Theatre. Directing includes The Charmed Life (King's Head Theatre), An Evening With Opera (Southwark Cathedral), Arcadia and Sweeney Todd (Rugby School), and, as Musical Director for Open Door Opera, The Enchanted Child (Edinburgh Festival and St John's, Smith Square). The cast includes Taube Brahms Kindertransport, The Way Of The World, Redemption Over Hammersmith Broadway, A Woman Of No Importance (LAMDA); Michael Burgen All Male Iolanthe (Union Theatre and Wilton's Music Hall), Alice in Wonderland (Erasmus International Theatre), Zaide (Sadler's Wells), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (New Vic Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Union Theatre); Clare Louise Connolly Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Next Door's Baby (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Six Characters In Search Of An Author (Headlong), The Crimson Petal And The White; Laura Hanna A Short History of the Royal Court (Royal Court Theatre), Into the Woods, Hedda Gabler, Romeo and Juliet (LAMDA); Amanda Hootman Epsom Downs, Her Naked Skin (Guildford School of Acting); Annabel Leventon The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night (Royal Shakespeare Company), Pillars Of The Community (National Theatre), Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell (Old Vic and Apollo Theatre), New Tricks; James Marchant The Same...But Different (Pleasance Islington), The Straits (Paines Plough), Waking The Dead (BBC); Rachael McCormick Oliver! (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Martin Milnes Utopia Limited (Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Festival, Buxton), The Yeoman Of The Guard (Tower of London), Promises And Lies (Birmingham Rep), The Andrew Marr Show (BBC); Kelly Price Zack (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), The Misanthrope (Ambassadors Theatre), A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory and Garrick Theatre), Chicago (Cambridge Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Donmar Warehouse and Piccadilly Theatre), Desperately Seeking Susan (Novello Theatre), Waterloo Road, Doctors; Claire Redcliffe When We Are Married (Garrick Theatre), Great Expectations, Tom's Midnight Garden (Library Theatre, Manchester), Question Time (Arcola Theatre), EastEnders (BBC); Robert Rees Peter Pan (New Wimbledon Theatre), All the Fun of the Fair (Garrick Theatre), State Fair (Finborough Theatre and Trafalgar Studios), Shakespeare Sonnet Walk (Shakespeare's Globe); James Russell Namaskar, Quality Street, Miss Lily Gets Boned (Finborough Theatre), Lewis (ITV); Gemma Sandzer Les Miserables (Palace Theatre), HMS Pinafore (King's Head Theatre), Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone; Katy Treharne The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre). The Celebrating British Music Theatre series at the Finborough Theatre In 2006, the Finborough Theatre began the Celebrating British Music Theatre series with a sell-out production of Leslie Stuart's Florodora. Productions since then have included sell-our rediscoveries of Lionel Monckton's Our Miss Gibbs, Harold Fraser-Simson's operetta The Maid of the Mountains, A 'Gilbert and Sullivan' Double Bill featuring Gilbert's play Sweethearts and Sullivan's opera The Zoo, Dame Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate, Sandy Wilson's The Buccaneer, Oscar Asche's Chu Chin Chow, and Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd.