Youth Music Theater UK Announces 'A WINTER'S TALE' For 2009

Youth Music Theatre UK have announced a major new production of Howard Goodall's A Winter's Tale as the flagship production in their 2009 programme.

Goodall, who has written the music and lyrics for the show, has joined forces with Nick Stimson, who also directs. The production will be staged in Guildford, with a planned transfer to London and Edinburgh in 2010.

The show, inspired by - and loosely based on - Shakespeare's classic play, re-sets the story of jealousy, loss, love and reconciliation first to a Northern climate with the ambience of a 1950s-style Soviet state, moving in the second half to the relaxed warmth of a Mediterranean island in the 1960s.

This is a new interpretation of this classic story where the comic and the tragic walk hand in hand towards the most magical and unexpected of conclusions. The production will be staged at a major 'number one touring' venue to be announced shortly.

Howard Goodall composes choral music, stage musicals, film and TV scores: he is an award-winning broadcaster and an energetic campaigner for music education. He is England's first ever National Ambassador for Singing, as well as Classic FM's Composer-in-Residence for 2008-9. His musical The Hired Man won the Ivor Novello and TMA Awards for Best Musical in 1985 and in 2006, and has had 3 revivals Off-Broadway. He is also well-known for his TV theme compositions, which include The Vicar of Dibley, QI, Blackadder and The Catherine Tate Show. His Eternal Light: A Requiem has just been released on CD by EMI and is currently touring the UK with Rambert Dance Company.

Nick Stimson is Associate Director at the Theatre Royal Plymouth and has written numerous stage musicals including NHS The Musical, and Frankenstein and Peter Pan for YMT.

Youth Music Theatre UK (YMT) is the country's biggest provider of music theatre projects for young people, and in 2009 will stage six new shows nationwide. Young people can register to audition for the company at www.youthmusictheatreUK.org

Successful performers will be cast in to one of the six shows, including A Winter's Tale. The company is also seeking instrumentalists to join the bands for each of the shows.

Young people aged 11-21 can register now to audition for the shows in January and February by visiting www.youthmusictheatreUK.org. Successful auditionees and instrumentalists join the company of one of the six shows above.

Youth Music Theatre UK is a national charity whose principal aim is the personal and creative development of young people through the medium of new musical theatre. The company provides a wide range of residential workshops across the country as well as a variety of outreach projects, working with hundreds of young people from all corners of the country. The company celebrates its fifth anniversary in December 2008.

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