We're delighted to announce our line-up of 2009 productions - six extraordinary new shows put together by some of the nation's finest artistic teams.
We've now opened audition bookings for the productions, which include new shows by James Bourne (from the bands Busted and Son of Dork, and songwriter for McFly) and by Howard Goodall (you’ll know his music from Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley, QI and Mr Bean).
We’ll be auditioning in 18 cities from Inverness to Plymouth, from Derry to Dublin. Visit the audition pages for all the details. We’re still working on the finer details, but here’s what we’ve lined up so far for the 2009 season:
Loserville – The Musical
By James Bourne and Elliot Davis
Drawing on the songs from Son of Dork’s hit album Welcome to Loserville, this new show has a brilliant and colourful cast of characters – it’s a show all about the geek coming through. If you ever felt a bit different, this show is for you!
James has had eighteen consecutive Top 3 singles as a songwriter and member of the bands Busted and Son of Dork. He has written extensively for other performers, including McFly and Boyzone. His albums have sold over six million copies.
A Winter’s Tale
Music & Lyrics by Howard Goodall; book by Nick Stimson. Directed by Nick Stimson.
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 an old-style Soviet state, moving in the second half to the relaxed warmth of a Mediterranean-style country. 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.
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. Nick Stimson is Associate Director at the Theatre Royal Plymouth and has written numerous stage musicals including Frankenstein and Peter Pan for YMT.
The Chosen Room
Writer Marie Jones; composer Mark Dougherty; director Syd Ralph
For those people who followed the big question of 2008 – who is Vicki Green? – the full answer comes in 2009 as the team develop Act 2 of this extraordinary story. Set in a futuristic social networking fantasy world, the mysterious Vicki selects the ten most eccentric companions for her Chosen Room. But who is the tall dark handsome stranger walking through her virtual door?
Marie Jones is best known for her huge West End hit Stones in His Pockets and for her recent successes A Night in November and Women on the Verge of HRT. Mark Dougherty was the musical director on the international hit dance musical Riverdance and is currently on an American tour of the massive touring success Celtic Thunder with two hit singles simultaneously in the American charts.
Peter Pan
Adapted by Nick Stimson. Composer Jimmy Jewell.
YMT launched this new musical version in 2008, and we’re now planning a major development of the project. This version returns the story of Peter Pan to its powerful and magical roots and re-invents it for the 21st century - not a pantomime or bedtime story but an unforgettable adventure that takes us from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Nick Stimson is a regular Director with YMT and has written and directed extensively for the Plymouth Theatre Royal, The Northcott Exeter and for numerous youth theatres around the country. Jimmy Jewell has worked in fifteen countries as a composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor; he has appeared at the Radio City Music Hall, the Albert Hall and the Sydney Superdrome amongst many other venues.
Kumari
Written and directed by Richard Batty
Against a background of Maoist revolutionaries assaulting the capital, drama unfolds high in the foothills of the Himalayas, where priests identify a young girl as the next Kumari goddess and bring her to the palace in Kathmandu to live a secluded and cosseted life behind closed doors. A young English girl on holiday meets the goddess at a door in the palace walls and the two plan a daring escape. Featuring dramatic Indian music and a huge cast of armed revolutionaries, guards, peasants and courtiers, this marks the start of a new musical designed to bring the heart of Asia to YMT’s programme.
Richard Batty is a regular director on YMT’s Studios programme.
Brian Haw
Written and directed by Eddie Latter
For over seven years, Brian Haw has remained a permanent thorn in the side of the British Government, camped out in Parliament Square opposite the House of Commons, protesting against war and foreign policy (initially, the sanctions against Iraq). Despite government efforts to remove him by changing the laws on demonstrations, Brian has kept his 24-hour vigil and is still there to this day. But there is much more to the man than his public demonstration…
This project has been developed from work created at a YMT Studio in 2005. Eddie Latter is a regular director on The Studio programme, and directs extensively for the highly successful Oldham Theatre Workshop.
Productions and artistic staff are subject to change.
To read about our 2008 Productions, click here.
|
