Holiday Musical NOËL to Kick Off North American Tour Today

NOËL, the stunning new Holiday musical from top-selling children's author Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) and preeminent Irish film composer Liam Bates is coming to North America! Having met with huge critical acclaim overseas, the show's producers are now planning its first North American national tour, which will open at the Ames Center in Minneapolis, MN on November 17th. NOËL is set to play 30 cities across the US and Canada, just in time for the Holiday season.

NOËL, set in modern day London, tells a heartwarming tale of a little girl (Noël), who is preparing for her starring role in a school Christmas play when her mother suddenly disappears. To avoid being taken into care, Noël keeps her mother's disappearance a secret and embarks alone on a quest to find her. Along the way, she befriends a diverse group of homeless characters, who have themselves lost their way in life; Duchess, a lady with a mysterious past; Edgar, a disabled veteran and Nick, a curmudgeon who has lost his faith in humanity. As the story progresses, we discover that Nick is indeed Santa Claus, and has become disenchanted with a world that he believes has forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. Noël's bright innocence and unwavering belief in finding her mother, inspires Nick to find joy again as he falls in love with Duchess and with life itself. Nick, Duchess and Edgar learn to embrace life once more, finding love and hope in themselves and in the world.

The team behind NOËL the Musical has quite the theatrical pedigree. NOËL is the creation of Eoin Colfer (book) and Liam Bates (music). Eoin is a New York Times bestselling author who has achieved international acclaim for his hugely successful series of children's books Artemis Fowl, which have sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Recently adapted into a movie by Disney starring Dame Judy Dench and directed by Kenneth Brannagh. Artemis Fowl the movie will be released in August 2019. In addition to his Artemis Fowl success Eoin also teamed with Marvel to create the Iron Man novel, The Gauntlet, released in 2016.

Liam Bates is an Irish composer, orchestrator and conductor who has won both a Promax Gold Award and the John McCabe Prize. He is renowned for his elegant brush strokes of orchestral color and is an innovative and highly sought-after composer. As a student at the Royal Academy of London he received master classes from none other than composer Leonard Bernstein. He has composed music and songs for movies such as Don Juan De Marco, Leap Year, Last Passenger and Earthbound.

Sam Scalamoni, a highly accomplished and award-winning director, is at the helm for NOEL's inaugural North American tour. Mr. Scalamoni, the current director for the hugely successful and critically acclaimed Elf the Musical National Tours, also recently directed Disney's Beauty and the Beast for the Ogunquit Playhouse and served as Associate Director for its most recent National and International Tours. He is the recipient of several awards including a SALT Award for Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical of the Year (Les Miserables), and a Broadway World Award for Best Director of a Play (Agatha Christie's An Unexpected Guest).

The set for NOËL reflects the theme of the story, where "found things" (an old park bench on its side, broken bicycle, etc.) that have been cast aside by others are used and cherished by the homeless. They eventually become noticed for their value, illuminating them and turning them into something magical and hopeful. The talented Christine Peters (ELF, Miss Saigon) is responsible for the Set Design and the production is joined by Sound Designer Walter Trabach (SpongeBob Squarepants), Lighting Designer Brian Nason and Costume Designer Wendi Zea.

The cast album for NOËL was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin and Dubway Studios in New York featuring Broadway and West End stars Jessica Vosk (Wicked, Fiddler on the Roof, Bridges of Madison County), James Byng (The Woman in Black) Stephen Carlile, currently playing Scar in Lion King on Broadway.

Executive producers VenuWorks Theatricals, led by VenuWorks founder and President Steve Peters and international singer and producer Michael Londra, first produced NOËL at Ireland's National Opera House in Wexford in 2016 to huge acclaim. They have partnered with VStar Entertainment (Paw Patrol, Nickelodeon Live) for the first ever North American tour and plan to bring NOËL to cities across the US and Canada in the coming years.

For more information on NOËL please see www.noelthemusical.com