Fiona Scott - Page 12

Award-winning comedy performer Vikki Stone and West End leading lady Natasha J Barnes teamed up during lockdown. They crafted a revue of the funniest comedy songs in musical theatre for female performers. The show, Funny Gals, will make its debut at the BarnFest, the Barn Theatre's premiere outdoor festival in Cirencester. We spoke to them about the show, wild swimming and returning to performing for live audiences.

Kwame Kwei-Armah is the Artistic Director of the Young Vic, which is marking its 50th anniversary this  year. As part of the celebrations, Kwei-Armah is the subject of an episode of the latest BBC imagine... series. We spoke to him about lockdown and going back over his childhood as part of the project.

While I've enjoyed live-tweeting and reviewing some of the online theatre we've been granted in recent months, it would be nice to get back into a theatre one day. This could be as early as next month from what the UK Government is currently advising. Below are a few of the things I had been looking forward to seeing this year a?" and maybe I'll get to see them in 2021!

During Covid-19 lockdown, theatre fans like myself are incredibly thankful to the many theatres making filmed performances available online. We asked our twitter followers if they had noticed any changes in how they consume theatre amid the pandemic.

Joe Stilgoe is a well-known pianist, singer and songwriter. Over the past few years, he's turned his hand to composing musicals such as The Jungle Book and The Midnight Gang. The Midnight Gang, based on David Walliams' novel of the same name is currently available online as part of the Chichester Festival Theatre at Home series. We spoke to Joe about his career and how he is spending lockdown.

Following on from last weekend's streaming of the 25th-anniversary performance of The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies has been released worldwide via YouTube as part of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Shows Must Go On lockdown series. Lloyd Webber has described the show as a a?oestand-alone piecea?? over simply a sequel to Phantom. It takes audiences on a second adventure with the characters on the other side of the Atlantic.

The overworked and underfunded NHS is on our minds more than ever before. As part of its free digital streaming series in partnership with The Guardian, Hampstead Theatre has made available Nina Raine's stirring medical drama Tiger Country on its website. It is available to stream until Sunday 26 April.

Andrew Lloyd Webber continues to indulge theatre lovers in lockdown with his generous weekly stream of one his works on the dedicated The Shows Must Go On YouTube channel to raise money for charity. This week's offering is the 25th-anniversary performance of The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall and live-streamed in cinemas in 2011. 

They say laughter is the best medicine. We may not be able to see live theatre at the moment, but that isn't stopping people from getting creative from the isolation of their own homes. Here are some of our favourite pandemic parodies that have made us giggle, based on beloved songs from stage and screen!

What happens after the honeymoon? Do opposites really attract? Neil Simon's hit play, Barefoot in the Park, has been revived and is currently running at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, in collaboration with the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.

During a week when comedian Joe Lycett legally changed his name by deed poll to Hugo Boss, ever dedicated to his craft, it felt fitting to see a revival of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. The comedy about identity and the elite has been revived at Perth Theatre.

Last year, Rob Houchen was seen on both sides of the Atlantic in The Light in the Piazza, and returned to the role of Marius in Les Miserables: The Staged Concert at the Gielgud Theatre. He's also part of the team behind the successful West End Does concert series. Rob spoke to BroadwayWorld about his career and his most recent role in the anticipated West End transfer of the Olivier Award-winning production City of Angels, now in previews at the Garrick Theatre.

Julian Bird is the Chief Executive of the Society of London Theatre. 2020 marks 10 years since he joined SOLT and took over the running of the Olivier Awards. Bird spoke to BroadwayWorld about his career and this year's award ceremony, which takes place on 5 April.

John Barrowman is a busy man at the moment. He's currently a judge on ITV's Dancing on Ice and recently popped up in BBC's Doctor Who, reprising his role as Captain Jack Harkness. He's also part of the entertainment line-up of Stages: The Musical Theatre Festival at Sea aboard the Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas, embarking from Southampton for Bruges on 27 September. John spoke to BroadwayWorld about his career and what he's looking forward to about this specialist cruise.

Michael Ball and Alfie Boe recently shared the Gielgud Theatre stage as Javert and Jean Valjean respectively in Les Miserables: The Staged Concert. They now return to the stage, in their third UK tour as a double act and launched their 10-date tour in Glasgow this evening.

Kerry Ellis is known as the first lady of the West End, thanks to her leading roles in shows like Wicked, My Fair Lady and We Will Rock You, plus a busy concert schedule. She spoke to BroadwayWorld about her career and one of her latest projects, the Queen Machine Symphonic UK tour - a tribute to the music of Queen with a bumper-sized orchestra and band in tow.

Bryony Corrigan is part of Mischief Theatre and has been seen both on stage in The Play That Goes Wrong and Groan Ups, and also recently on our TV screens in The Goes Wrong Show on BBC1. She spoke to BroadwayWorld about her career and her current role in Magic Goes Wrong at the Vaudeville Theatre.

Oscar Toeman is the director of The Sugar Syndrome at the Orange Tree Theatre. He is the runner-up of the JMK Award 2019 and previously directed productions at Trafalgar Studios and the Finborough Theatre. Oscar spoke to BroadwayWorld about his career and the production.

Sometimes we just want to get away. We all have our reasons for wanting a bit of peace and quiet in the middle of nowhere but being cut off from the rest of the world isn't necessarily a solution to life's problems. Ali Milles' new thriller The Croft follows two stories across multiple timelines that take place in a croft conversion in the west highlands of Scotland.

Matt Henry MBE won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Lola in Kinky Boots a?' which also won the Olivier for Best Musical in the same year. The show ran for over 1,400 performances at the Adelphi Theatre, and a special recording will soon be shown in UK and Irish cinemas on 4 and 9 February. Matt recently spoke to BroadwayWorld about returning to the show.