Variety Stage Line Up Announced For Gaiety Musical Theatre Festival

Gaiety Musical Theatre Festival, the UK's first ever outdoor festival dedicated to all things stagey, has announced the stellar Variety Stage line up. The stage will see a wide range of musical performances, including West End stars, all-new musicals and choirs. Gaiety Festival will feature three stages, the Main Stage with West End superstar headliners, the Community Bandstand, which is supported by NODA and will showcase local midlands talent, and the Variety Stage.

Musical mainstays Shona White (Mamma Mia!, West End and international tour; Wicked, West End; Chess, UK tour) and Jenna Lee-James (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, West End; Cats, European tour; Boogie Nights, UK tour) will headline the Variety Stage on 30th April at Ragley Hall. White is best known for her roles in Mamma Mia! - as the first actress to play both Donna and Sophie Sheridan - and has starred in fan favourite musicals including The Rocky Horror Show (West End) and Merrily We Roll Along (West End). Lee-James is the only person in the world to have played all three lead roles in We Will Rock You, and has recently finished an international tour of The Man, The Music, The Show with Hugh Jackman.

For festivalgoers who want a fix of all-new, upcoming musicals, the Variety Stage is the place to go, with new musicals Luna the Musical and Somewhere performing showcases during the day. SpinningRock Productions presents Luna the Musical. Set in present day North Dakota, Luna follows the journey of a pregnant teen as she, and the characters in her life, challenge and explore their identities in uncertain times. From The Play Theatre Productions is Sarah Bishop's new musical Somewhere. Featuring original music and lyric from The Dunwells, Somewhere is an enchanting, fairytale-esque show telling the story of the shattered 'Somewhere' mirror and a cursed kingdom.

Joining them will be Show Choir and Stagecoach Solihull, performing audience-favourite showtunes, as well as all-things-musicals Box Office Radio and ChiChi Fit, the theatrical fitness experience.

As well as the three stages there will be a funfair, silent disco, theatre merch village, backstage hub, stagey activities and food and drink stalls, making Gaiety Festival the place to be this spring for all things musicals. The headliners of Gaiety Festival's Main Stage will be: Marisha Wallace (Oklahoma!; Waitress; Guys and Dolls); Kerry Ellis (Anything Goes; We Will Rock You; Wicked); Collabro, in one of their last-ever performances; Lee Mead (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Wicked; Legally Blonde: The Musical); Cassidy Janson (& Juliet; Beautiful: The Carol King Musical; Avenue Q); Lauren Samuels (Bend It Like Beckham; Grease; We Will Rock You) and Sophie Evans (Wicked; The Wizard of Oz; Lord of the Dance). The amazing line up will perform their favourite musical theatre songs on the Main Stage, accompanied by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra (Royal Albert Hall; London Palladium; Dominion Theatre).

Mike Wilson, producer of Gaiety Festival comments, The countdown is well and truly on to the UK's first showtunes music festival and we are delighted to announce more exciting news about the incredible day of musical theatre entertainment that festivalgoers can look forward to. Gaiety Festival is shaping up to be the stagiest of events and we can't wait to share it with the fans!

Gaiety Festival will bring the best of musical theatre to the stunning grounds of Ragley Hall in Warwickshire, a magnificent stately home near Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. Alongside standard, family, and VIP tickets, there will be return travel packages from Birmingham, London, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Worcestershire and Coventry from Gaiety Festival's Official Coach Partner, Big Green Coach, so musical fans from around the country can easily get their stagey fix.

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