Casting Announced For Chamber Musical Sessions Concert

A line-up of West End talent will perform THE CHAMBER MUSICAL SESSIONS CONCERT on Monday 4th October at 7:30pm at the Garrick Theatre in the West End. Performing new musical numbers from the selected fifteen writing teams from across the UK from their chamber musicals, this concert is a celebration of the Aria-ALP Chamber Musical Project, giving audiences an exclusive chance to hear extracts from all of the longlisted shows and get to know this new generation of musical theatre artists.

Joined by a house band, the stellar line-up of West End performers will include Luke Bayer (RENT), Euan Bennett (The Play That Goes Wrong), Christina Bloom (Emilia), Haydn Cox (Dear Evan Hansen), Sophie Golby, Ashley Goh (Shift+Alt+Right), Emma Harding, Benedict Hastings (Wolf Hall), Sophie Holdsworth, Holly-Ann Hull (Les Miserables), Jade Johnson (The Book of Mormon), Emma Kingston (In The Heights), Emelie Odukwe, Charlotte Payne, (Potted Panto), Maiya Quansah-Breed (RENT), Sharon Rose (Hamilton), Evie Rose Lane (Footloose), Robin Simoes Da Silva (Bedknobs and Broomsticks), Joe Thompson-Oubari (Squad Goals) and Guy Woolf.

They will be singing world premiere songs by the following writers and their work: Christina Bloom (Detached), Cordelia O'Driscoll (Bitter/Sweet), Emelie Odukwe and Lily Vincent-Frankland (At The Centre), Freya Catrin Smith and Jack Williams (Echoes), Guy Woof and Isla Van Tricht (How To Save The World), Tommy Antonio and Robert Casey (Harder Baby), Hilmi Jaidin (Clickbait), Jen Green and Caroline Wigmore (Elizabeth Holmes: How to bleed dry in Silicon Valley), Michelle Payne and Craig Webb (Enthusiastically, Yes!), Leo Munby and Annabel Mutale Reed (Eartha, Eddie and The Upside-Down Tree), Natalie Pound, Sam Young and Sam Hoppen (Thanks I'm Cured), Jonathan O'Neill and Isaac Savage (Letting Go), P Burton-Morgan and Robin Simoes Da Silva (Treehouse), Sarah-Louise Young, Richard Link and Paul Chronnell (Escape Room) and finally Eden Tredwell (Open Mic 1803).

These original new works were selected from over 200 applications as part of the Aria/ALP Chamber Project. This is a rare change to see the hits of the future, today in an evening of unexpected, exhilarating and extraordinary new musical theatre.

As previously announced, the two commissioned shows which have been selected as the winners by the Aria-ALP Chamber Musical Project for further development, mentorship and financial support are:

EARTHA, EDDIE, AND THE UPSIDE-DOWN TREE

by Leo Munby & Annabel Mutale Reed
A contemporary fairy tale about wishing for love in a world of missed connections.

ECHOES

by Freya Smith & Jack Williams

A new musical about a queer relationship told from two perspectives, in two parts. Agnes and Bea meet unexpectedly and become entangled in a web of lies and deception, while falling in love. Two complex, flawed and relatable young women explore themselves and each other in this new piece which examines themes including sexuality, class and the unreliability of memory.

The commissioning fund was set up as a response to the lack of established British chamber musicals within mainstream publishing and licensing houses and would like to help support UK-based writers in creating content which in the long term could fill these gaps.

Both companies are hugely committed to new musical theatre, evidenced by Aria's FROM PAGE TO STAGE festival and full-time literary department, and Lenson's regular SIGNAL concerts. There were over 200 entries for this opportunity with each writing team submitting a pitch and a sample of previous work.

Tickets are £10-25 and available now www.nimaxtheatres.com

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