Photo Flash: In the Rehearsal Room for Tabard Theatre's THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL

Rehearsal images have been released from the Tabard Theatre's Christmas production of The Little Match Girl, based on the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The musical that launched the Christmas single Mistletoe and Wine, will be directed by the original show's composer, Keith Strachan.

Emily Cochrane leads the company in the role of The Little Match Girl and she will be joined by Jack Ayres Aimee Barrett (Josie), Charlotte Christensen (Liza), Julia Faulkner (Mrs Roberts/Winifred/ Washerwoman), Rob Hadden (Jeb), Kathryn Hamilton-Hall (Elsie/Cook/Maud), Matt Philip Harris, Ian McCurrach (Butler), Emily Whiting (Charlotte) and Anthony Williamson (Rich Man). The production opens on 8 December, with previews from 7 December and runs until 31 December.

Following the first performance forty years ago at the Orange Tree Theatre, it was adapted for television by HTV in 1986 starring Roger Daltrey and Twiggy. The musical includes the songs Are you An Angel, Queen of the Street and most famously Mistletoe and Wine which won the musical an Ivor Novello Award and went onto become a No.1 hit Christmas single for Cliff Richard in 1988.

Cold Victorian London and our Little Match Girl is out on the streets selling matches. She is not allowed home with her father until she has sold them. She meets Arthur, a cocky friendly lad who helps her sell her matches and who she begins to rely on as her friend. Through him she dreams of a better life. Will he prove to be her saviour? As she strikes matches to keep warm she is magically transported to a make believe world where her wishes come to life. Could this lead to a future with Arthur that our heroine dreams of?

Jeremy Paul (1939 - 2011) was a screenwriter and his credits include Upstairs, Downstairs, The Duchess of Duke Street, Lovejoy and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and he also assisted the adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. His playwrighting credits include a stage adaptation of The Secret of Sherlock Holmes (Duchess Theatre), The Lady or The Tiger and Scraps (Orange Tree Theatre).

Leslie Stewart co-wrote the 1988 Christmas Number one, Mistletoe and Wine performed by Cliff Richard. His screenwriting credits includeMonarch of the Glen, Holby City, Love Bytes, Down to Earth, Casualty, As If, Peak Practice, and the 1987 film, Two of Us, for the BBC's Scene series. In 1976, Stewart co-wrote his first musical, Shoot Up at Elbow Creek. Having worked extensively in music, writing for, among others, the jazz-rock outfit Swegas, Consortium and Cliff Richard, and Producing Artists including Jeff Baker, Stewart continues to work as a lyricist, currently with the American blues musician, Johnny Mars. His screenplays include The Great Wall of China, The Runner, Cloudberry 9, The Milennium Job and Moomins on the Riviera.

Keith Strachan has worked extensively in theatre and television as director, musical director, arranger and composer. His theatre credits, as director, include Dog Ends (Tabard Theatre), Dreamboats and Petticoats, Dancing In The Streets, Elvis The Musical, Four Steps to Heaven (West End and national tour), Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens (West End), Dreamboats and Miniskirts, Save The last Dance For Me, Laughter In The Rain, Can't Smile Without You, Sweet Soul Music, Tommy, Rock & Roll Heaven, The Concert They Never Gave, The Blues Brothers Meet The Soul Sisters, Thank You For The Music, Dancing In The Streets, Only The Lonely, The Sound Of Fury (all UK tours) and No Trams To Lime Street (Liverpool Playhouse). Strachan also devised the John Lennonmusical Imagine with Ian Kellgren in 1992, and co-wrote the musical Baby Love with Richard Harris in 1995. In the late 1980s he worked in television, as a musical director and arranger on shows such as Live From Her Majesty's, New Faces, Spitting Image and The Morecambe and Wise Show.

The Tabard is an intimate, 80 seat theatre close to Turnham Green tube station in Chiswick, London. It opened in 1985 above the Tabard Pub, a popular and historic local landmark. Over the years the Tabard Theatre has played a key role in the development of London Theatre, highly acclaimed for its professional work and extremely popular within the community of West London. It has recently undergone a full refurbishment with new seats and an expanded Front of House area.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.tabardtheatre.co.uk.

Photo credit: London W4 Photographer

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