Courtney Stapleton, Lauren Byrne & More Take Part in Fleetwood Mac Tribute To Raise Money For Diabetes UK

A group of performers from the world of theatre, folk and opera are joining together to create a special online gig for the charity Diabetes UK. Little Rumours will see the singers perform one track each of the classic Fleetwood Mac album Rumours, so that by the end of the event, they've recreated their own version of the entire album.

The performances will be going up onto YouTube on Monday 27th July, 7:30pm.

The theatre performers are Lawrence Smith (Avenue Q), Courtney Stapleton (Dear Evan Hansen), Nathanael Campbell (Come From Away), Lauren Byrne (Six), Lizzie Bea (Hairspray), Eloise Davies (Be More Chill), Alison Arnopp (Eugenius), Cecily Redman (Avenue Q), Elissa Churchill (An Inspector Calls), Jasmine Beel (Avenue Q) and Paskie Vernon (Angels in America).

Other performers include Jamie Lambert (Britain's Got Talent winners Collabro), Hannah Rarity (BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2018), award-winning countertenor Patrick Terry (Royal Opera House), Vanbur (composer duo of BAFTA winner Jessica Jones and Tim Morrish) and Alexander Teller (recording artist).

All proceeds from the event, which has been organised by Lawrence Smith, will go directly to Diabetes UK. "As a Type One diabetic performer who loves Fleetwood Mac and has supremely talented friends, I can't wait to share this project. We're all going through a truly bizarre time with major upheaval in almost every corner of our lives. The medical community is stretched to its limit whilst the cultural sector has been left to fend for itself. To get the chance to do what we love and hopefully raise a bit of money for a charity that's close to my heart is a rare glimpse of joy in this dark time. Plus, every song on Rumours is a total banger, so how can it possibly go wrong?"

When it comes to tickets, Smith wants to operate it on a "donate-what-you-can" basis. He says, "the economic upheaval of this crisis has been devastating, especially for those of us in the arts, so I'd hate for folks to feel like there's a barrier to entry. For those who have the means to do so, any contribution would be greatly appreciated.

Details about how to access the Little Rumours gig will be shared over the coming weeks on Lawrence's Twitter profile, @LomSmith and on the Just Giving page set up for the event, https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/littlerumoursdiabetesuk

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