NYMT's PRODIGY Cast Recording Hits No. 6 on iTunes Soundtrack Charts

Auburn Jam Records and National Youth Music Theatre have just released the Original Cast Recording of Prodigy, the new musical from Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary, commissioned and developed by NYMT for its premiere production at The St James Theatre in August 2015.

The recording was released today 25th July, with CDs available to purchase at prodigy.auburnjam.co.uk, and digital copies available to download via all major online retailers, including iTunes, where the album is currently at No. 6 and climbing on the soundtrack charts.

The story follows the backstage drama of teenage hormones and parental pressure, when five finalists gather to compete to be Britain's best new classical music star. With a live televised final looming, emotions run high and we witness everything from bitter vendettas to unexpected romance, to find out which of the competitors will rise to the top and be crowned the winner.

Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary, the writing team behind the acclaimed Leicester Curve production of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, have been lauded by The Stage as "One of musical theatre's most dynamic writing partnerships". They are particularly delighted to be releasing their first Original Cast Recording with Prodigy which was written and developed closely with the cast of 27 young people between the ages of 11-23, from all over the UK, with more than half the cast in actor-musician roles:

"The original cast of Prodigy are an exceptional bunch of actors and musicians, and we can't wait to see where their careers take them next - they are quite simply the stars of the future. We are so thrilled to have captured this special time in their lives - and in ours too - on this cast recording. It is to them, and our impeccable creative team, we owe all our love and thanks." - Jake Brunger & Pippa Cleary

The original production at the St James Theatre came together under the direction of Kate Golledge, with musical direction from Candida Caldicot and choreography by Darragh O'Leary, and received high praise from reviewers:

The team are delighted to have joined forces with music producer Joe Davison at Auburn Jam Music, Associate Producer Richard Jones and independent label Auburn Jam Records to bring the show to life again for this Original Cast Recording.

Jake Brunger (book and lyrics) and Pippa Cleary (music and lyrics) are a London based musical Theatre Partnership. They met at Bristol University, where they were studying Drama and Music respectively. Their musicals include: Jet Set Go! (Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Theatre 503 and Jermyn Street Theatre, licensed by Josef Weinberger Ltd), The Great British Soap Opera (Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Jermyn Street Theatre), Red Riding Hood (Singapore Repertory Theatre, licensed by Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals), the stage musical adaptation of Sue Townsend's The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ (Leicester Curve, nominated for the 2015 UK Theatre Award for Best Show for Children and Young People), Prodigy (National Youth Music Theatre / St James Theatre) and Treasure Island (Singapore Repertory Theatre, nominated for Best Production for the Young at The 2016 Singapore Life Theatre Awards). The UK premiere of Red Riding Hood ran at the Pleasance Theatre for the 2015/16 Christmas season, produced by Paul Taylor Mills, toured the Middle East in Spring 2016 and will open at Pleasance Courtyard for Edinburgh Fringe 2016. It has also been produced in Mexico City in its Spanish-language debut and will premiere in South Korea in Autumn 2016, with plans afoot for a Chinese translation in Singapore in 2017. Their additional credits include music and lyrics for The Snow Gorilla (Rose Theatre, Kingston), a song for the musical revue A Song Cycle for Soho (Soho Theatre) and the opening number for 2014's West End Bares (Café de Paris). Their work is regularly performed in cabarets and concerts in and around London and the West End. They were chosen for the 2013 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project in Chicago and in Pippa won the 2013 Arts Foundation Fellowship for Musical Theatre Composition.

Auburn Jam Music is a production & recording studio based in South West London. For independent projects, they provide full service album production, working with clients right from planning stages, through arranging, MDing, recording, mixing and mastering, to CD design & print, web design and video production - all done in-house by husband and wife team Joe & Nikki Davison, both multi-instrumentalists who also have a talented roster of session musicians on hand to bring their arrangements to life. They set up independent label Auburn Jam Records in 2012 to help promote some of the brilliant music from new musical theatre writers, West End artists and singer-songwriters whose music they have produced. Album credits include: The West End Goes MAD for Christmas, Nadim Naaman Sides and We All Want The Same, Will Barratt Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Corrine Priest Heart of Winter - a new song cycle by Tim Connor, Alex James Ellison Duvet Days, Joe Sterling Half A Year and S.M.I.L.E, Gloria Onitiri Dignity - Alzheimer's Society charity single by Anderson & Petty (all Auburn Jam Records); Van Winkle - A Folk Musical, The Bakewell Bake Off, Joe Sterling Somewhere In My Mind, My Land's Shore (SimG Records); Louise Dearman, Kerry Ellis & Ben Forster The Route To Happiness - a new musical by Alexander S. Bermange; Felix Hagan & The Family Kiss The Misfits and String Up The Entertainer (Debt Records); Best of Times Cable Street Collective. Music produced by AJM has been featured on BBCR2 (including Elaine Paige on Sunday), BBC6 Music, BBCR4, BBC World Service and BBC Introducing, and they have produced several sell-out album launch gigs and Auburn Jam Live events at London cabaret venues including The Hippodrome and The Pheasantry. They have also written & produced music for BBC TV, BMW, England Rugby, Roughcut TV, Portobello Film Festival, Boosey & Hawkes, Merlin Entertainment and Bill Kenwright Ltd.

Founded in 1976, the National Youth Music Theatre offers exceptional opportunities in pre-professional, musical theatre training for talented young people aged 10 to 23 years through skills workshops, master classes and residential courses led by industry professionals, through commissioning and presentation of exciting new work and, in collaboration with some of the UK's leading creative minds, producing bold, new realisations of major works of the core repertoire. These opportunities exist for stage performers, musicians, technicians and stage crew and, through our Creative Team Mentorship programme, for aspiring directors, musical directors, choreographers and designers.The National Youth Music Theatre represents the very best in work with young people through musical theatre enabling thousands of youngsters across the UK to develop both their creative and personal potential, leading Andrew Lloyd Webber to dub it "the finest youth music theatre in the world." For more, visit www.nymt.org.uk.

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