UK Pop Star Gareth Gates Makes West End Debut

Gareth Gates, who won the hearts of the nation in the final of the first ever Pop Idol and again earlier this year in ITV 1's Dancing on Ice, will take to the stage at Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End for one night only next month on Sunday 6 July 2008 in A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe, a charity gala celebrating 25 years of the writing partnership between George Stiles & Anthony Drewe, who scored the brand new Mary Poppins.

He will join a cast of West End names including Olivier Award winners Joanna Riding, Clive Rowe and LeAnne Jones, who recently won the award for Best Actress for her role in the West End production of Hairspray, TV favourites Helena Blackman and Daniel Boys, cast members from the musical Wicked and not one but three of the leading ladies that have played Mary Poppins in the Disney and Cameron Mackintosh stage show.

Gareth will headline an exclusive preview of material from Soho Cinders, the new musical by Stiles & Drewe, whose writing credits include the Olivier Award winning Honk at The National Theatre, Peter Pan at the Royal Festival Hall and Just So at the Chichester Festival Theatre.  A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe will mark his first foray into theatre about which he's extremely excited. Commenting on his new adventure, Gareth says:

"I've always been into the theatre and going to musicals, and often imagined myself being part of an amazing West End production, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get involved with A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe. As well as admiring George Stiles and Anthony Drewe for everything they've achieved in the industry, I can't wait to get a taste of what life in the theatre's all about."

Head chorister at Bradford Cathedral by the age of eleven, singing for the Queen at thirteen, Gareth Gates scorched a path to the final of the first ever Pop Idol. His debut number one single and album followed along with a string of top five singles, three further number ones, sold out arena tours and a staggering 3.5 million record sales in his relatively short career.  Gareth recently appeared on ITV's Dancing On Ice with professional skating partner Maria Filippov. He continued his newfound love of ice-skating on the Dancing On Ice tour, performing in arenas around the UK. A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe is the next in a line of new experiences.

A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe is produced by Neil Eckersley and Paul Spicer for Speckulation Entertainment with creative direction by Paul Spicer, associate direction by Chris Hocking, musical supervision by George Stiles, musical direction by David Randall, choreography by Lewis Butler, associate choreography by Rebecca Giacopazzi and sound design by Mark Dunne. It is staged in support of Mercury Musical Developments.

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