The Stephen Sondheim Society/MMD

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The Stephen Sondheim Society/MMDwww.oldvic.ac.uk WORLD CLASS TRAINING – MADE IN BRISTOL

Courses:Acting, Technical, Production and Management

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

We are delighted that we have been granted a scholarship from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation which will pay the full course fees for three years for one student on the BA (Hons) in Professional Acting Course.

– Professional Acting (FdA) (BA Hons)

– Professional Stage Management (FdA) (BA Hons)

– Costume (FdA)+ BA(Hons) top-up– Theatre Design (MA)

– Scenic Art (PG Dip)

– Drama Directing (MA)

Apply here: www.oldvic.ac.uk

A5 course ad.indd 1 06/05/2015 14:49

LONDON & METROPOLITAN IS PLEASED TO SUPPORT

THIS EVENING’S AWARDS CEREMONY

London & Metropolitan International Developments Ltd42 Berkeley Square London W1J 5AW

Tel: +44 (0) 207 495 7400

Host: Michael Xavier

Guest performers: Elaine Paige, Corrine Priest

Director: Chris Hocking

Musical Director: Stephen Ridley

Producers: Martin Jackson, Victoria Saxton (Mercury Musical Developments) Craig Glenday, Lynne Chapman (The Stephen Sondheim Society)

Judges – Student Performer of the Year: Edward Seckerson (Chair), Elaine Paige, Laura Pitt-Pulford, Jamie Lloyd, Julia McKenzie, John Wilson

Judges – Best New Song: George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Pippa Cleary, Jake Brunger

Prize-giving: Julia McKenzie, George Stiles & Anthony Drewe

Production Manager: Jane Semark

The Student Performer first prize of £1,000 is kindly donated by the estate of Michael Darling.

The second prize of £500 is kindly donated jointly by • An individual Society member in friendly memory of Rodney West, in recognition of his indispensable period of service to Bristol Old Vic between 1967 and 1989, and

• The Newsome Family

The Best New Song prize is kindly donated by George Stiles, Anthony Drewe and R&H Theatricals Europe The £50 prize for the singer of the Best New Song is kindly donated by The Newsome Family

Donors: Richard Harris, Andrew Hynard, Malcolm Judelson, Brian McCarthy/C Le Masurier Ltd, Colin Tett & David Tye/Bolney Estates Ltd

The Stephen Sondheim Society would like to thank: Nina Douglas; production photographer David Ovenden (www.descripta.com); Chris Hocking and all at ArtsEd; Edward Seckerson; Julia McKenzie; the estate of Michael

Darling; The Newsome Family; anonymous donor. Mercury Musical Developments would like to thank: Nimax Theatres, especially Susanne Allen; Jamie Hendry Productions; Arts Council England especially James

Hadley; R&H Theatricals Europe; Neil Marcus; all the writers who entered this year; our judges, and special thanks to George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, all the performers and creative teams.

In memory of Michael Darling: Michael was a regular attender of The Stephen Sondheim Society monthly get-togethers at the Round Table pub near Leicester Square. He had two over-riding interests in life: musical theatre and cricket. Playing for Teddington Cricket Club, he amassed tens of thousands of runs, playing to a

considerable age before becoming their umpire. He built up an amazing collection of CDs and audio tapes of hundred of musicals, and the Society was delighted when his cousin Sally Rowney – who we are pleased is here

today – gave us his collection. This was sold to dozens of members and raised £1,028. The Trustees thought it appropriate that the £1000 prize for the winner of the 2015 award should honour Michael Darling’s name.

A message from Stephen Sondheim: “What’s significant about this competition is that it allows students to demonstrate their skills

in story-telling through song. Moreover, it allows the public to hear new writing voices as well as new singing ones. Good luck to the singers, and remember to honour the songwriters.

Good luck to the songwriters, and remember to honour the singers.”

The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year 2015

The Stiles & Drewe Best New Song Prize 2015


Music and lyrics

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The

Forum (1962)

Anyone Can Whistle (1964)

Evening Primrose (1966)

Company (1970)

Follies (1971)

A Little Night Music (1973)

The Frogs (1974)

Pacific Overtures (1976)

Sweeney Todd (1979)

Merrily We Roll Along (1981)

Sunday In The Park With George (1984)

Into The Woods (1987)

Assassins (1991)

Passion (1994) and Bounce (2003) which

later became Road Show (2008)

Lyrics

West Side Story (1957)

Gypsy (1959)

Do I Hear A Waltz? (1965)

Candide (1973, additional lyrics)

Stephen SondheimStephen Sondheim was born in New York in 1930, and is widely acknowledged as the most innovative, most influential and most important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history.

For more than 50 years, he has set an unsurpassed standard of brilliance and artistic integrity in the musical theatre. His accolades include an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer) including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, multiple Drama Desk awards and a Pulitzer Prize.

He has written the music and lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), The Frogs (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday In The Park With George (1984), Into The Woods (1987), Assassins (1991), Passion (1994) and Bounce (2003) which later became Road Show (2008), as well as lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Do I Hear A Waltz? (1965), and additional lyrics for Candide (1973).

Side By Side By Sondheim (1976), Marry Me A Little (1981), You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983), Putting It Together (1993/99), Moving On (2001) and Sondheim on Sondheim (2010) are anthologies of his work as composer and lyricist. For films, he composed the scores of Stavisky (1974) and co-composed Reds (1981), as well as songs for The Seven Percent Solution (1976) and Dick Tracy (1990). He also wrote the songs for the television production Evening Primrose (1966), co-authored the film The Last of Sheila (1973) and the play Getting Away With Murder (1996). He provided incidental music for the plays The Girls Of Summer (1956), Invitation To A March (1961), Twigs (1971), The Enclave (1973) and a new production of King Lear (2007) and songs for the plays I Know My Love (1951) and A Mighty Man Is He (1955). He wrote the Passionella segment of The World of Jules Feiffer (1963), and additional material for Hot Spot (1963), The Mad Show (1966) and The Madwoman Of Central Park West (1979). He created cryptic crosswords for New York Magazine in the late 1960s, and was screenwriter for the television series Topper (c.1953). As an actor, he featured in the television revision of June Moon (1974) and has appeared as himself in the film Camp (2003).

He studied at George School, Pennsylvania (1942 to 1946) and at Williams College, Massachusetts (1946 to 1950), where he was a music major. On college graduation he received the Hutchinson Prize for Composition, and subsequently studied music theory and composition with the avant-garde composer Milton Babbitt. Mr Sondheim’s early work for school and college theatre includes By George (1945) and Phinney’s Rainbow (1948). Between 1948 and 1951, he wrote All That Glitters, High Tor, Mary Poppins and Climb High as part of a course of study under his mentor Oscar Hammerstein II. Saturday Night (1954), his first professional musical, finally had its New York premiere in 1999 following its UK premiere in 1997.

Mr. Sondheim has received the Tony Award for Best Score/ Music / Lyrics for Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods and Passion, all of which won the New York Drama Circle award for Outstanding /Best Musical, as did Pacific Overtures and Sunday In The Park With George. In total, his works have accumulated more than sixty individual and collaborative Tony Awards. “Sooner Or Later” from the film Dick Tracy won the 1999 Academy Award for Best Song. Mr Sondheim received The Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1984 for Sunday In The Park With George. In 1983, he was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters, which awarded him the Gold Medal for Music in 2006. In 1990, he was appointed the first Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University and was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award in the 1993 Kennedy Center Honors. In 1992, he declined the National Medal of Arts from the Bush Administration but accepted it from the Clinton administration in 1996. In 2000, he was

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honoured with The Praemium Imperiale, Japan’s highest honour for a lifetime of artistic achievement, in 2001 was granted the Fellows of the Phi Beta Kappa Society Award and in 2002 received the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Richard Rodgers Award. In February 2007, he was a recipient of the 49th Grammy Awards Trustees Award, an award recognising outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing category.

He has been patron to The Stephen Sondheim Society since its foundation in 1993. Mr Sondheim is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild – the national association of playwrights, composers and lyricists – having served as its President from 1973 to 1981, in which year he founded Young Playwrights Inc. to develop and promote the work of American playwrights aged 18 years and younger.

In June 2008, Mr Sondheim received the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre; also the New York transfer of The Menier Chocolate Factory’s London production of Sunday in the Park with George received nine Tony nominations.

Mr Sondheim’s most recent show, Road Show (aka Gold, Wise Guys and Bounce), opened off-Broadway in October 2008, and in London in 2011. It had a US revival in June 2013 in Chicago.

March 22nd 2010 was Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday and there were numerous celebrations around the world to mark the event. Among those was the new show Sondheim On Sondheim, which opened on Broadway in March of that year.

In July 2010, Mr Sondheim received the accolade of having a London Prom Concert dedicated to his work and in a ceremony on September 15th New York’s Henry Miller’s Theatre was renamed The Stephen Sondheim Theatre. Also for the first time, his work was produced in Paris with the Théâtre du Châtelet production of A Little Night Music. This was followed in 2011 with Sweeney Todd, in 2013 with Sunday in the Park With George, and in 2014 with Into The Woods.

In October 2010, the first of two volumes of his collected and annotated lyrics, Finishing the Hat, was published; that same month The Royal Academy of Music conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate of the University of London.

To mark his 80th birthday, Arlington’s Signature Theatre instituted the Sondheim Award which in its first year was presented to Angela Lansbury. Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone won in 2011 and 21012 respectively; the 2013 winner was Harold Prince; orchestrator Jonathan Tunick won the 2014 award; and librettist James Lapine in 2015.

In 2011, among other things, he received the Olivier Special Award, the Chicago Tribune Literary Prize, and the Handel Medallion, (New York City’s highest award for achievement in the arts); The Kennedy Center inaugurated the Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards, Road Show opened in London, and volume two of his collected and annotated lyrics, Look I Made a Hat, was published.

The UK Critics Circle 24th Annual Award for Services to the Arts was given to Mr Sondheim in March 2012 and later that year an acclaimed London production of Merrily We Roll Along opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory. This production then transferred to play at the West End’s Harold Pinter Theatre in April 2013. At the 2013 Olivier Awards, the Chichester production of Sweeney Todd won Best Musical Revival, and the transfer of Merrily We Roll Along won two Olivier Awards in 2014 for Best Musical Revival and Best Sound Design.

Other recent revivals of his work include Gypsy at Chichester, directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Imelda Staunton, which is currently enjoying a West End transfer at the Savoy Theatre; Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory, directed by Jamie Lloyd; and two important productions of Sweeney Todd, one from the ENO at the Coliseum starring Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson, and the other at Harrington’s Pie & Mash Shop by the Tooting Arts Club, a site-specific production that is currently in transfer at a pop-up pie shop on Shaftesbury Avenue.

In July 2013, The Stephen Sondheim Society launched The Stephen Sondheim Society Archive. Housed at Kingston University, this will be of great use and interest to Sondheim academics and scholars around the world.

In 2014, Mr Sondheim was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in October 2015 he will be presented with Chicago’s Carl Sandburg Literary Award, one of the USA’s most prestigious literary prizes.

This biography has been researched and written specially by the Stephen Sondheim Society with the co-operation and approval of Stephen Sondheim © Stephen Sondheim Society 2015


George Stiles & Anthony DreweThe dynamic musical theatre song-writing partnership that is George Stiles (music) and Anthony Drewe (book & lyrics) have been working together since they met at Exeter University over thirty years ago. During their collaboration they have written the musicals Betty Blue Eyes, Soho Cinders, Honk!, Just So, Peter Pan – A Musical Adventure, Tutankhamun and the new songs, dance and vocal arrangements for the world-wide smash-hit Cameron Mackintosh/Disney production of Mary Poppins. Current projects in development include Wind in the Willows with Julian Fellowes for the West End, a new adaptation of Graham Greene’s Travels With My Aunt, Soapdish for Broadway, and a new project with director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell. Since winning the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2000, their show Honk! has been seen by more than 6 million people all over the world in over 8,000 productions in more than 20 languages.

Stiles and Drewe have also completed a trilogy of musicals for younger audiences, The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Independently, George composed the musicals Moll Flanders, The Three Musketeers, and Tom Jones, and the music for Sam Mendes’ productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya.

Anthony has written lyrics for the musicals The Card and A Twist of Fate.

Stiles and Drewe have also written two revues, Navel Fluff and Other Trivial Pursuits and Stiles and Drewe – Warts and All , and have contributed songs to a variety of theatre, TV and radio shows including the RSC’s Shakespeare Revue, The Challenge and Dame Edna Everage’s Look At Me When I’m Talking To You. Stiles and Drewe’s many awards include: The 2000 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical (Honk!), three of the top prizes at the 1996 Musical of the Year Awards for Peter Pan and The Three Musketeers, the 1995 TMA Best Musical Award (Moll Flanders), The Straits Times Award for Best Musical (A Twist of Fate), the first ever Vivian Ellis Prize (Just So). Mary Poppins has won 44 major theatre awards around the globe including Tony, Olivier, Helpmann and London Evening Standard Awards.

George & Anthony are founding board-members of Mercury Musical Developments, a charitable organisation that nurtures new musical writing in the UK, and which also awards the annual Stiles and Drewe Prize for a new song written for the musical stage.

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Patrons: David Babani, Don Black, Judi Dench, Maria Friedman, Cameron Mackintosh, Julia McKenzie, Paul Nicholas, Harold Prince, Tim Rice, Jeremy Sams, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Stilgoe

Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) is a membership organisation dedicated to developing the craft of new musical theatre writing. We nurture and support bookwriters, composers and lyricists through a range of showcasing and development initiatives. Our initiatives not only support writers in developing and continuing their craft but help further their careers. We actively seek out commissions, build professional networks and are ambassadors on behalf of all our members. At MMD our aim is to support and represent writers who are shaping the future of British musical theatre.

MMD began life in 1992 when a group of students studied with Stephen Sondheim at Oxford University. In partnership with Musical Theatre Network, we make up part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio and are one of only three organisations supporting the development of new musical theatre to be funded in this way.

We rely on charitable support and sponsorship to run our broad range of programmes. If you are in a position to help support our next stage of development, please contact Victoria Saxton at [email protected]

www.MercuryMusicals.com/ twitter.com/MercuryMusicalsfacebook.com/MercuryMusicalDevelopments

Mercury Musical DevelopmentsNurturing new musical theatre writing

Registered in England & Wales, Company No. 3039699, Charity No. 1045606

The Competition

Ensemble: “Prologos: Invocation and Instructions to the Audience” from The Frogs

Emily Onsloe: “Not A Day Goes By” from Merrily We Roll AlongEwan Black: “Being Alive” from CompanyLydia White: “Loving You” from Passion

Emily Onsloe: “Ambition” by Mary Stewart David & Clive ChangEwan Black: “Haus Potsdam” by Alex Young & Kate Marlais

Lydia White: “One Man” by Nick Butcher & Michael Matus

Luke Farrugia: “Free” from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the ForumCharlotte Vaughan: “The Miller’s Son” from A Little Night Music

Leah West: “I Read” from Passion

Luke Farrugia: “A Bigger Smile” by Tim GilvinCharlotte Vaughan: “You’re Better Off Loving Yourself” by Danny Davies

Leah West: “Love Me” by Laura Kaye Thomson

Michael Xavier plus special guest: “Agony” from Into The Woods

Interval – 15 minutes

Elaine Paige: “I’m Still Here” from Follies, with new lyrics by Anthony Drewe

Corey Jones: “Could I Leave You?” from FolliesErin Doherty: “Broadway Baby” from Follies

Nick Shirm: “Finishing The Hat” from Sunday in the Park with George

Corey Jones: “Far From Heaven” by Kate Ingber & Emily Rose SimonsErin Doherty: “The Angel At The Top of the Tree” by Darren Clarke

Nick Shirm: “Princess In My Room” by Marc Folan & Adey Grummet

Amy Bridges: “More” from Dick TracyGrant McConvey: “No More” from Into The Woods

Natalie Thorn: “See What It Gets You” from Anyone Can Whistle

Amy Bridges: “Look At Me” by Eamonn O’DwyerGrant McConvey: “Don’t Look Down” by Richy Hughes & Joseph Finlay

Natalie Thorn: “Don’t Forget Me” by Spencer & Shenelle Williams

Judges retire for deliberation

For your entertainment: Michael Xavier and Corrine Priest

Presentation of prizes

Unless otherwise stated, words and music by Stephen Sondheim

The Stephen Sondheim Society/MMDRegistered in England & Wales, Company No. 3039699, Charity No. 1045606

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The Student Performer Finalists (in order of appearance)

Emily Onsloe is in her final year at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama studying with professor Susan McCulloch. Recently, Emily was the soloist at the opening concert for the Brentwood Arts Festival in Elgar’s Spirit of England conducted by Andrew Wright. She played Countess in an abridged version of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro directed by Sally Burgess, Woman 1 in Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World at the Silk Street Theatre, Barbican, and was in the opera chorus for Dvorak’s The Cunning Peasant directed by Stephen Medcalf. Other highlights include singing with her quartet for Louis Vuitton stores throughout London and performing as a guest soloist at The Savoy Theatre for the Jack Petchey foundation, directed by Michael Fentiman. Emily would like to thank SSSSPOTY and GSMD for such a wonderful opportunity.

Ewan Black is from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and is nearing the end of his three years’ training at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. His Credits include Theatre: The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, Salerio in The Merchant of Venice, Patrick in Treats (Tobacco Factory, Brewery), Orsino in Twelfth Night, Judas in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, both Dromio of Syracuse and Dromio of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors (TIE Tour and Edinburgh Fringe Transfer, with Assembly), Rèdillon in Sauce for the Goose (West Country Tour) and Coll in Starry Night (Schools Tour). Radio: Nicholas in Blood at the Bridal Shop, Guard in Jefferson 37 and Tony in The Incident. Television/Film: Sam in The Shooting Party and voice over/narrative for BBC ONE’S Countryfile. He is thrilled to be taking part in this fantastic competition among such talented performers.

Lydia White is currently studying for her A Levels at Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge. Every Sunday she trains at West End Masterclass (WEM), where she pursues her passion for performing and prepares for a successful career in Musical Theatre. Credits include: WEM representative at Kerrigan & Lowdermilk Masterclass 2014; WEM Ensemble WEST END LIVE 2014; Solo Voice; Ariadne, Britten Sinfonia, Cultural Olympiad; Acoustic set of own compositions, Cambridge Strawberry Fair. College: Mrs Pankhurst/Ensemble in Oh What A Lovely War; A in Crave (Excerpt); Prioress in Love & Other Fairytales. Lydia loves the work of Stephen Sondheim. She would like to thank The Stephen Sondheim Society for this amazing opportunity and her tutors at WEM for their inspirational training and support.

Luke Farrugia is a final year student on the BA (Hons) Acting Musical Theatre course at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. He hails from the sunny island of Malta. Roles while in training include: Mr Medley in The Man Of Mode; Pepe in West Side Story; Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Simon in Hay Fever; Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd. Luke is thrilled to be taking part in the SSSSPOTY final 2015.

Charlotte Vaughan grew up in Porthcawl, South Wales, and is currently studying Musical Theatre at The Royal Academy of Music. Previous to RAM, Charlotte completed a four-year undergraduate degree as a classical soprano at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Credits while training include Sarah Jane Moore in Assassins, Alice in Closer and at GSMD, Mrs Herring in Albert Herring (abridged). Earlier this month, Charlotte performed as a guest soloist at The Royal Albert Hall in The Welsh Association Of Male Voice Choirs Albert Hall Festival.

Leah West is currently in her 3rd year at the Arts Educational Schools London, where she performed the role of Morticia Addams in Andrew Lippa’s The Addams Family. Leah was a soloist for BBC radio 2 Friday Night Is Music Night, where she had the privilege of singing the Disney classic “Let It Go” with the BBC concert orchestra. Leah is thrilled to be representing her college in the SSSSPOTY competition, and is excited to be performing and supporting new writing.

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Corey Jones is studying his final year of a musical theatre degree from the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, and hopes to study a masters degree after graduating. Previous roles include Guido in Nine, Darryl Van Horne in The Witches of Eastwick and Paul in A Chorus Line. He is a huge Sondheim fan and is honoured to be through to the finals of the competition! He wishes all the other finalists the best of luck and hopes you enjoy the show!

Erin Doherty is currently in her final year of three at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She has just completed a run of The Heresy of Love by Helen Edmundson, directed by Jenny Stephens at the Bristol Old Vic, playing Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz. Other recent roles include: Madame de Pontagnac in Sauce for the Goose (West Country Tour), Adriana in The Comedy of Errors (Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2014), Viola in Twelfth Night and Sonya in Uncle Vanya. Erin is from Crawley; before coming to Bristol, she trained for a year at Guildford School of Acting.

Nick Shirm grew up in Barnet, North London, and is currently in his final year at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Nick started his performing career at a young age in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium) and with pre-production work on Billy Elliot. Nick then featured as Zacharias Smith in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film and video games. In 2008, Nick became a member of the National Youth Musical Theatre, with whom he performed for three years before beginning his training at the Guildhall School. Most recently Nick performed in Songs for a New World as Man 1 and is now happy to be joining the Gareth Malone Voices tour this summer. He feels privileged to be part of The Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition.

Amy Bridges is originally from Bridgend in South Wales, and is currently in her final year at The MTA. Roles at college have included Salathiel Trenannigan in Ting Tang Mine directed by Tilly Vosburgh, Lauren in Just the Ticket directed by Simon Greiff, and she was in the ensemble for Just So directed by Christian Durham. Most recently she was a featured soloist in Something Old, Something New directed by Cressida Carre. She has also appeared in Cool Rider Live in the West End, and was a featured dancer in the music video “La Cerisaie”. Amy wishes good luck to all participants in both the Student and New Writing parts of the competition.

Grant McConvey was born in Stirling in Stirlingshire, Central Scotland, and is currently in his Third Year at the Guildford School of Acting on the BA (Hons) Musical Theatre Course. Roles while training include Gomez Addams in The Addams Family (Third Year), Bernardo in West Side Story, The Caretaker in The Other School, Polixenes and Florizel in The Winter’s Tale (Second Year) and Sir John Tremayne in Me and My Girl (First Year).

Natalie Thorn is originally from Southampton and is currently in her second year at Performance Preparation Academy (PPA) in Guildford, on the Musical Theatre Diploma. Credits while training include Lizzie Curry in 110 in the Shade and the world première of The Legend of Notre Dame (music and lyrics by Edward Court) at the London Theatre Workshop in Fulham last October. A big lover of Sondheim ‘s work, Natalie is delighted to be representing PPA as a SSSSPOTY finalist and to be performing at the Garrick Theatre. She would like to thank the Sondheim Society for the incredible opportunity, and her family, friends and tutors for all their support.


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New songs, and writers’ biographies

“Ambition” by Mary Stewart-David & Clive Chang

Clive Chang is an arts/entertainment executive and professional musician (composer, pianist, and music director) based in New York City.

His original music includes: scores for the musicals Twenty Minutes To Kill A Princess (NYU Strasberg), Eighty-1 (Midtown International Theater Festival/June Havoc Theater NYC), The Staten Island Fairy (Secret Theater NYC) and On The Line (NYU MFA Thesis); incidental music for the plays Die Happy (Manhattan Repertory Theater NYC) and Honalee (Sears

Drama Festival Toronto); original music for the dance piece Portrait of a Collapsing Queen (Green Space NYC); and the score for the short film A Mother’s Last Will (Montreal). Clive’s most recent chamber music commission, Variations on Land of the Silver Birch for Violin and Piano, premiered at Merkin Concert Hall in NYC.

In addition to his musical pursuits, Clive serves as Director of Strategy and Business Development for Disney Theatrical Group, and has also previously led the strategic planning function at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Clive holds a B.Mus in Composition and Piano and a B.Com in General Management from McGill University (Valedictorian, 2007), an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Mary Stewart-David, known universally by her initials, MSD, is a script and screenwriter/lyricist based in London and New York. She grew up in theatre and has been a performer, producer, director and writer in the West End and around the globe. Writing credits include the UK productions of Stepping Out, with Richard Harris and composer Denis King, and also with music by Denis King, Baby on Board directed by Alan Ayckbourn.

US credits include the Los Angeles production of Twice Upon A Time with Ray Cooney and composer Chris Walker, and with music by Clive Chang, the Midtown Manhattan Festival production of Eighty-1, a musical sequel to Around the World in Eighty Days. MSD also

writes for film and digital media and has recently completed a screen adaptation of The Honourable Rebel by Elizabeth Montagu, the sister of the current Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

“Haus Potsdam” by Alex Young & Kate Marlais

Kate Marlais trained on the Royal Academy Of Music’s Musical Theatre course, after studying Music as a composition major at King’s College London. Kate is currently playing Annie Gilbert in War Horse (New London Theatre). Other performing credits include the Young Vic, Finborough Theatre, Watford Palace Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Riverside Studios, Salisbury Playhouse, Liverpool Playhouse, Tricycle Theatre, Theatr Clwyd Cymru and Northampton Royal & Derngate.

Alex Young also studied Music at King’s, before going on to train on the Royal Academy Of Music’s Musical Theatre course. Alex is currently playing Erma in Sheffield Crucible’s Anything Goes, which is touring the UK.

Other credits include I Can’t Sing (London Palladium), High Society (No.1 Tour). Alex performs regularly on the London concert and cabaret circuit, with venues including Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the O2, Wilton’s Music Hall, Crazy Coqs and The Pheasantry. She was the winner of The Stephen Sondheim Student Performer of the Year in 2010, and is thrilled to return to the competition as a composer.

Kate and Alex met studying for a Music degree at King’s College London. After university, they both went on to train as performers at the Royal Academy Of Music, and are still acting and singing now.


“One Man” by Nick Butcher & Michael Matus

Nick Butcher trained at Laine Theatre Arts. While training, he was noticed by Kerri Ellis and awarded the Prelim Award for composing and performing his own music. Nick is currently playing Mr Stratton and understudying the title role in Barnum (UK Tour). As an actor, theatre credits include: My Fair Lady and Oliver! (Sheffield Crucible, dir. Daniel Evans), Mr Stratton/Lyman in Barnum (Cameron Mackintosh/Chichester Festival Theatre, dir. Timothy Sheader), standby Jigger in Opera North’s Carousel (Lowry & Barbican Theatre, dir.

Jo Davies), Hubert in Hair (Ahoy Arena), Bellboy in Lend Me a Tenor (Gielgud Theatre, London, dir. Ian Talbot), Goody in Fame! (Irish tour and RTE Television), Littlechap in Stop the World I Want to Get Off (Studio T heatre), Nipper in Oliver! (UK Tour) and Young Boy in Giselle (Theatre Royal Plymouth). Concerts include: 42nd Street Gala, Danny La Rue Tribute (London Palladium), Hair (Piccadilly Theatre). Cast Recordings: Lend Me a Tenor, Original London Cast.

Michael Matus trained at RADA and studied History at Bristol University. Recent work includes Women on the Verge at the Playhouse, The Return of the Soldier at Jermyn Street, The A to Z of Mrs P at The Southwark Playhouse, The Sound of Music (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Yes Prime Minister (UK tour), Taboo with Boy George, Wonderful Town with Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé, The Snow Queen (Kingston Rose), Lend Me A Tenor (West End), ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (West Yorkshire Playhouse), A Christmas Carol (West End) and Oklahoma! (Chichester.)

He has worked at the RSC in seven shows including The Canterbury Tales as Chaucer and Eastward Ho! as Sir Petronel Flash, both of which transferred to the West End. Other theatre includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe, Timon of Athens at the Globe, Rough Crossings at the Lyric Hammersmth, directed by Rupert Goold, Comedy of Errors directed by Jonathan Munby, and created the rôle of Benoît in Martin Guerre, and Izzy in Imagine This, both in the West End. Recent TV includes Endeavour, the new Inspector Morse series for ITV, The Dom Joly Show and A Prince Among Men and Eastenders for the BBC, and Then for Channel 4. Film includes The Crying Game and A Muppet Christmas Carol.

“A Bigger Smile” by Tim Gilvin

Tim Gilvin grew up in Swindon, learning the craft of songwriting through being in bands, gigging, and recording albums. While at the University of Birmingham reading Music, he started writing his first musical, In the Rush Hour, which was performed by the student musicals society GMTG in 2011.

Since graduating, Tim has written four more musicals: Gap Year: A Musical Comedy (Leicester Square Theatre, Sept 2012); Kate and the Devil (workshopped at King’s Head,

July 2014); the as yet unfinished 1001 Nights, and Stay Awake, Jake – winner of the S&S Award 2014, which was workshopped at the Leicester Curve in February this year, and is awaiting an industry showcase. Outside of composition and lyrics, Tim works as a pianist and MD, and also sings and writes with the folk-pop trio Fallingham Fair.

“You’re Better Off Loving Yourself” by Danny Davies

Danny Davies composed his first musical, Loco Parentis, aged 19. After graduating from Keele University in1997, he started work on the new musical Face To Face (formerly Merrick) that debuted at the Pleasance Theatre, London, in 2001. Danny’s recent CD Hey Producer! offers a collection of songs from past productions, more recent projects and tracks written specifically for the album, receiving endorsement from Dame Judi Dench, who said, “I think Danny has produced something new and exciting. Have a listen and I’m sure you will agree.” Other theatrical projects under development include Friends Reunited

(working title), Chasing The Dream, featured in the live semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent, and Sweet written alongside librettist Alex Scott Fairley, from which “You’re Better Off Loving Yourself” is taken.

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“Love Me” by Laura Kay Thomson Laura Kay Thomson trained as a performer at Mountview Academy but is happily taking a seat in the audience today. “Love Me” is from the musical Poppies, a folk musical set in the First World War which will be premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe later this year. It is still being written and will be developed by Music Box Theatre company, of which Laura is the Artistic Director. She is also co-producer of NEXT UK – a concert series which showcases and promotes new musical theatre writing. Rather wonderfully, a number of today’s Stiles and Drewe finalists have featured in NEXT concerts.

She’d like to thank Leah for all her work on “Love Me” and to her wonderful family and friends for their unwavering support of her endeavours. She’d also like to thank Stephen Sondheim for all his support – the Company, Follies and Sundays in the Park have been greatly appreciated, Steve. “To my fellow writers and performers, it’s an honour to be sharing the stage with you. It seems the future of musical theatre is very bright – here’s to a wonderful show.”

“Far From Heaven” by Kate Ingber & Emily Rose Simons

Kate Ingber is a lyricist and book writer. Her first musical Madoff The Musical was staged at the Arts House in Singapore. Kate met Emily (the composer for Double Jeopardy) through BOOK, Music & Lyrics (a musical theatre workshop in London). Kate has been a participant in BML since 2013 and now attends the weekly advanced workshop. “Far From Heaven” is from Kate’s second musical, Double Jeopardy.

Emily Rose Simons is currently on the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch, NYU, alongside working on the advanced BOOK, Music, Lyrics workshops with Kate Ingber. Emily’s first musical, Confessions of a Rabbi’s Daughter, has enjoyed performances in London, the Edinburgh Fringe and the Times Square Arts Center. Emily is also the composer for Larry Yates’ Golden Bird, which will be having its third workshop in June at Polaris North before being presented at Thespis Theater Festival in New York. She has also recently become a composer for Sydney Schiff Dance Project, based in Brooklyn, and the Aquila Concert Series

in Colorado has selected her song-cycle Grace to be performed this summer.

“The Angel At The Top Of The Tree” by Darren Clarke Darren Clarke As a composer and songwriter, Darren has had his work performed and broadcast throughout the UK. Darren has collaborated with international artists from Moscow and Australia, writing songs and music for The Grumpiest Boy in the World and Once Upon a Snowflake (Maria Litinova) by Paper Balloon Theatre. Other recent commissions include original songs for the sell-out political satire These Trees Are Made of Blood at Southwark Playhouse, and songs for Scamp Theatre’s latest Julia Donaldson adaptation The Scarecrows’ Wedding. Darren’s contemporary folk songs with Columbus

Giant have been broadcast on BBC Introducing. Last year, Darren won the Iris Theatre Panel Award for Best New Song at the Xmas Factor and he was a finalist in the 2013 Stiles & Drewe Award at the Garrick Theatre. He is a member of the BML Songwriting Workshop.

“Princess In My Room” by Marc Folan & Adey Grummet

Marc Folan is very proud to have recently had an Off-Broadway staging of his version of A Little Princess at the Signature Theatre in New York (2014) and has only just returned from L.A. having graduated from the Stephen Schwartz /DreamWorks Workshop. Currently, he is developing his new show, A Knight at the Museum, a show for young people, which he hopes to stage in 2015. With A Little Princess scheduled to be performed in the UK and (hopefully) L.A. in 2016, as well as writing the soundtrack for a full-length British feature film called Eden Lodge, Marc’s fairly busy right now.


He’s written five musicals to date with his most successful being Fame Idle, another show written for young people, with around 120 productions in the UK/US and around the world. His work spans musical theatre/TV/Film and corporate work, where, as a creative he can shoot, edit and score movies for clients who include Metropolitan Police, AQA, BBC Haymarket to name but a few. As a member of MMD and BML, two institutions he is proud to belong to, he is thrilled to be part of this wonderful opportunity today. marcfolan.com / [email protected]

Adey Grummet is actually a singer who works hard to defy classification. She has spent many years working in developmental and experimental pieces, both in classical and musical theatre genres. She also works as an animateur, conductor and historian and is a founder member of BOOK, Music & Lyrics. She has written a wide range of pieces, from an opera to an “instant” kids show and her second history book is due to be published this summer. A lyricist for numerous projects with ENO Baylis, BBC Proms, Bridgewater Hall and Wigmore Hall, three of her songs have also been presented at MMD’s Lionel Bart Memorial Masterclasses. Four of her works were presented at the recent BOOK, Music &

Lyrics showcase and two were shortlisted for the Stiles & Drewe prize last year. She writes regularly with composers Michael Henry and Marc Folan – current projects include And There Was No More Sea (an opera), A Bad Case Of Coloratura (a 10-minute 2-person show), The Angel Agency (a nativity play) and Roman Holiday. www.adeygrummet.co.uk

“Look At Me” by Eamonn O’Dwyer Eamonn O’Dwyer trained at the Royal Academy of Music, and has worked as a composer and musical director in theatres all over the world. He is currently working on two new musicals: an adaptation of Edith Nesbit’s beloved Five Children & It in association with the Dorset Corset Theatre Company; and Fanny & Stella, historian Neil McKenna’s sensational account of life on the Victorian drag scene. After three years development with Perfect Pitch, Eamonn’s award-winning musical The House of Mirrors & Hearts will play at the Arcola Theatre from 2 July–1 August 2015.

Credits: Portia Coughlan, Old Red Lion; The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Hamlet, Our Town and A Christmas Carol, Rose Theatre, Kingston; Merrie England and The Immortal Hour, Finborough; Much Ado About Nothing, Stockholm English Speaking Theatre; Around The World in 80 Days and The Glass Menagerie, Chipping Norton Theatre; Boy in a Dress, Bush Theatre; My Swordhand is Singing, Festival of Stories; The House of Mirrors & Hearts, Edinburgh and Arcola; Frankenstein: The Year Without A Summer, Dorset Corset Theatre Company; Liquorice & Smokerings, Pulse Festival, New Wolsey; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Barakura Festival, Japan; The Massacre, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds. www.eamonnodwyer.com

“Don’t Look Down” by Richy Hughes & Joseph Finlay Richy Hughes has contributed songs to A Song Cycle For Soho and Mercury Musicals 25th Anniversary gala. He is currently developing The Superhero: A One Dad Musical with the support of the BML professional development workshop. He has recently been commissioned to write a Christmas show for The Lowry Theatre in Manchester. His comic parodies of well-known songs have over half a million YouTube hits. www.soundcloud.com/richyhugheslyrics, twitter.com/artsfactory

Joseph Finlay is a composer and musical director. He trained in classical composition at Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Tarik O Regan, Robin Holloway, Paul Patterson and Peter Maxwell Davies. He is currently working on two original musicals: This Is Also England with Raphael Smith and The Superhero with Richy Hughes, developing both in the advanced group of the BOOK, Music & Lyrics workshop. He was recently Musical Director for the new musical Soviet Zion, and his 2010 production of Harold Rome’s Pins and Needles, awarded no.1 fringe show of the year by

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Time Out. Outside musical theatre, he works extensively as an arranger, pianist and as a specialist in Jewish music, as conductor of the London Jewish Male Choir and as Musical Director of Hendon Reform Synagogue. www.josephfinlay.com • twitter.com/joseph_finlay

“Don’t Forget Me” by Shenelle & Spencer Williams

Shenelle Williams (book/music/lyrics) is a composer/arranger, music director and music educator. Her most recent work For Tonight has been seen at the New York Musical Theatre Festival as a developmental reading in July 2014, Goodspeed Musicals’ New Works Festival in January 2015 and will be featured in Michigan State University’s upcoming fall season. By day, Shenelle teaches musical theatre, music theory and choir at Pinewood School where she also recently musically directed the high school première of Duncan Sheik’s Whisper House. She is a graduate of the University of the Arts and a proud member

of ASCAP and NAMT. www.fortonightmusical.com

Spencer Williams (Book/Music/Lyrics) is a composer, educator, director, and producer. Spencer co-wrote and produced a developmental reading of For Tonight at the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival; a hit that sold out and extended. For Tonight was also a recent finalist in the New Horizons Music Festival and was also produced as a staged reading at Goodspeed Musicals. He is currently the Performing Arts Director at Pinewood School in Los Altos Hills, California, where he recently directed and produced An Evening with Stuart Brayson, Shrek The Musical, Snoopy!!! and Les Misérables. Upcoming projects: Hope, Smiling Brightly, a song cycle, and Uncovered, a new musical. Member of ASCAP,

NAMT, Mercury Musicals Development and Musical Theatre Network. Love to Shenelle & Thomas. www.spencertwilliams.com


Host, Performers and Judges

Special guest performance/Judge: Elaine Paige. The award-winning actress, singer, producer and radio presenter has made a unique and major contribution to the development and production of the stage musical. She has starred in more smash hit West End and Broadway musicals than anyone else of her generation – Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Billy, Evita, Cats, Chess, Anything Goes, Piaf, Sunset Boulevard, The King & I, Sweeney Todd, The Drowsy Chaperone and Follies. She has defined them, set standards, and in 1995 was awarded an OBE for services to Musical Theatre by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

A thrilling live performer, Elaine has performed in concert all over the world; she has recorded 21 solo albums, earned eight consecutive gold and four multi-platinum discs and has achieved chart topping hits including “Memory”, “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” and “I Know Him So Well”, which have become her signatures. Elaine also continues to be one of the star presenters on BBC Radio 2 with her own lunchtime show, Elaine Paige On Sunday, which is now in its 11th year and regularly attracts over 2 million listeners each week.

In October 2014, Elaine celebrated 50 years on stage with a concert tour that included London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall, which was filmed for worldwide cinema release in 2015.

Host: Michael Xavier. Michael is one of London’s top leading actors who was most recently seen in Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory directed by Jamie Lloyd. Other recent credits include The Pajama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre) and The Sound of Music (Regent’s Park).

Michael was nominated for two Olivier Awards in 2011 and these were for Best Actor in a Musical for Love Story at The Duchess Theatre and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Into The Woods at The Open Air Theatre.

Michael has also co-hosted the Piazza Stage event at the Olivier Awards in 2013 and 2014, presenting alongside Claudia Winkleman and Myleene Klass, and will be returning to host in 2015 alongside Alison Hammond. Michael is a proud ambassador of the charity Action for M.E. and he is also director of the Musical Theatre Sunday school West End Masterclass.

Prize-giving: Julia McKenzie. Recent work includes Shirley Mollison in the BBC adaptation of JK Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, Betty in Mike Bartlett’s The Town directed by Colin Teague, and Mrs Crisparkle in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, directed by Diamuid Lawrence. In 2008, Julia took on the mantle of the iconic role of Miss Marple, which she has been shooting for the last six years. This follows a much-loved appearance in two series of The Cranford Chronicles alongside Dame Judi Dench for the BBC. Recent features include Marjorie in Notes On A Scandal, directed by Richard Eyre, Lottie Crump in Bright Young Things directed by Stephen Fry and These Foolish

Things, in which she plays Mrs Abermathy alongside Anjelica Huston. Recent theatre credits include Gertie in Angus Jackson’s production of Fuddy Meers at the Arts theatre for Sam Mendes’ company SCAMP Productions, and The Philadelphia Story at the Old Vic co-starring with Kevin Spacey.

Julia is known as one of Britain’s leading interpreters of the work of Stephen Sondheim. Her first association was in 1972 when she joined the production of Company at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The next step brought international recognition in Side By Side By Sondheim, and Julia was one of the original creative team starring in both London and New York. Her third Sondheim was Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre playing Sally, and followed by The Witch in Into The Woods at the Phoenix Theatre. But undoubtedly her most memorable has been as Mrs Lovett in the highly acclaimed production of Sweeney Todd at the Royal National Theatre. Directed by Declan Donnellan, Julia won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for this role. This was the second time she won this award – the first was also with the National Theatre as Miss Adelaide in Richard Eyre’s revival of Frank Loesser’s Guys And Dolls –

Time Out. Outside musical theatre, he works extensively as an arranger, pianist and as a specialist in Jewish music, as conductor of the London Jewish Male Choir and as Musical Director of Hendon Reform Synagogue. www.josephfinlay.com • twitter.com/joseph_finlay

“Don’t Forget Me” by Shenelle & Spencer Williams

Shenelle Williams (book/music/lyrics) is a composer/arranger, music director and music educator. Her most recent work For Tonight has been seen at the New York Musical Theatre Festival as a developmental reading in July 2014, Goodspeed Musicals’ New Works Festival in January 2015 and will be featured in Michigan State University’s upcoming fall season. By day, Shenelle teaches musical theatre, music theory and choir at Pinewood School where she also recently musically directed the high school première of Duncan Sheik’s Whisper House. She is a graduate of the University of the Arts and a proud member

of ASCAP and NAMT. www.fortonightmusical.com

Spencer Williams (Book/Music/Lyrics) is a composer, educator, director, and producer. Spencer co-wrote and produced a developmental reading of For Tonight at the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival; a hit that sold out and extended. For Tonight was also a recent finalist in the New Horizons Music Festival and was also produced as a staged reading at Goodspeed Musicals. He is currently the Performing Arts Director at Pinewood School in Los Altos Hills, California, where he recently directed and produced An Evening with Stuart Brayson, Shrek The Musical, Snoopy!!! and Les Misérables. Upcoming projects: Hope, Smiling Brightly, a song cycle, and Uncovered, a new musical. Member of ASCAP,

NAMT, Mercury Musicals Development and Musical Theatre Network. Love to Shenelle & Thomas. www.spencertwilliams.com

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adding the Variety Club Award and the Society of West End Theatres (SWET) too for her performance. The other dramatist who has featured in her career is Alan Ayckbourn. Julia appeared in earlier plays such as The Norman Conquests and Ten Times Table and most recently in Communicating Doors, but his most demanding role for her was as Susan in Woman In Mind. For this she won the London Evening Standard Award and the London Critics Circle Award.

In television, her interests have been equally divided between comedy and drama; in the former the long-running series Fresh Fields and French Fields with Anton Rodgers (the TV Times Viewers poll named her Favourite Comedy Performer for three years). In drama, productions have been as far ranging as Adam Bede with Iain Glen, The Old Curiosity Shop with Peter Ustinov and Blott On The Landscape with David Suchet and George Cole; and in feature films such as Shirley Valentine with Pauline Collins.

As a director, she made her debut with Richard Harris’ play Stepping Out, which ran for three years in the West End. Then came the UK premier of Steel Magnolias. In 1992, Julia directed the first presentation of a new compilation of Stephen Sondheim’s work titled Putting It Together. She subsequently re-directed it at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York where it starred Julie Andrews. In 1996 she took on her first European production for stage and television – The Musical Of The Year – in Denmark.

Julia returned to the West End stage during 1998/99 to join Sir Peter Hall’s company for a season at the Piccadilly Theatre appearing in Alan Bennett’s play Kafka’s Dick before setting off to Japan to direct Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, where it played in Tokyo; it was well received by critics and went on to play a season in Osaka. In the Autumn of 1999, Julia returned to the NT but this time as a Director. The musical Honk! The Ugly Duckling by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe had first appeared at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1997 also under her direction but now it came to London into the repertoire of the National. The production won the Olivier Award for the best new musical in 2000 and Julia has gone on to direct further productions – one in America and a national tour in the UK. This was followed by working with the BBC concert orchestra both as a performer and director on musicals staged at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Firstly, co-narrating Bernstein’s On The Town, followed by directing the concert version of Peter Pan, and as both director and narrator in Loesser’s Guys And Dolls and Berlin’s Call Me Madam.

During 2001, she worked on a television special made for the Jim Henson company called Jack And The Beanstalk – The Real Story, which has been initially shown in America. Julia plays Jack’s mother. This was followed by a return to the London stage in The Royal Family at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. The play by George Kaufmann and Edna Ferber was directed by Sir Peter Hall and had an all star cast headed by Dame Judi Dench. Julia was then seen in an episode of the ITV series The Last Detective and for BBC TV in a new P. D. James television play, Death In Holy Orders. She also starred as a guest lead in the popular TV series Where The Heart Is and as Margaret in You Can Choose Your Friends – a 90 minute film for Avalon.

Judge (Chair): Edward Seckerson Formerly Chief Classical Music Critic of The Independent, Edward Seckerson is a writer, broadcaster, podcaster, and musical theatre obsessive. He wrote and presented the long-running BBC Radio 3 series Stage & Screen, in which he interviewed many of the biggest names in the business – among them Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury, Liza Minnelli, Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber. During his journalistic career he has written for most major music publications and is still on the panel of Gramophone magazine. He appears

regularly on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and presented the 2007 series of the musical quiz Counterpoint. On television, he has commentated a number of times at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He has published books on Mahler and the conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

Edward conducted one of the last major interviews with Leonard Bernstein, and his audio podcast Sondheim – In Good Company proved a significant contribution to Sondheim’s 80th birthday year. He is currently presenting a series of shows entitled Singular Sensations at the historic Charing Cross Theatre in London, in association with Time Out, in which he shares the stage with stars of musical theatre, and in that vein, Facing the Music – a show he devised for Patricia Routledge chronicling her little known career in musicals – is still doing the rounds of theatres all over the country.


Judge: Laura Pitt-Pulford Laura will soon play Milly in Seven Brides For Seven Brothers at Regent’s Park. She could most recently be seen as Young Phyllis in Follies at Royal Albert Hall. Other theatre credits include: Petra in A Little Night Music (Palace), Maria Rainer in The Sound of Music (Leicester Curve), The Light Princess (National Theatre), Marry Me A Little (St James Theatre), Return of a Soldier (Jermyn Street Theatre), A Little Night Music (Yvonne Arnaud), A Man of No Importance (Salisbury Playhouse), Piaf (Leicester Curve), Hello Dolly! (Leicester Curve), Mack and Mabel (Southwark Playhouse), Sweet Charity (Belfact MAC), The Little Prince (Lyric Theatre), Parade

(Southwark Playhouse), Parade (Southwark Playhouse), Guys & Dolls (UK tour), Copacabana (The Watermill Theatre), Little Fish (Finborough Theatre), Sunset Boulevard (Comedy Theatre), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Follies (Royal & Derngate).

Judges: Jake Brunger & Pippa Cleary Jake (book and lyrics) and Pippa (music and lyrics) met at Bristol University, where they were studying Drama and Music respectively. Their credits together 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) and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ (Leicester Curve). They also wrote the music and lyrics for The Snow Gorilla (Rose Theatre, Kingston), a musical

number for A Song Cycle for Soho (Soho Theatre/Mercury Musicals) and the opening number for 2014’s West End Bares (Café de Paris).

Their original new musical Prodigy for National Youth Music Theatre opens in August 2015 at St James Theatre in London and they are currently writing a new stage musical adaptation of Treasure Island for Singapore Repertory Theatre, which will open in October 2015. For more information, please visit www.brungerandcleary.co.uk or follow Jake and Pippa on Twitter @Jakeandpippa

Judge: Jamie Lloyd Jamie and the Ambassador Theatre Group launched Jamie Lloyd Productions, a production venture, in 2012. With this company, Jamie has presented two seasons of work as Artistic Director of Trafalgar Transformed at Trafalgar Studios. Season 1 featured The Pride (which also went on a limited UK tour), The Hothouse and Macbeth (Olivier nomination for Best Revival). Season 2 included The Ruling Class, East Is East (directed by Sam Yates), and Richard III.

Other theatre credits include: Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory); Urinetown (St James and West End); The Commitments (the Palace); Cyrano de Bergerac

(Roundabout Theatre Company; American Airlines Theatre, Broadway); The Duchess of Malfi (Old Vic); She Stoops to Conquer (National, Olivier; Whatsonstage nomination for Best Revival); The Faith Machine, The Pride (Royal Court; Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for The Pride), Inadmissible Evidence, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Passion, Polar Bears (Donmar; Evening Standard Award for Best Musical for Passion), Piaf (Donmar, also Vaudeville/Teatro Liceo, Buenos Aires/Nuevo Teatro Alcala, Madrid; Olivier nomination for Best Musical Revival, Hugo Award for Best Director, Clarin Award for Best Musical Production, ADEET Award for Best Production); The Little Dog Laughed (Garrick), Three Days of Rain (Apollo; Olivier nomination for Best Revival, Whatsonstage nomination for Best Revival), The Lover and The Collection (Comedy) and Elegies: a Song Cycle (Arts) in the West End; The School for Scandal (Theatre Royal, Bath); Salome (Headlong); Eric’s (Liverpool Everyman) and The Caretaker (Sheffield Crucible and Tricycle). Jamie has also directed plays as a part of the Old Vic 24 Hour Plays and the Royal Court International Residencies. Jamie was Associate Director of the Donmar from 2008 to 2011 and Associate Artist of Headlong.

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Judge: John Wilson A charismatic figure on the concert stage, John Wilson is known for the vivid nature of his interpretations and is applauded repeatedly for the rich and colourful sounds that he draws from orchestras. An outstanding communicator and a recognised builder of audiences, Wilson inspires listeners with his intelligent programming and on-stage presentations. He regularly appears on radio and television.

In the UK, Wilson has developed particularly close relationships with the Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony orchestras and has long-term affiliations with many other British orchestras, including the BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham

Symphony, The Hallé and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras. He is Principal Conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Principal Conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Dublin.

Wilson has a particular affinity with British music, with a flair for interpreting music by Vaughan Williams and Elgar, among many others. He also exercises a deep understanding of the core classical repertoire, with an enthusiasm for composers from Ravel and Stravinsky to John Adams. He has a catalogue of over 40 recordings, the most recent of which is a disc of Elgar’s The Spirit of England and With Proud Thanksgiving with the Philharmonia Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus on SOMM. In other recent recordings he has conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (on Avie and Naxos) and the Hallé (on its own label).

Highlights in the 2014/15 season include a new series of concerts with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, as part of its Classic FM Concert Series. He returns to the Royal Festival Hall, London, to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in a programme that continues his cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies. Much in demand as an inspirational figure for young musicians, Wilson conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for their winter residency, with concerts in Leeds and in London.

Wilson has worked with some of the world’s finest singers, including Sir Thomas Allen, Joyce DiDonato, Simon Keenlyside and Renée Fleming. He made his operatic debut in 2010 with Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore at Opera North. With the Philharmonia Orchestra in concert, he conducted Léhar’s The Merry Widow in 2012 and Strauss’s Die Fledermaus in 2014.

Born in Gateshead, England, John Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where he was taught by Joseph Horovitz and Neil Thomson. He won all the major conducting prizes there, as well as the coveted Tagore Gold Medal for the most outstanding student; in 2011 he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music. In 1994, Wilson formed his own orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, dedicated to performing film music of Hollywood’s golden age. He has appeared annually with the orchestra at the BBC Proms following the huge success of his debut in 2009. Following a hugely successful summer tour of British festivals, as well as to the Grafenegg Music Festival in Austria, he and the orchestra undertake an extensive UK tour in autumn 2014. The John Wilson Orchestra records exclusively for Warner Classics (formerly EMI Classics). John Wilson is represented by Intermusica. Photograph © Sim Canetty-Clarke

SSSSPOTY 2014 Winner: Corrine Priest Corrine is a London based professional actress, singer and dancer originally from Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset. She gained a 1st-class Foundation Degree in Musical Theatre from Bath Spa University, then moved to London after gaining a place at The London School of Musical Theatre.

During her training at LSMT, Corrine won the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year Award at the Garrick Theatre in May 2014, out of over 70 students from the top drama schools in the UK. Winning the award gained Corrine her professional debut in God! in July 2014, and most recently she appeared as Amy

Thomas in the London revival of Girlfriends at The Union Theatre. Corrine is excited to be recording the acclaimed one-woman song cycle, Heart of Winter, composed by Tim Connor at Auburn Jam studios in May, after the show has developed through workshops and performances at the Union Theatre and Leicester Square Theatre. The solo album will be available to purchase on iTunes.


Production Team

Director: Chris Hocking trained at the Nesta Brooking School of Ballet. He has choreographed the UK tours of Oklahoma!, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, South Pacific, Fiddler On The Roof, the British premiere of Jekyll and Hyde and The Rise & Fall of Little Voice. Other credits include Club Tropicana - The 80s musical (which he co-wrote) at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Schwartz Stories at The King’s Head, Let Him Have Justice (Cochrane Theatre), Oh Carole! (Tristran Bates), Keeler (Gatehouse Theatre), The Girl In The Frame (Bridewell Theatre), Blood Dive (Bridewell Theatre), The Railway Children and Wind In The Willows (both Sevenoaks Playhouse).

Chris has been awarded an M.A. in Choreography from Middlesex University. He is Deputy Principal and Director of the Schools of Acting and Musical Theatre at The ArtsEducational Schools, London (ArtsEd) and is delighted to be working with The Sondheim Society once again on the Stephen Sondheim Student of The Year Awards.

Musical Director: Stephen Ridley. Stephen is currently Musical Supervisor of the UK Tour of Oklahoma! and will be Musical Director on the forthcoming revival of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Other recent theatre work as Musical Director includes Annie Get Your Gun (Musical Supervisor, UK Tour), The Sound of Music (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Olivier Award nomination for Best Musical Revival, What’s On Stage Award for Best Musical Revival), Urinetown (Guest MD, Apollo Theatre), Crazy for You (Novello Theatre, Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival), Love Story (Duchess Theatre and Minerva

Theatre Chichester, Olivier Award nomination for Best New Musical), Privates on Parade (Associate MD, Noel Coward), The Music Man (Chichester Festival Theatre), The A to Z of Mrs P (Southwark Playhouse), Soho Cinders (Soho Theatre), High Society (UK tour), The Secret Garden (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Stiles and Drewe’s Peter Pan – A Musical Adventure (Birmingham Rep and West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Wizard of Oz (Birmingham Rep and West Yorkshire Playhouse), Mercury Musicals 25th Anniversary Gala (Novello) and The Wind in the Willows (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).

Stephen recently recorded the music for BBC Radio 4’s new First World War drama series Home Front, conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra with music by Matthew Strachan. Other recent work includes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), A Chorus Line, Wizard of Oz (London Palladium), Before After (St James’ Theatre) and Betty Blue Eyes (Novello Theatre).

Original Cast Recordings include Love Story, Peter Pan – A Musical Adventure and The A to Z of Mrs P.

Recital performances include Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Victoria and Albert Museum, Blackheath Halls, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Symphony Hall Birmingham, St David’s Hall Cardiff, Middlesbrough Town Hall and Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin.

Stephen was born in Middlesbrough and is a graduate of the Royal College of Music.

Producers:The Stephen Sondheim Society is a charitable trust established to study, appreciate, and celebrate the works of the composer and lyricist. We do this by publishing a quarterly magazine, maintaining a Sondheim archive at Kingston University, and organising theatre trips, cabarets and educational seminars. www.sondheim.org • twitter.com/sondheimsociety

Mercury Musical Developments is a membership organisation dedicated to developing new musical theatre writing. We nurture and support the craft and careers of our members through a range of showcasing and development initiatives. www.mercurymusicals.com • twitter.com/mercurymusicals

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We are proud to sponsor theBest New Song Prize.

Congratulations to all the fi nalists!

Visit our new website for digital downloads and all the latest news

www.stilesanddrewe.com


www.artsed.co.uk

Congratulations to ArtsEd student Leah Barbara West

on reaching today’s final

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Good luck to Grant McConveySondheim Society Student Performer of the Year Finalist 2015

Following in the footsteps ofKris Olsen SSSSPOTY winner 2011Turlough Convery SSSSPOTY winner 2012

GSAUK.ORG


Good luck to Grant McConveySondheim Society Student Performer of the Year Finalist 2015

Following in the footsteps ofKris Olsen SSSSPOTY winner 2011Turlough Convery SSSSPOTY winner 2012

GSAUK.ORG

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DUCHESS THEATREBooking until February 2016theplaythatgoeswrong.com

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“A GUT-BUSTING HIT” NEW YORK TIMES

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The Stephen Sondheim Society/MMD

Documents

Transcript of The Stephen Sondheim Society/MMD