MUSICAL THEATRE CONCERTS

PRESS RELEASE

January 2012

Musical Theatre Concerts

Theatre Royal Stratford East announce musical inspired concerts

'Stratford East has given the British musical the kind of blood transfusion it urgently needs’  The Guardian

As part of OPEN STAGE, the pioneering initiative designed to let the public have complete programming power, Theatre Royal Stratford East will present three outstanding concert versions of some of the top musicals from the past decade. The Big Life will be performed on 27 & 28 April; Come Dancing will be performed on 1 & 2 June and The Harder They Come on 29 & 30 June.

The Big Life was first staged at the theatre in 2005 followed by a West End transfer and was hailed as the first Black British musical in the West End. The Big Life was both funny and sad, a toe-tapping, tear-jerking piece which took audiences back in time when Caribbean migrants came to London in the hope of carving out a better life for themselves. This ground-breaking musical received universal rave reviews when it was staged and played to sold-out audiences.

‘The Big Life is a show with a huge heart’ The Times

Come Dancing performed at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2008. Ray Davies' hit musical took audiences back to the Ilford Palais in the 1950s for the story of a young girl’s short, brilliant, beautiful life and the twelve months that turned her life upside down.

‘delightful’ Evening Standard

The Harder They Come was first staged at the theatre in 2006 followed by a UK tour and runs at the Barbican, London. The production told the tale of country-boy Ivan, who leaves his home in the Jamaican countryside and travels to Kingston, with his head full of songs and dreams of fame and fortune. But fortune is hard to find as Ivan is ripped off by shady record producers and corrupt cops. The Harder They Come features well known smash hits including ‘Many Rivers To Cross’, ‘You Can Get it if You Really Want’ and ‘007’.

‘a sure-fire smash hit’ Time Out

Since September 2010, OPEN STAGE consulting with local East London audiences asking what they would like programmed from January to July 2012. After talking to 3,000 people the response indicated audiences want to see new work, new plays and musicals. This inspired the artistic team to develop dazzling concerts featuring the songs from the theatres most successful musicals of modern time. Through the Musical Theatre Initiative, which has developed and produced new musicals from British voices since 1999, Theatre Royal Stratford East will present the three concerts and later in June there will be a showcase of rehearsed readings for future musicals. This is part of the theatre’s continued search for artists and to help them develop the musicals of the future.

The theatre believes that this is an opportunity for audiences to relive the passion of the songs and stories loved the first time around and in the momentous year of the London Olympic and Paralympics Games, Theatre Royal Stratford East presents a menu of ground-breaking, new projects.

Listings Information:

The Big Life Concert will be performed on 27 & 28 April

Come Dancing Concert will be performed on 1 & 2 June

The Harder They Come Concert will be performed on 29 & 30 June

Fridays 7:30pm & Saturdays 2pm & 7:30pm. For further information log on to www.stratfordeast.com or visit Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, London, E15 1BN. Box office 020 8534 0310. For interviews and images please contact Theatre Royal Stratford East PR Consultant Kim Morgan PRon 020 7277 9559, 07939 591 403 email kim@kimmorgan-pr.com          

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