T0831440796Out of the Piano as indeed do all Tim Williams Award (TWA) programmes, celebrates the art of composition for theatrical song. Lyrics range from pens of William Shakespeare, Elizabeth I, Charles Dickens, Christina Rossetti to Jane Austin, Sir Noel Coward, Charlotte Bronte, Leah Goldberg, Tennessee Williams and two original compositions. Indeed the programme’s title is drawn from a song especially written for evening by Frank Lazarus, composer of the Tony Award winning ‘A Day in Hollywood; a Night in the Ukraine’. Leading performers from Les Mis,(including the original Cosette, REBECCA CAINE), Sound of Music (including the runner up from the BBC’s ‘How do you Solve a Problem like Maria?’, HELENA BLACKMAN), Phantom of the Opera, Wicked (including a current Glinda, SARAH EARNSHAW), Porgy and Bess (with one of the Porgy’s, ANTON STEPHENS), A Little Night Music, Fascinating Aida (including one of the founders, MARILYN CUTTS) and Sunset Boulevard (including its Betty, LAURA PITT-PULFORD) will appear in songs presented in the personages of Maria Callas, Dracula, Oliver Cromwell, T. E. Lawrence, Patrick Henry and G. B. Shaw’s Hesione Hushabye. Song themes range from a witty take on an alternative to ASBOs to a lamentation by Penelope whilst awaiting Odyessus’ twenty year return; from a colourful celebration of Frances L. Clayton (who disguised herself in men’s clothes to enlist with her husband in the American Civil War) to an African Bishop’s struggle with homosexuality in the contemporary Church of England. | |
20 Jun 10 | Cochrane Theatre, Inner London :: V181 listing details L0583258938 |