HEATHERS THE MUSICAL opens the first Work in Progress series at The Other Palace later this month and Charlotte Wakefield will lead the cast alongside Jamie Muscato and Liam Doyle. The classic 80's teen movie is the darkly delicious story of Veronica Sawyer, a brainy, beautiful teenage misfit who hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerberg High. This work-in-progress adaptation looks set to be a hit, as do the other shows set to follow...
Charlotte Wakefield (Sound of Music) will lead the cast as Veronica Sawyer alongside Jamie Muscato (Bend it Like Beckham) as JD and Liam Doyle (Wicked) as Kurt.
The titular roles will be played by Amy Ross (Kinky Boots) as Heather Chandler, Sophie Isaacs (Kinky Boots) as Heather McNamara and Gabrielle Dodson (42nd Street) as Heather Duke.
They will be joined by Simon Bailey, Lizzie Bea, Dominic Andersen, Rebecca Lock, Andy Brady, Jack North, Lauren Rae and Maimuna Memon
The Other Palace opened in February 2017 as a new home for musical theatre and the line-up of performances and events should excite even the most jaded theatregoer! Have a look at what's to come over the next few months and get ready for an exciting few months...
The venue aims to discover, develop and reimagine musicals. The team want the spaces to be used to nurture the next generation of musicals, and the creatives behind them; celebrating the very best of the art form, from the established to the brand new.
The Other Palace’s Development Programme has been created to identify, explore, encourage and support musicals at every stage of their journey. The venue will be offering creatives space, time and resources; enabling them to explore and test their work, both privately and with an audience.
For audience members, The Other Palace’s Development Programme offers the opportunity to see new shows in their infancy and be part of the process, providing the creative team with invaluable feedback.
Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “I want The Other Palace to become the London space where writers and producers can try out and perfect new work, offering audiences the opportunity to see and contribute to musicals in development. My hopes for The Other Palace are based on my experience with “School of Rock” in America. I presented “School of Rock” as a staged workshop at the Gramercy Theatre, a rock venue in New York. By not premiering the musical in a finished form with elaborate sets, it gave the creative team complete flexibility to refine the material. It was a liberating experience for all of us.”
The Other Palace Artistic Director, Paul Taylor Mills added: “We’re delighted to be hosting a series of initiatives that truly nurture artists and their work, and allow our audience to be an important part of the action. Our Development Programme is at the heart of our vision to advance the musicals of tomorrow whilst reimagining the classics.”
In our first Work in Progress series we’re developing two brand new British musicals and rediscovering two American musicals. This breadth of style and the varying stages of the pieces cements our commitment to ensuring that The Other Palace really is the home for all things musical theatre in the UK.”
The shows:
HEATHERS THE MUSICAL (Studio)
Book, Music and Lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe “(Legally Blonde” and “Bat Boy”) and Kevin Murphy (“Reefer Madness” and “Desperate Housewives”) and original production directed by Andy Fickman.
“Heathers The Musical”is the darkly delicious story of Veronica Sawyer, a brainy, beautiful teenage misfit who hustles her way into the most powerful and ruthless clique at Westerberg High: the Heathers.
Tuesday 30 May, 8.00pm
Thursday 1 June, 8.00pm
Friday 2 June, 8.00pm
Saturday 3 June, 3.00pm and 8.00pm
“Heathers the Musical” is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French Ltd.
DR FEELGOOD (Studio)
Book and Lyrics by Alex Baranowski, Music and LyricsDavid Watson, Directed by Sam Yates.
When the wife of anambitious young doctor dies at the hands of the medical system he reveres, he setshimself along a vigilante-like path, using unorthodox, unethical medical practiceto propel him towards the top of American society, but ends up disgraced,as nothing more than a high-class drug dealer.
Saturday 10 June, 8.00pm
JOYBUBBLES (Studio)
Book and Lyrics by Carl Grose, Music & Lyrics by Alex Silverman, Directed by Raz Shaw.
Joe Engressia was born in 1949 completely blind but with perfect pitch. This giftenabled him to escape into the world of the newly-established telephone network. But whenthis is taken from him, Joe decides to become five yearsold again and changes his nameto Joybubbles. And boy, does he have some stories to tell...
Saturday 17 June, 8.00pm
BONNIE & CLYDE (Studio)
Book by Ivan Menchell, Lyrics by Don Black, Music by Frank Wildhorn
When Bonnie and Clyde meet, their mutual cravings for excitement and fame immediately set them on a mission to chase their dreams. Their bold and reckless behaviour turns the young lovers' thrilling adventure into a downward spiral, with the lovers resorting to robbery and murder to survive. As the infamous duo's fame grows bigger, their inevitable end draws nearer.
Monday 26 June, 8.00pm
Thursday 29 June, 2.00pm
Friday 30 June, 8.00pm
Saturday 1 July, 3.00pm and 8.00pm
Performed by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited.
Perfect Pitch presents THE LITTLE BEASTS (Theatre)
This dark and imaginatively comic musical follows a selfish little girl who runs away from home and discovers a magical menagerie filled with animals that used to be children before their naughtiness brought them to untimely ends. When the menagerie’s menacing proprietor tasks her to choose one animal to set free, she must decide which one, if any, has learned its lesson. But things are not what they seem, and is any child truly naughty?
A musical for aged 7+ with magical and innovative puppetry.
Friday 14 July, 11.00am and 7.30pm
Saturday 15 July, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Thursday 20 July, 11.00am and 7.30pm
Friday 21 July; Saturday 22 July; Thursday 27 July; Friday 28 July and Saturday 29 July, all at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Tickets for Work in Progress productions start at £7.50 and are available atwww.theotherpalace.co.uk
And something for the creatives...
The Other Palace Development Programme contains a mix of networking events, opportunities to experiment, workshops and shows to assist musical creatives who would like to bring their creative vision to life. We want to support initiatives at every stage of their journey – from discussing draft ideas with peers to holding workshops and residencies as a precursor to full productions.
Creatives Connect is an informal opportunity to meet fellow theatre-makers and share ideas in our destination bar. Have a drink, meet The Other Palace programming team and find out about the ways in which The Other Palace could support your project. Dates:
Wednesday 13 September, 8.30pm – 10.30pm
To register go to www.theotherpalace.co.uk/submissions
Pitch Days offer artists and creative teams the chance to show 20 minutes of their work to Artistic Director Paul Taylor Mills and The Other Palace programming team. These days are aimed at people who prefer to share their work ‘live’. The panel will make recommendations about how best to move the project forward.
Dates:
Wednesday 24 May, 10.00am – 4.00pm. This date is now full.
Wednesday 11 October, 10.00am – 4.00pm
Please make submissions for Pitch Days via www.theotherpalace.co.uk/submissions
Open Mic Nights (in association with The BRIT School) gives emerging artists from all disciplines the opportunity to perform completely new material for the first time. Open Mic Nights are for anyone who wants to try out new material in front of an audience. Dates:
Monday 25 September, 9.00pm – 10.30pm
The event is free to attend, and no tickets are required. If you want to participate contact us via www.theotherpalace.co.uk/submissions.
Musical Bites (in association with Mercury Musical Development) showcases four new musicals that are in the early stages of development. During the evening, 15 minutes of each piece will be performed to a paying audience, who are encouraged to provide feedback in order to advance the work to the next stage of their development process. The next Musical Bites will be:
Thursday 5 October, 8.00pm
Tickets are available at www.theotherpalace.co.uk. If you would like us to present your work, please submit your creative ideas at www.theotherpalace.co.uk/submissions.
The Other Palace Work in Progress series offers productions a short residency at the venue which allows companies to create, develop and explore their work. These residencies will include a number of public sharings where audience feedback will be collected to inform the next stage of the project’s development. The ambition is that these productions will have a future life either at The Other Palace or beyond.
If you are a creative team that would like to apply for a residency, please submit your ideas at www.theotherpalace.co.uk/submissions.
Tickets are now on sale for the first Work in Progress series.
General Submissions: For artistic teams that have creative visions to share, they should submit ideas to The Other Palace’s programming team, providing a short synopsis, information about the journey of the piece to date and two contrasting songs. The team will review submissions on a regular basis, shortlisting the most promising, and then guiding the creative teams into the most relevant step of the Development Programme, from Pitch Days to Works in Progress. More information about how to submit can be found on the website www.theotherpalace.co.uk/submissions.
