We're counting down to the West End premiere of SONGS FOR NOBODIES, Joanna Murray-Smith's musical one-woman play in which Australian singer and actor Bernadette Robinson gives a tour-de-force performance bringing to life five iconic divas: Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf and Maria Callas. Have you watched the trailer?
Following its acclaimed European premiere earlier this year at Wilton's Music Hall, and sell-out seasons internationally, Songs For Nobodies receives its West End premiere in the new year. It runs for seven weeks only from 7 January to 23 February 2019, with a press night on 10 January.
The piece was written by Joanna Murray-Smith specifically to showcase the extraordinary vocal ability of Australian singer and actor Bernadette Robinson. It features music from five divas: Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf and Maria Callas. Australian director Simon Phillips, best known in the UK for Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical, directs.
Award-winning Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith has had three stage hits this year alone in the UK; in addition to Songs For Nobodies, there's Switzerland, which precedes Songs at the Ambassadors, and Honour, currently at the Park Theatre. Songs For Nobodies was commissioned by Simon Phillips, the former Artistic Director of the Melbourne Theatre Company. His many other credits include Muriel’s Wedding and North By North West.
On stage for 90 minutes accompanied by live musicians, Robinson's voice shifts from the smoky blues of Holiday to the soprano of Callas, via Garland, Cline and Piaf. She breathes new life into these five legendary performers and the five ordinary women, the "nobodies", whose lives were changed by their brush with fame.
Joanna Murray-Smith said:
“I am thrilled that Songs For Nobodies - which is so dear to my heart, will be making a West End transfer. It is testimony to Bernadette’s performance that audiences have come back over and over again to see the show because their reaction is so deeply felt and because they feel so uplifted. They laugh, cry and contemplate defining moments in their own lives, at the same time as being totally stunned by a single performer’s inspirational ability to resurrect beloved icons.”
Songs For Nobodies is presented in the West End by RGM Productions and Daniel Sparrow Productions in association with Bill Bowness, Robin Campbell, Ros Andrews and Andrew Buxton.
Songs for Nobodies runs from 9 January to 23 February 2019 at the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London WC2H 9ND, with performances Mondays to Saturdays at 7.45pm, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 3pm. Tickets are priced £25-75. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE!
About Bernadette Robinson
Bernadette Robinson’s critically acclaimed performances in multiple sell-out seasons of the one-woman musical play Songs For Nobodies and Pennsylvania Avenue have confirmed her standing as one of Australia’s leading singers/actresses. Together with eventual winner Cate Blanchett, Bernadette was nominated for a Helpmann Award (Australia’s Olivier Awards) in 2012 as Best Female Actor in a Play. She played the role of Beatrice in Nick Enright and Terry Clarke’s The Venetian Twins, and has appeared in lead roles with Chamber Made Opera and Wellington City Opera.
She is a familiar figure on Australian concert stages, having given sell-out concerts at the Sydney Opera House, Adelaide Festival Centre, the Melbourne Recital Centre and its neighbour, Hamer Hall, and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. In addition to her one-woman shows, she has had great success performing at high profile events for large corporates across Australia and (singing in English and in local languages) in Tokyo, Beijing (during the 2008 Olympic Games), Shanghai (during the 2010 World Expo), Hong Kong, Macau, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto.
