Latest news with #musicaltheatre
News24
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- News24
Jonathan Roxmouth has brought Broadway home
Jonathan Roxmouth performs eight shows of My Favourite Broadway at Montecasino's Teatro in Johannesburg across two weekends, from 25 July to 3 August. Fresh from acclaimed runs overseas, Jonathan Roxmouth has returned to South African stages with this show that will see the performer reinterpret some of the most recognisable songs in musical theatre. Accompanied by the newly formed 32-piece Egoli Symphonic Orchestra and conducted by long-time collaborator Adam Howard, Roxmouth will perform material drawn from a range of Broadway favourites, from Phantom of the Opera to Les Misérables, and Evita to Funny Girl and Oliver! Discounts are available for early bookings and groups; tickets via Webtickets. WATCH | Gospel meets house music: Mörda and Soweto Gospel Choir collaborate for History of House Known for his theatrical precision and vocal command, Roxmouth will also feature songs from shows he has yet to appear in, adding an element of unpredictability to a show otherwise rooted in the familiar. An outstanding moment promises to be his return to the piano for a special segment with the orchestra. The production comes at a milestone in Roxmouth's career. Later in the year, he will reprise his international role as Billy Flynn in Chicago – The Musical, first at Cape Town's Artscape Theatre (from 27 August), followed by a Johannesburg season at Montecasino's Teatro from 3 October to 9 November. Having mostly worked abroad since 2021, I've missed the South African audience, their warmth and how they receive an artist. It's a unique energy. This concert is a return not just to the stage, but to the songs and people that shaped my early career. Jonathan Roxmouth Howard Events, which is producing the concert, describes the collaboration as both a reunion and a culmination of a decade-long working relationship. 'It's a pleasure to work with Jonathan again. Audiences are in for something extraordinary,' says Howard. JOHANNESBURG: Montecasino's Teatro Friday, 25 July to Sunday, 27 July and Friday, 01 August to Sunday, 03 August 2025 SHOW TIMES: Fridays 19h30; Saturdays 15h00, 19h30; Sundays 14h00 SHOW DURATION: Two hours including intermission TICKET PRICES including VAT R240, R280, R380, R440, R490 BOOKINGS: Tickets on sale at Only valid tickets purchased from Webtickets, the exclusive ticketing agent, may be presented. GROUP BOOKINGS Discount of 20% valid for the top two prices; excludes matinee performances. Discounts for groups of 10 or more. No children under four years permitted
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘A privilege and a great pleasure': inside the 5,000-item Stephen Sondheim collection
Mark Horowitz had done his homework before Stephen Sondheim came to visit. He filled the room with scores by Bartók, Brahms, Copland and Rachmaninoff; manuscripts in the hand of Bernstein and Rodgers and Hammerstein. 'The last thing I brought him out was the manuscript for Gershwin's Porgy and Bess,' Horowitz recalls. 'That's when he started to cry.' The 'show and tell' of Sondheim's favourite composers, mentors and collaborators at the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 1993 planted a seed. It convinced him, Horowitz believes, that his papers would be in good company at the world's biggest library. 'Shortly after that he said he was going to be changing his will and he in fact did. He sent me a printout of the paragraph in his will that left his manuscripts and things to the library.' Sondheim died in 2021 at the age of 91 and his bequest is now fulfilled. The library has acquired about 5,000 items including manuscripts, music and lyric drafts, recordings, notebooks and scrapbooks that provide an unrivalled window to the mind of the man some called the Shakespeare of musical theatre. Among them are hundreds of music and lyric sketches of Sondheim's well-known works as well as drafts of songs that were cut from shows or never made it to a production's first rehearsal. Dozens of scrapbooks hold theatre programmes, clippings and opening night telegrams. On a Tuesday afternoon, the Guardian is ushered into the library's inner sanctum for another Horowitz 'show and tell'. The senior music specialist has laid several cardboard boxes on a table, opening them to reveal sheet music and other papers graced by Sondheim's pencil. 'I love his hand, which I think is just gorgeous,' observes Horowitz, a longtime admirer and acquaintance of the winner of eight Tony awards, including a special Tony for lifetime achievement. 'This intimacy with the process is a privilege and a great pleasure.' Sitting prominently are weathered spiral notebooks documenting some of Sondheim's musical efforts while a student at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. There are music exercises, tunes and early compositions like the sheet music from his college musical, Phinney's Rainbow, along with a programme from his high school musical, By George, written when he was 15. The crown jewels are manuscripts for some of Sondheim's most celebrated shows including Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, as well as lesser-known works such as his plays and screenplays. Horowitz flicks through a thick folder containing 40 pages of lyric sketches for A Little Priest, a duet where Sweeney, the demon barber of Fleet Street, and Mrs Lovett gleefully plan to dispose of his murder victims by baking their flesh into pies to sell at Mrs Lovett's failing pie shop. It uses clever wordplay and puns about professions and social classes, imagining how 31 different flavours would suit various pies. Here is a master wordsmith at work. 'One of the things he writes in the margins is lists of people who might be baked into the pies: cook, butler, page, sailor, tailor, actor, barber, driver, crier, gigolo. I went through the pages and counted them and I came up with 158 different professions that he considered as types of people.' Horowitz points to an abandoned idea: 'Somewhere on this page is rabbi and the thing I get a kick out of is that then, a few pages later, he actually turns it into a couplet: 'Everybody shaves except rabbis and riff-raff.'' Horowitz reaches into a box and produces lyric sketches for Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music, along with a one-page inner monologue written as subtext for the character Desirée when she sings it. The most popular song that Sondheim ever wrote was also one of the quickest to turn around. Horowitz explains: 'Basically in 24 hours he wrote his hit song whereas for most of his songs it took about two weeks, certainly for the longer numbers. There are 40 pages of sketches for Priest; I think there are nine pages here for Send in the Clowns. 'One of the reasons was they'd already been in rehearsal so he knew almost everything about the show and particularly about Glynis Johns and her voice. He always described it as a light, silvery voice, which was very pleasant but she couldn't sustain notes. 'He wrote it specifically for her voice. It's very short phrases, which is why they're questions. 'Isn't it rich? Are we a pair?' They cut off quickly. It was written for this character, for this place in the show, for this actress, for this voice, and knowing all that made it much easier than it would be otherwise.' The volume of work for each show seemed to increase, from three sheet music boxes for Company to nine for Sunday in the Park with George and 12 for Into the Woods. 'I don't know if it was because things got harder for him or he was more hard on himself,' Horowitz observes. 'There's no question that he was literally a genius but seeing the vast amount of perspiration in addition to the inspiration – it's one thing to be witty and clever but to see how much went into refining and making everything as perfect and specific as possible is sort of staggering.' The collection also contains materials related to Sondheim's plays and screenplays, such as draft scripts for The Last of Sheila, and a commercial he wrote for The Simpsons when he was a guest on the show. Three boxes of specialty songs include birthday songs he wrote for friends Leonard Bernstein, Hal Prince and others. There are drafts of variations on the lyrics to I'm Still Here from Follies that Sondheim wrote for the singer and actor Barbra Streisand at her request. Horowitz rummages through a folder to find a 1993 fax from Streisand listing personal traits she wanted included such as 'my name – shorten it', 'nails – too long', 'perfectionist', 'opinionated – big mouth', 'feminist', 'liberal', 'don't want to perform live'. He comments: 'She's being fairly candid here about the things that people criticise her for and suggesting he include them in what he writes.' Sondheim primarily worked with pencil and paper for his music and lyric writing, even though he was 'very computer proficient' and at one point considered writing video games. He made his first donation to the library in 1995: a vast record collection of about 13,000 albums accompanied by a hand-typed card catalogue. He also sat for a series of interviews with Horowitz in 1997. To Horowitz, who produced a 70th birthday celebration concert for Sondheim in 2000, he was the artist who made him believe that musical theatre was 'something important and something worthy of a life's study and a life's pursuit'. He was always intimidated by Sondheim in person but found him to be unfailingly kind and generous. He has fond memories of working on a production of Merrily We Roll Along at Arena Stage in Washington DC in 1990. Sondheim borrowed Horowitz's rhyming dictionary as he was writing new lyrics for some of the songs. 'When he handed it back to me, he said, 'Just so you know, I put in some missing words,' which he had in fact done.' Recalling another incident from that production, he says: 'They had just done a run through with the orchestra and he was talking in the house to the producer, who was a very intimidating fellow I did not particularly like, and one of the musicians came up and was standing by the side, waiting very patiently, but this producer whipped around and said: 'Yes, what do you want?' 'The guy said: 'I'm sorry, I was just wondering if there's going to be another run through without the orchestra so I can sit and see the show?' The producer was very dismissive and said: 'I don't know, we'll see.' Sondheim whipped around and said, 'How dare you? Do you know how lucky you are that you have a musician who cares and wants to see the show?' This guy withered a bit and it was very gratifying to me.' Horowitz credits Sondheim with changing the perception of musical theatre in academia. Previously 'looked down upon by music departments and theatre departments', Sondheim's work has led to 'an explosion of scholarship in musical theatre' because it 'is that important and that good and that serious'. The Library of Congress aims to be a one-stop shop for researchers. The Sondheim collection joins existing archives of collaborators and mentors such as Leonard Bernstein, Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers. Sondheim encouraged Hal Prince and Arthur Laurents to donate their collections to the library. The Jonathan Larson collection includes notes from Sondheim's feedback. Yet the precious Sondheim collection was nearly lost. In 1995, there was a fire in his home office at 246 East 49th Street in New York, where the manuscripts were kept in cardboard boxes on wooden shelves. Horowitz recalls: 'When I went back afterwards, if you lifted the manuscripts out of the boxes, there were singe marks outlining where the paper sat in the boxes. Even now, as we're going through the collection, we're finding smoke damage on the edges of manuscript. Why they didn't go up in flames, I don't know. It truly is the closest I've ever seen in my life to a miracle.'
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘A privilege and a great pleasure': inside the 5,000-item Stephen Sondheim collection
Mark Horowitz had done his homework before Stephen Sondheim came to visit. He filled the room with scores by Bartók, Brahms, Copland and Rachmaninoff; manuscripts in the hand of Bernstein and Rodgers and Hammerstein. 'The last thing I brought him out was the manuscript for Gershwin's Porgy and Bess,' Horowitz recalls. 'That's when he started to cry.' The 'show and tell' of Sondheim's favourite composers, mentors and collaborators at the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 1993 planted a seed. It convinced him, Horowitz believes, that his papers would be in good company at the world's biggest library. 'Shortly after that he said he was going to be changing his will and he in fact did. He sent me a printout of the paragraph in his will that left his manuscripts and things to the library.' Sondheim died in 2021 at the age of 91 and his bequest is now fulfilled. The library has acquired about 5,000 items including manuscripts, music and lyric drafts, recordings, notebooks, and scrapbooks that provide an unrivalled window to the mind of the man some called the Shakespeare of musical theatre. Among them are hundreds of music and lyric sketches of Sondheim's well-known works as well as drafts of songs that were cut from shows or never made it to a production's first rehearsal. Dozens of scrapbooks hold theatre programmes, clippings and opening night telegrams. On a Tuesday afternoon, the Guardian is ushered into the library's inner sanctum for another Horowitz 'show and tell'. The senior music specialist has laid several cardboard boxes on a table, opening them to reveal sheet music and other papers graced by Sondheim's pencil. 'I love his hand, which I think is just gorgeous,' observes Horowitz, a longtime admirer and acquaintance of the winner of eight Tony awards, including a special Tony for lifetime achievement. 'This intimacy with the process is a privilege and a great pleasure.' Sitting prominently are weathered spiral notebooks documenting some of Sondheim's musical efforts while a student at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. There are music exercises, tunes and early compositions like the sheet music from his college musical, Phinney's Rainbow, along with a programme from his high school musical, By George, written when he was 15. The crown jewels are manuscripts for some of Sondheim's most celebrated shows including Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, as well as lesser-known works such as his plays and screenplays. Horowitz flicks through a thick folder containing 40 pages of lyric sketches for A Little Priest, a duet where Sweeney, the demon barber of Fleet Street, and Mrs Lovett gleefully plan to dispose of his murder victims by baking their flesh into pies to sell at Mrs Lovett's failing pie shop. It uses clever wordplay and puns about professions and social classes, imagining how 31 different flavours would suit various pies. Here is a master wordsmith at work. 'One of the things he writes in the margins is lists of people who might be baked into the pies: cook, butler, page, sailor, tailor, actor, barber, driver, crier, gigolo. I went through the pages and counted them and I came up with 158 different professions that he considered as types of people.' Horowitz points to an abandoned idea: 'Somewhere on this page is rabbi and the thing I get a kick out of is that then, a few pages later, he actually turns it into a couplet: 'Everybody shaves except rabbis and riff-raff'.' Horowitz reaches into a box and produces lyric sketches for Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music, along with a one-page inner monologue written as subtext for the character Desirée when she sings it. The most popular song that Sondheim ever wrote was also one of the quickest to turn around. Horowitz explains: 'Basically in 24 hours he wrote his hit song whereas for most of his songs it took about two weeks, certainly for the longer numbers. There are 40 pages of sketches for Priest; I think there are nine pages here for Send in the Clowns. 'One of the reasons was they'd already been in rehearsal so he knew almost everything about the show and particularly about Glynis Johns and her voice. He always described it as a light, silvery voice, which was very pleasant but she couldn't sustain notes. 'He wrote it specifically for her voice. It's very short phrases, which is why they're questions. 'Isn't it rich? Are we a pair?' They cut off quickly. It was written for this character, for this place in the show, for this actress, for this voice, and knowing all that made it much easier than it would be otherwise.' The volume of work for each show seemed to increase, from three sheet music boxes for Company to nine for Sunday in the Park with George and 12 for Into the Woods. 'I don't know if it was because things got harder for him or he was more hard on himself,' Horowitz observes. 'There's no question that he was literally a genius but seeing the vast amount of perspiration in addition to the inspiration – it's one thing to be witty and clever but to see how much went into refining and making everything as perfect and specific as possible is sort of staggering.' The collection also contains materials related to Sondheim's plays and screenplays, such as draft scripts for The Last of Sheila, and a commercial he wrote for The Simpsons when he was a guest on the show. Three boxes of specialty songs include birthday songs he wrote for friends Leonard Bernstein, Hal Prince and others. There are drafts of variations on the lyrics to I'm Still Here from Follies that Sondheim wrote for the singer and actor Barbra Streisand at her request. Horowitz rummages through a folder to find a 1993 fax from Streisand listing personal traits she wanted included such as 'my name – shorten it', 'nails – too long', 'perfectionist', 'opinionated – big mouth', 'feminist', 'liberal', 'don't want to perform live'. He comments: 'She's being fairly candid here about the things that people criticise her for and suggesting he include them in what he writes.' Sondheim primarily worked with pencil and paper for his music and lyric writing, even though he was 'very computer proficient' and at one point considered writing video games. He made his first donation to the library in 1995: a vast record collection of about 13,000 albums accompanied by a hand-typed card catalogue. He also sat for a series of interviews with Horowitz in 1997. To Horowitz, who produced a 70th birthday celebration concert for Sondheim in 2000, he was the artist who made him believe that musical theatre was 'something important and something worthy of a life's study and a life's pursuit'. He was always intimidated by Sondheim in person but found him to be unfailingly kind and generous. He has fond memories of working on a production of Merrily We Roll Along at Arena Stage in Washington DC in 1990. Sondheim borrowed Horowitz's rhyming dictionary as he was writing new lyrics for some of the songs. 'When he handed it back to me, he said, 'Just so you know, I put in some missing words,' which he had in fact done.' Recalling another incident from that production, he says: 'They had just done a run through with the orchestra and he was talking in the house to the producer, who was a very intimidating fellow I did not particularly like, and one of the musicians came up and was standing by the side, waiting very patiently, but this producer whipped around and said: 'Yes, what do you want?' 'The guy said: 'I'm sorry, I was just wondering if there's going to be another run through without the orchestra so I can sit and see the show?' The producer was very dismissive and said: 'I don't know, we'll see.' Sondheim whipped around and said, 'How dare you? Do you know how lucky you are that you have a musician who cares and wants to see the show?' This guy withered a bit and it was very gratifying to me.' Horowitz credits Sondheim with changing the perception of musical theatre in academia. Previously 'looked down upon by music departments and theatre departments', Sondheim's work has led to 'an explosion of scholarship in musical theatre' because it 'is that important and that good and that serious'. The Library of Congress aims to be a one-stop shop for researchers. The Sondheim collection joins existing archives of collaborators and mentors such as Leonard Bernstein, Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers. Sondheim encouraged Hal Prince and Arthur Laurents to donate their collections to the library. The Jonathan Larson collection includes notes from Sondheim's feedback. Yet the precious Sondheim collection was nearly lost. In 1995, there was a fire in his home office at 246 East 49th Street in New York, where the manuscripts were kept in cardboard boxes on wooden shelves. Horowitz recalls: 'When I went back afterwards, if you lifted the manuscripts out of the boxes, there were singe marks outlining where the paper sat in the boxes. Even now, as we're going through the collection, we're finding smoke damage on the edges of manuscript. Why they didn't go up in flames, I don't know. It truly is the closest I've ever seen in my life to a miracle.'
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Review: Broadway Across Canada's The Lion King a fully immersive experience
To see the 2025 version of The Lion King now on stage at the Jubilee Auditorium is to enjoy a full-mind-and-body, totally immersive experience. Settling into your seats, you'll notice two musicians with large African drum kits on either side of the stage preparing for their roles, a thrilling hint of what's to come. But when Rafiki the mandrill (Mukelisiwe Goba is wise and mysterious in the role) welcomes the future king Simba to the rolling plains of Tanzania as a score of animals (including an elephant) parade down the aisles of the theatre and on to the stage, audience members feel at one with the rocky outcrops and swaying grasses of the Serengeti. Performers on stilts as giraffes are shadows against the red-orange sky; antelope mounted atop multi-wheeled bicycles spring effortlessly across the landscape. The imagination is completely engaged. In an era dominated by endless, exhausting, digital noise, this feels like no less than a miracle. Over almost 30 years, the multiple Tony-award-winning Disney story of the lion cub Simba exiled following the death of his father king Mufasa has grown into an integral part of the musical theatre canon. As the third-longest-running and the highest-grossing show on Broadway (pulling in $1.8 billion by 2023), it's fast becoming a tale as old as time. And for good reason. Soulful, upbeat tunes by Elton John and Tim Rice combine with Julie Taymor's impressively expansive touch as director and costume designer alongside breathtaking choreography by Garth Fagan to marry a simple coming-of-age story with the powerful history, music and landscape of Africa. The result lodges stubbornly in the heart. The first act of the show reveals the Shakespearean tension between Mufasa (the warmly paternal Darnell Abraham) and his brother, Scar (Peter Hargrave is perfect as the two-faced, scheming villain). The young Simba of this production (Julian Villela in the show I saw Saturday night) plays the open-hearted boy cub with all the boisterous bravado the role requires, falling easily into the murderous plot executed by Scar and his henchmen, a circling hackle of hyenas that terrify and amuse by turns. The African red-billed hornbill Zazu (Drew Hirshfield in a pitch-perfect representation) provides enough levity in the first act to keep the little ones in the audience from feeling too despondent. But it is the second act in which the humour of The Lion King takes off as Simba fights to assume his rightful throne with the encouragement of his friends. The meerkat Timon (with Canadian-born Robert Creighton behind the puppet) and warthog Pumbaa (Danny Grumich) are hilarious; a robust series of fart jokes delights the family-forward audience. Yet there is room for the brave acts, and the love story between Simba and Nala to unfold. Part of the genius of The Lion King, which has been in Edmonton once or twice before, is its seemingly effortless ability to construct a living world before your very eyes. The audience feels surrounded by the colour and vibrancy of the savannah as the stage roils with dancers dressed as trees, plants, birds and startlingly large mammals. The soaring cliff that provides so much drama rolls effortlessly on and off the stage; the wildebeest rampage is heart-stopping. Rivers seem both deep and wide. The technical scaffolding of the show is mind-boggling. Yet the stagecraft never supersedes the humanity of The Lion King. People, well, animals, are always at the centre of the story. There is sadness and squabbles, but also jubilation and jokes. While the show's commercial priorities are never in doubt, it pays homage to its African inspiration. Six indigenous African languages can be heard in the show's spoken words and music, and several cast members were born in Africa. The Lion King features an ensemble for the ages with more than 50 singers, actors and dancers, plus another three dozen stage professionals within the crew. That doesn't even count the 10 musicians in the orchestra conducted by Karl Shymanovitz. If it takes a village to raise a child, well, perhaps it requires a similarly sized theatrical commitment to bring a musical classic to eternal life on stage. Words and music by Elton John and Tim Rice and book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi Director: Julie Taymor Where: Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, 11455 87 Ave. When: Through July 27 Tickets: From $64 at or by calling 1-855-985-4357. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the box office at the Jubilee Auditorium. Check for applicable hours at Review: A brilliant pair of performances shine in Teatro's The Odd Couple REVIEW: Def Leppard, Joan Jett, Queensrÿche a killer kickoff to Rockin' Thunder You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.
Irish Times
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Dublin's biggest theatre is staging its first production. Will its Little Shop of Horrors pull off a coup?
The first day of rehearsals is always a high-energy event. In the brand-new Theatreworx studio space in Dunboyne , in Co Meath, the floor has been marked with positioning tape, stacks of printed scripts are piled on tables and, tucked into a corner, a model of the set for Little Shop of Horrors sits on a plinth for the newly assembled cast to admire. The set's designer, Maree Kearns , is standing beside the intricate miniature New York streetscape to introduce the performers to the world they will be inhabiting for the next six weeks. There are oohs and ahs as she rotates artfully worn shopfronts and slides in blood-spattered backdrops. Then there are wows for the growing scale of a flesh-eating flower, as Kearns marks out the scene change for them. The ensemble of 16 know that the real main character of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken 's comedy-horror musical isn't Seymour, the hapless florist, or Audrey, his simpering colleague, or Mr Mushnik, boss of the bouquet emporium. It is Audrey II, the voracious Venus flytrap that, by the musical's end, looks set for world domination. The cast also know that the work they're doing has more significance than simply what the audience will see on stage at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre towards the end of the month. As Stephen Faloon , who runs the Dublin venue, and is one of the producers, reminds them in his introductory remarks, 'Our job is to show audiences that musical theatre has a home here in Ireland.' READ MORE Little Shop of Horrors: Cast members Jacqueline Brunton, David O'Reilly, Johnny Ward and Ghaliah Conroy with a model of the set, designed by Maree Kearns, for the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre's first in-house production. Photograph: Brian McEvoy Faloon has been at the helm of the theatre – the Republic's largest – since it opened in 2010, overseeing the programming and installation of countless visiting West End shows. Little Shop of Horrors is altogether different. It is the venue's first homegrown production, and Faloon is buzzing with excitement. 'We were built as a receiving house,' he explains. 'Our remit is to bring the best of the West End and Broadway to Dublin. But I have always thought there should be no reason why we can't celebrate our own talent too.' Independent producers have brought several Irish shows to the theatre over the years, among them Paul Howard's satirical Anglo: The Musical and Adam Powell and Paul Hurt's Angela's Ashes: The Musical , but during the pandemic Faloon was inspired to consider investing in a full-scale production that the theatre might build from the ground up. 'The idea really started in 2021, when we got some money from the government to get artists back to work. We did a concert version of West Side Story, employing 73 Irish artists. Because of restrictions, we could only do a show for an audience of 50 – in a house of more than 2,000. It was ludicrous, really. 'But what was remarkable about it was the wealth of Irish talent, [many of whom] were working abroad – one of the lead actors from The Lion King, the assistant musical director from The Book of Mormon – because there was no indigenous work in musical theatre here. That kernel of truth stayed with me. It has taken a few years to grow into something. But, finally, here we are.' His colleague Claire Tighe , who is the production's director and choreographer, as well as a coproducer, says: 'We really do have the most amazing Irish talent working in musical theatre all across the world, on and off stage, but those creatives don't get very much opportunity to work in Ireland. 'Musical theatre is very difficult to mount, as it is a heck of a lot more expensive [than regular theatre], so whoever wants to do it really has to go for it, and build partnerships, and that's where this production' – a partnership between the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and Tighe's Theatreworx – 'comes in. 'It was born out of a desire to bring Irish talent to the stage here, so that we can show Irish audiences that musical theatre culture here is so rich and that we can make shows that are as top tier as anything they have seen at the theatre before. If we can do that, we can get the whole culture to grow legs and develop, and that will change the landscape for the Irish talent that wants to make work here.' Little Shop of Horrors has a particular sentimental significance for both Faloon and Tighe. Faloon saw the original production as a young teenager in the West End in 1983. 'I remember so vividly how it felt to me,' he says. 'It was so much fun. I was transported from the moment it began, completely mesmerised. My dad bought the soundtrack on cassette, and I would get into his car when he got home from work and listen to it while doing my homework.' For Tighe, it was 'the first musical I ever directed. That was back in 2006, for Leixlip Musical & Variety Group , which was where I learned how to be a director before I went into the professional industry. I actually came across my notebook yesterday, with all my notes'. Theatreworx also produces the well-regarded pantomimes at the Helix Theatre, in north Dublin, which have been running since 2008. Panto is a particularly important art form in Ireland, she says, as it 'has historically been the only place with a long enough contract in musical-theatre terms, so it's much sought-after'. As a result, 'you have some amazing professional productions happening around the country, attracting top talent who usually might only get to work in London or the UK'. Tighe's comments resonate strongly with David O'Reilly, who is playing Seymour, alongside Jacqueline Brunton as Audrey. He has several West End shows and UK tours under his belt, including The Book of Mormon and Grease. O'Reilly moved to London to train in 2007, a typical trajectory for aspiring musical-theatre performers. 'It was well known that the training was at a level where you would have access to people with a finger on the pulse of what was happening, teachers who would be going from class to warm-ups in the West End, and that you could easily get into employment after,' he says. Training opportunities 'have changed a lot now, though. Teaching across the board in Ireland has gone through the roof in terms of its delivery, and you are seeing a growth of stage schools with really talented teachers – and that's even before you go on to third level'. Cork School of Music offers a BA in musical theatre; and the Lir , the national academy of dramatic art, in Dublin, offers a BA in acting that includes a substantial section on musicianship and group singing, as well as short musical-theatre courses for professionals. [ The Book of Mormon: 'We put all of these subversive things into a familiar box for people. And we swear a lot' Opens in new window ] Opportunities to work professionally have not kept pace, however. When O'Reilly moved back to Ireland in 2022, he intended to focus on TV and film work. He jumped at the chance to audition for Little Shop of Horrors – Tighe's open call attracted more than 2,000 performers – not least because, as with Faloon and Tighe, the musical represented 'a full-circle moment for me. The last time I was on stage in Ireland was as a teenager, playing Seymour in a production at my stage school, and my audition songs for my musical-theatre course were from Little Shop as well'. He adds that venues such as the Gate , which recently staged productions of Fun Home and The Borrowers , have shown that audiences want to see musical theatre. 'And it is really inspiring, as a performer, to have something being produced on this scale on the same stage where productions like Hamilton or Wicked have been.' Little Shop of Horrors: Puppeteer Chris Corroon with a puppet of Audrey II, the Venus flytrap, for the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre's first in-house production, at Theatreworx studio space in Dunboyne, Co Meath, during rehearsals. Photograph: Brian McEvoy When Chris Corroon, the production's puppeteer, introduces me to several full-sized incarnations of Audrey II in the workshop next door, it really seems as if Little Shop of Horrors could be as visually and technically ambitious as any touring show the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre has hosted. 'It is a big challenge,' Tighe says, 'but I am not afraid of it. We have an incredible team of creatives, some brilliant stalwarts who have loads of musical-theatre experience, as well as some incredible new talent. We have an amazing revolving set that is more than worthy of being on that stage. So we are going to make sure that an audience is not going to think it's in any way less than something that might be flown in from the West End.' Indeed, if anything is scary, Faloon says, it's the role-reversing fact that British producers have been in touch about travelling over to see their Little Shop of Horrors. 'If it is a success – and it will be – the whole landscape for making musical theatre here could change.' Little Shop of Horrors is at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre , Dublin, from Friday, July 25th, until Saturday, August 9th
