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Dave Willetts
Dave Willetts (born 24 June 1952) is an English singer and actor known for having leading roles in West End musicals. Early life Born in Marston Green, Birmingham, in 1952 and then brought up in Acocks Green. He first went to Cottesbrooke Infants primary school and later to Sheldon Heath Comprehensive (now known as King Edward VI Sheldon Heath Academy). His father worked at Rover. He has completed a Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme programme. After leaving school at 16, he joined Girling Brakes as an apprentice, in Cwmbran, Wales. He then moved to another Girlings plant in Pontypool, with his then girlfriend Lyn. One night he went out with workmates to see “No, No Nanette” by thNew Venture Players an amateur drama group based in Newport. based at the Dolman Theatre. Despite rarely ever visiting a theatre, impressed by the play, he became interested in amateur dramatics. He auditioned for the New Venture Players next production, added finally landed a role. After 10 y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marston Green
Marston Green is a large suburban village of around 5,000 residents in the civil parish of Bickenhill and Marston Green, in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands. It lies within the historic counties of England, historic county of Warwickshire. Situated at the eastern fringe of the West Midlands conurbation, the village is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. Marston Green railway station lies on the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line railway and is served by West Midlands Trains local services to Birmingham New Street railway station, Birmingham and Coventry railway station, Coventry, and a small number of semi-fast services to Northampton railway station, Northampton and Euston railway station, London Euston. Notable features of the area include a number of shops, the Marston Green Tavern, St Leonards Church and Marston Green Infant and Junior schools. History Marston Green began as a small vill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newport, Wales
Newport ( cy, Casnewydd; ) is a city and Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county borough in Wales, situated on the River Usk close to its confluence with the Severn Estuary, northeast of Cardiff. With a population of 145,700 at the 2011 census, Newport is the third-largest authority with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Wales, and seventh List of Welsh principal areas, most populous overall. Newport became a unitary authority in 1996 and forms part of the Cardiff-Newport metropolitan area. Newport was the site of the last large-scale armed insurrection in Great Britain, the Newport Rising of 1839. Newport has been a port since medieval times when the first Newport Castle was built by the Normans. The town outgrew the earlier Roman Britain, Roman town of Caerleon, immediately upstream and now part of the borough. Newport gained its first Municipal charter, charter in 1314. It grew significantly in the 19th century when its port became the focus of Coa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colm Wilkinson
Colm Wilkinson (born 5 June 1944), also known as C. T. Wilkinson, is an Irish tenor and actor who is best known for originating the lead role of Jean Valjean in ''Les Misérables'' (in the West End and Broadway) and for taking the title role in ''The Phantom of the Opera'' at the Sydmonton Festival and the original Canadian production. Due to his association with these musicals, he reprised the role of Jean Valjean during the ''Les Misérables'' 10th Anniversary Concert (at The Royal Albert Hall), as well as appearing as a special guest at both the 25th Anniversary Celebrations of ''Les Misérables'' (at the O2 arena) and ''The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall''. His versions of both "The Music of the Night" from ''Phantom'' and " Bring Him Home" from ''Les Misérables'' are acclaimed throughout the world; fans "insist he perform them...at all his concerts." Early life Born in Drimnagh, in 1944, in the downstairs room of his parents' house, Colm was one of ten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas for the stage, like ''Macbeth'', as well as opera and musicals, such as '' Cats'' (1981) and ''Les Misérables'' (1985). Nunn has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical, winning Tonys for ''Cats'', ''Les Misérables'', and ''Nicholas Nickleby'' and the Olivier Awards for productions of ''Summerfolk'', ''The Merchant of Venice'', ''Troilus and Cressida'', and ''Nicholas Nickleby''. In 2008 ''The Telegraph'' named him among the most influential people in British culture. He has also directed works for film and television. Early years Nunn was born in Ipswich, E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annie (musical)
''Annie'' is a Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip ''Little Orphan Annie'' and loosely based on the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" written by James Whitcomb Riley. The musical includes music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a musical theater, book by Thomas Meehan (writer), Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre). It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won seven Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical's songs "Tomorrow (song from Annie), Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are among its most popular musical numbers. Background Charnin first approached Meehan to write the book of a musical about ''Little Orphan Annie'' in 1972. Meehan researched by rereading prints of the comic strip, but was unable to fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed by Coventry City Council. Historic counties of England, Formerly part of Warwickshire until 1451, Coventry had a population of 345,328 at the 2021 census, making it the tenth largest city in England and the 12th largest in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest city in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, after Birmingham, from which it is separated by an area of Green belt (United Kingdom), green belt known as the Meriden Gap, and the third largest in the wider Midlands after Birmingham and Leicester. The city is part of a larger conurbation known as the Coventry and Bedworth Urban Area, which in 2021 had a population of 389,603. Coventry is east-south-east of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belgrade Theatre
The Belgrade Theatre is a live performance venue in Coventry, England. It was the first civic theatre to be built in Britain after the Second World War and is now a Grade II listed building. Background Coventry was the fastest growing city in Britain between the First and Second World Wars. Its cramped medieval streets were becoming dangerously congested and overcrowded, and in 1938 the City Council appointed Donald Gibson to become the first city architect. The newly created City Architect's Department had ambitious plans, and the devastation of the Coventry Blitz allowed it more freedom to design an entirely new city centre. In 1955 Gibson resigned; extensive work had already taken place in the city centre but a growing Coventry required further development. The person that took over from him, Arthur Ling, would be the designer of the Belgrade Theatre. Some versions of the overall plan for the city centre included three new theatres and cinemas, but during the 1950s it bec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenilworth
Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the River Avon (Warwickshire), River Avon north-east of the town. At the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 Census, the population was 22,538. The town is home to the ruins of Kenilworth Castle and St Mary's Abbey, Kenilworth, Kenilworth Abbey. History Medieval and Tudor A settlement existed at Kenilworth by the time of the 1086 Domesday Book, which records it as ''Chinewrde''. Geoffrey de Clinton (died 1134) initiated the building of an Kenilworth Abbey, Augustinian priory in 1122, which coincided with his initiation of Kenilworth Castle. The priory was raised to the rank of an abbey in 1450 and suppressed with the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. Thereafter, the abbey grounds next to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flowers For Algernon
''Flowers for Algernon'' is a short story by American author Daniel Keyes, later expanded by him into a novel and subsequently adapted for film and other media. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960. The novel was published in 1966 and was joint winner of that year's Nebula Award for Best Novel (with ''Babel-17''). Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, the first human subject for the surgery, and it touches on ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled. Although the book has often been challenged for removal from libraries in the United States and Canada, sometimes successfully, it is frequently taught in schools around the world and has been adapted many times for television, theater, radi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Strouse
Charles Strouse (born June 7, 1928) is an American composer and lyricist best known for writing the music to such Broadway musicals as ''Bye Bye Birdie (musical), Bye Bye Birdie'', ''Applause (musical), Applause'', and ''Annie (musical), Annie''. Life and career Strouse was born in New York City, to Jewish parents, Ethel (née Newman) and Ira Strouse, who worked in the tobacco business. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, he studied under Arthur Victor Berger, Arthur Berger, David Diamond (composer), David Diamond, Aaron Copland and Nadia Boulanger."Charles Strouse" masterworksbroadway.com, retrieved December 11, 2017 Strouse's first Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musical was ''Bye Bye Birdie (musical), Bye Bye Birdie'', with lyrics by Lee Adams, which opened in 1960. Adams became his long-time colla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. They are split into the West Midlands and East Midlands. The region's biggest city, Birmingham often considered the social, cultural, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands, is the second-largest city and metropolitan area in the United Kingdom. Symbolism A saltire (diagonal cross) may have been used as a symbol of Mercia as early as the reign of Offa. By the 13th century, the saltire had become the attributed arms of the Kingdom of Mercia. The arms are blazoned ''Azure, a saltire Or'', meaning a gold (or yellow) saltire on a blue field. The saltire is used as both a flag and a coat of arms. As a flag, it is flown from Tamworth Castle, the ancient seat of the Mercian Kings, to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
