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David Thaxton
David Thaxton (born 12 May 1982) is a Welsh singer, actor and musical theatre and opera performer. He starred in the Donmar Warehouse's '' Passion'', for which he won the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He previously starred as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, in Her Majesty's Theatre. He previously appeared as Enjolras in the West End production of ''Les Misérables''. In March 2011, he joined the cast of '' Love Never Dies'', undertaking the role of Raoul de Chagny. Later then playing the role of Kevin T in the London production of ''Come from Away''. Early life and education Thaxton was born in Neath, South Wales. He attended Grimston Primary School and Springwood High School in King's Lynn, Norfolk, and subsequently won a scholarship to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, following a four-year vocal studies course, where he was awarded Young Welsh Musical Theatre Singer of the Year 2005 and was runner-up in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Passion (musical)
''Passion'' is a one-act musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine. The story was adapted from Ettore Scola's 1981 film '' Passione d'Amore'', and its source material, Iginio Ugo Tarchetti's 1869 novel '' Fosca''. Central themes include love, sex, obsession, illness, passion, beauty, power and manipulation. ''Passion'' is notable for being one of the few projects that Stephen Sondheim himself conceived, along with ''Sweeney Todd'' and '' Road Show''. Set in Risorgimento-era Italy, the plot concerns a young soldier and the changes in him brought about by the obsessive love of Fosca, his Colonel's homely, ailing cousin. Background and history The story originally came from a 19th-century novel by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti, an experimental Italian writer who was prominently associated with the Scapigliatura movement. His book ''Fosca'' was a fictionalized recounting of an affair he'd once had with an epileptic woman when he was a soldier. Sondheim fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Youth Music Theatre
The National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT) is an arts organisation in the United Kingdom providing pre-professional education and musical theatre stage experience for young people. Based in London, it is constituted as a private limited company (originally named Children's Music Theatre Limited) and as a registered charity. NYMT was founded in 1976 by director and playwright Jeremy James Taylor. Since its inception, it has produced over fifty productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, premièred thirty new musical theatre works, toured several times outside the United Kingdom, and had runs in the West End and on Broadway. Amongst the many alumni of the National Youth Music Theatre who have gone on to careers in the performing arts are Jude Law (one of its patrons), Jonny Lee Miller, Sheridan Smith, Connie Fisher, Idris Elba and Matt Lucas. Alumni have also included directors such as Jo Davies, and songwriters such as Tara Mcdonald. Activities The NYMT's primary activity is the edu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals. The theatre was Grade II listed for historical preservation on 1 December 1987. History 19th century It was founded in 1806 as the Sans Pareil ("Without Compare"), by merchant John Scott, and his daughter Jane (1770–1839). Jane was a British theatre manager, performer, and playwright. Together, they gathered a theatrical company and by 1809 the theatre was licensed for musical entertainments, pantomime, and burletta. She wrote more than fifty stage pieces in an array of genres: melodramas, pantomimes, farces, comic operettas, historical dramas, and adaptations, as well as translations. Jane Scott retired to Surrey in 1819, marrying John Davies Middleton (1790–186 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olivier Award
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984. The awards are given to individuals involved in West End productions and other leading non-commercial theatres based in London across a range of categories covering plays, musicals, dance, opera and affiliate theatre. A discretionary non-competitive Special Olivier Award is also given each year. The Olivier Awards are recognised internationally as the highest honour in British theatre, equivalent to the BAFTA Awards for film and television, and the BRIT Awards for music. The Olivier Awards are considered equivalent to Broadway's Tony Awards and France's Molière Award. Since inception, the awards have been held at var ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy Propst
Andy Propst was an arts journalist, theater critic, and writer living in Peachtree City, Georgia. Early work as a critic In 1998, he founded what would become one of the Internet's first major theater portals for theater news, reviews and production listings onlineAmericanTheaterWeb.com It was a site that predated and inspired such sites as TheaterMania and BroadwayWorld.com. The uniqueness of the site and its pioneering nature for the theater community attracted remarkable press coverage, including a feature in ''The New York Times''. Expanding outlets Propst continued to run the site through 2009, even as he began to write reviews and features for print publications, including ''Backstage'', ''The Village Voice'', ''TimeOut NY'', and ''The Sondheim Review''. He and AmericanTheaterWeb also became affiliated with XM Satellite Radio's XM 28 On Broadway Channel, and for four years, he provided daily "Broadway and Beyond" reports and served as a deejay for the channel with prog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scarlett Strallen
Scarlett Aimee Vaigncourt-Strallen (born 3 July 1982) is an English stage actress, best known for her work in musical theatre productions in the West End and on Broadway. She has received two Olivier Award nominations, in 2006 for her portrayal of Josephine in ''HMS Pinafore'', performed at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and in 2012 for her role in ''Singin' in the Rain''. Strallen is also a former voice actress. Early life She is the eldest sister of Summer Strallen, Zizi Strallen and Saskia 'Sasi' Strallen, all of whom are also actresses. Zizi played Mary Poppins like her eldest sister, first in a new UK tour and subsequently in the West End. Her parents, performers Sandy Strallen and Cherida Langford, both performed in the original London production of Cats (but had met prior to this show). She is the niece of stage and TV actress Bonnie Langford (her mother's sister). Her godfather is Christopher Biggins. Biography Strallen played the title role in the West End productio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elena Roger
Elena Silvia Roger (born October 27, 1974, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine actress who won the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Édith Piaf in '' Piaf''. She has also appeared in the West End in ''Evita'', '' Boeing-Boeing'', and '' Passion''. Argentine career Prior to being cast as Eva Perón in the West End revival of ''Evita,'' Roger was already a performer in her native Buenos Aires. In 1997, she was nominated for the Trinidad Guevara Award as Best Breakthrough Female for her work in ''Yo Que Tu Me Enamoraba.'' She went on to appear in several productions including ''Nine'', ''Houdini'', ''Beauty and the Beast'', and '' Fiddler on the Roof'', as well as starring in ''Les Misérables'' as Fantine, and '' Saturday Night Fever'' as Annette. For the 2002/2003 season, she was nominated for an ACE Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in ''Jazz, Swing, Tap.'' The following season, she starred in the show, ''Mina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Lapine
James Elliot Lapine (born January 10, 1949) is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for ''Into the Woods'', ''Falsettos'', and '' Passion''. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn. Early life Lapine was born in Mansfield, Ohio, the son of Lillian (Feld) and David Sanford Lapine. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1971. Though he did not actively pursue theatre in childhood, Lapine did play Jack in an elementary school production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Career Lapine did graduate study in photography and graphic design at the California Institute of the Arts, where he received an MFA in 1973."Stars Over Broadway, James Lapine" pbs.com, accessed March 10, 2011 He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with shows that tackle "unexpected themes that range far beyond the enre'straditional subjects" with "music and lyrics of unprecedented complexity and sophistication." His shows address "darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience," with songs often tinged with "ambivalence" about various aspects of life. He was known for his frequent collaborations with Hal Prince and James Lapine on the Broadway stage. Sondheim's interest in musical theater began at a young age, and he was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II. He began his career by writing the lyrics for ''West Side Story'' (1957) and ''Gypsy'' (1959). He transitioned to writing both music and lyrics for the theater, with his best-known works including '' A Funny Thing Happened on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Javert
Javert (), no first name given in the source novel, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables.'' He was presumably born in 1780 and died on June 7, 1832. First a prison guard, and then a police inspector, his character is defined by his legalist tendencies and lack of empathy for criminals of all forms. In the novel, he becomes obsessed with the pursuit and punishment of the protagonist Jean Valjean after his violation of parole. Character As Hugo depicts it, Javert's misguided and self-destructive pursuit of justice is more tragic than villainous. He is "a compound" of "respect for authority and hatred of rebellion," Hugo writes, "but he made them almost bad by dint of his exaggeration of them". Reflective thought is "an uncommon thing for him, and singularly painful" because thought inevitably contains "a certain amount of internal rebellion." He is without vices, but upon occasion will take a pinch of snuff. His life is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sondheim Theatre
The Sondheim Theatre (formerly the Queen's Theatre) is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue on the corner of Wardour Street in the City of Westminster, London. It opened as the Queen's Theatre on 8 October 1907, as a twin to the neighbouring Hicks Theatre (now the Gielgud Theatre) which had opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre was Grade II listed by English Heritage in June 1972. In 2019 the theatre's name was changed from the Queen's to the Sondheim Theatre (after Stephen Sondheim) after a 20 week refurbishment. The theatre reopened on 18 December 2019. History The original plan was to name the venue the ''Central Theatre''. However, after lengthy debate, it was named the Queen's Theatre and a portrait of Queen Alexandra was hung in the foyer. The first production at the Queen's Theatre was a comedy by Madeleine Lucette Ryley called ''The Sugar Bowl''. Although it was poorly received and ran for only 36 perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rake's Progress
''The Rake's Progress'' is an English-language opera from 1951 in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings ''A Rake's Progress'' (1733–1735) of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on 2 May 1947, in a Chicago exhibition. The story concerns the decline and fall of one Tom Rakewell, who deserts Anne Trulove for the delights of London in the company of Nick Shadow, who turns out to be the Devil. After several misadventures, all initiated by the devious Shadow, Tom ends up in Bedlam, a hospital for the insane at that time situated in the City of London. The moral of the tale is: "For idle hearts and hands and minds the Devil finds work to do." Performance history It was first performed at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 11 September 1951, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf creating the role of Anne Trulove, and Robert Rounseville that of Tom Rakewell. It was fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
