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Frances Ruffelle
Frances Ruffelle (born 29 August 1965) is an English musical theatre actress and singer. She won a Tony Award in 1987, and represented the United Kingdom in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free)", finishing 10th. The song became a UK Top 30 hit. In 1984, Ruffelle starred as Dinah in the original West End production of ''Starlight Express''. From 1985, she was the original Éponine in the first English-language productions of ''Les Misérables'' in the West End and on Broadway, winning the 1987 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Other stage roles include Yonah in ''Children of Eden'' (1991), Roxie Hart in ''Chicago'' (2003–04, 2007), the title role in '' Piaf'' (2013), Bella in ''The A to Z of Mrs. P'' (2014), and Queenie in '' The Wild Party''. Her albums include ''Fragile'' (1994), ''Frances Ruffelle'' (1998), ''Showgirl'' (2004), ''Imperfectly Me'' (2010), and ''I Say Yeh-Yeh'' (2015). Career As well as her late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Redbridge, London
Redbridge is an area of Ilford in East London, England. It gives its name to the London Borough of Redbridge, a local government district of Greater London, with which it should not be confused. Etymology The name comes from a bridge over the River Roding which was demolished in 1921. The bridge was made of red brick, unlike other bridges in the area, which were made of white stone. The name was later applied to the wider London borough created in 1965. The bridge was earlier known as ''Hocklee's Bridge''. History Historically, Redbridge formed part of the ancient parish of Barking in Essex. In 1888 it became part of the new civil parish of Ilford. The civil parish became a local board district in 1890, urban district in 1894 and municipal borough in 1926. The Municipal Borough of Ilford was abolished in 1965 and its former area became part of the London Borough of Redbridge in Greater London.'The borough of Ilford', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 5 (1966), pp. 249- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang
''P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang'', also released as ''Kipperbang'', is a British television film first shown on Channel 4 on its second night, 3 November 1982. Written by Jack Rosenthal as part of the ''First Love'' series, it is a coming-of-age film set in a grammar school in the outer London suburbs of the late forties (1948). The film was directed by Michael Apted, known for the UK TV documentary series ''7 Up''. It is the story of Alan Duckworth (John Albasiny), a young cricket-obsessed boy, and his first kiss with Ann Lawton (Abigail Cruttenden). Alan's thoughts are voiced by real life BBC Radio cricket commentator John Arlott in the style of a match commentary. The title phrase comes from a password used by members of Alan's gang. Plot Alan Duckworth (known as 'Quack Quack' to his friends) is a socially awkward fourteen-year-old who is obsessed with cricket and Ann Lawton, a girl in his class. Alan daydreams throughout his day (often with a voiceover by cricket commentator Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claude-Michel Schönberg
Claude-Michel Schönberg (born 6 July 1944, in Vannes) is a French record producer, actor, singer, songwriter, and musical theatre composer, best known for his collaborations with lyricist Alain Boublil. Major works include ''La Révolution Française (rock opera), La Révolution Française'' (1973), ''Les Misérables (musical), Les Misérables'' (1980), ''Miss Saigon'' (1989), ''Martin Guerre (musical), Martin Guerre'' (1996), ''The Pirate Queen'' (2006), and ''Marguerite (musical), Marguerite'' (2008). Career Early career Schönberg began his career as a record producer and a singer. He wrote most of the music for the French musical and rock opera ''La Révolution Française (rock opera), La Révolution Française'', France's first rock opera, in 1973. He played the role of King Louis XVI of France, Louis XVI in the show's production that year. In 1974 he wrote the music and the lyrics of the song "Le Premier Pas", which became the number one hit in France that year, selling o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucky Stiff
''Lucky Stiff'' is a musical farce. It was the first collaboration for the team of Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music). The show is based on the 1983 novel ''The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo'' by Michael Butterworth. It was created and performed at Playwrights Horizons off-Broadway in 1988, and won the Richard Rodgers Award for that year. The musical was seen in London's West End in 1997 but has not had a Broadway production. A film version had a limited release in theatres in 2015 but received mostly negative reviews. Productions ''Lucky Stiff'' premiered off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in April 1988, playing for 15 performances. Directed by Thommie Walsh, the show starred Stephen Stout as Harry, Julie White as Annabel, Stuart Zagnit as Vinnie and Mary Testa as Rita. The musical was produced at the Olney Theatre, Olney, Maryland, in May 1989, starring Evan Pappas as Harry. It won the 1990 Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical, and Pappas w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roxie Hart
Roxanne "Roxie" Hart is a fictional character. She is the main character of the 1926 play ''Chicago'' and its various remakes and derivatives. Development The playwright, reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, was inspired by the trials, both of which ended in acquittals, of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner (for separate crimes), which she covered for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Annan's story served as the basis for the play: she had killed her paramour Harry Kalstedt and was able to convince her auto mechanic husband Albert to pay for her successful defense, only to dump him the day after the trial. For the play, Annan was fictionalized as Roxie Hart, Kalstedt became Fred Casely, and Albert became Amos Hart. Some of the details of Gaertner's crime, including her past as a vaudeville singer (Annan was a bookkeeper) and blaming of her misdeed on getting drunk, were also applied to the Roxie character. The 1975 musical adaptation bases Hart's mannerisms on Helen Morgan. Character background ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Schwartz (composer)
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theater lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as ''Godspell'' (1971), ''Pippin'' (1972), and ''Wicked'' (2003). He has contributed lyrics to a number of successful films, including ''Pocahontas'' (1995), ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996), ''The Prince of Egypt'' (1998, music and lyrics), and '' Enchanted'' (2007). Schwartz has won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, three Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards, and has been nominated for six Tony Awards. He received the 2015 Isabelle Stevenson Award, a special Tony Award, for his commitment to serving artists and fostering new talent. Early life and education Schwartz was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Sheila Lorna (née Siegel), a teacher, and Stanley Leonard Schwartz, a businessman. He grew up in the Williston Park area of Nassau County, New York, where he gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 27 March 2000) was a British singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and before that of Kilburn and the High Roads. Biography Early life Dury was born, and spent his early years, at his parents' home at 43 Weald Rise, Harrow Weald, Middlesex (though he often pretended that he had been born in Upminster, Essex, which all but one of his obituaries in the UK national press stated as fact). His father, William George Dury (born 23 September 1905, Southborough, Kent; died 25 February 1968), was a local bus driver and former boxer, while his mother Margaret (known as "Peggy", born Margaret Cuthbertson Walker, 17 April 1910, Rochdale, Lancashire; died January 1995) was a health visitor, the daughter of a Cornish doctor and the granddaughter of an Irish landowner. William Dury trained with Rolls-Royce to be a cha ... [...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] |
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. Several of his songs have been widely recorded and were successful outside of their parent musicals, such as "Memory" from '' Cats,'' "The Music of the Night" and " All I Ask of You" from ''The Phantom of the Opera'', "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from ''Evita'', and " Any Dream Will Do" from '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.'' In 2001, ''The New York Times'' referred to him as "the most commercially successful composer in history". ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him the "fifth most powerful person in British culture" in 2008, lyricist Don Black writing "Andrew more or less single-ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinah The Dining Car
''Starlight Express'' is a 1984 British musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It tells the story of a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, who races in a championship against modern engines in the hope of impressing a first-class observation car, Pearl. Famously, the actors perform on roller skates. ''Starlight Express'' is the ninth-longest-running West End show and the most successful musical in Germany, where it has been performed in a purpose-built theatre since 1988, holding the Guinness World Record for most visitors to a musical in a single theatre. Background ''Starlight Express'' has its roots in three abandoned projects: an animated TV series based on Thomas the Tank Engine, a novelty pop single, and an animated film based on Cinderella. In 1974, Lloyd Webber approached author Reverend W. Awdry about adapting Awdry's Thomas the Tank Engine stories as an animated TV series. Following the meeting, Lloyd Webber started composin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sleeping Prince (play)
''The Sleeping Prince: An Occasional Fairy Tale'' is a 1953 play by Terence Rattigan, conceived to coincide with the coronation of Elizabeth II in the same year. Set in London in 1911, it tells the story of Mary Morgan, a young actress, who meets and ultimately captivates Prince Charles of Carpathia, considered to be inspired by Carol II of Romania. Plot In 1911, England, George V will be crowned king in a few days. In the meanwhile, many important guests and dignitaries arrive in Buckingham Palace for the coronation. Among them are: King Nicholas VIII of Balkan country of Carpathia, his father the Prince Regent, Charles, and his grandmother, the widowed Queen Dowager (the royals have probably been inspired by King Michael I of Romania, Carol II of Romania and Queen Marie of Romania.) The British government pamper the Royals during their stay in order to maintain Carpathian in the Triple Entente as the tensions between ruling families all over Europe is rising. So, they take Pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wansell. ''Terence Rattigan'' (London: Fourth Estate, 1995); He wrote ''The Winslow Boy'' (1946), '' The Browning Version'' (1948), '' The Deep Blue Sea'' (1952) and ''Separate Tables'' (1954), among many others. A troubled homosexual who saw himself as an outsider, Rattigan wrote a number of plays which centred on issues of sexual frustration, failed relationships, or a world of repression and reticence. Early life Terence Rattigan was born in 1911 in South Kensington,Wansell, p. 13. London, of Irish extraction. He had an elder brother, Brian. They were the grandsons of Sir William Henry Rattigan, a notable India-based jurist and later a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament for North-East Lanarkshire. His father was Frank Rattigan CMG, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
