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Gay Soper
Gay Soper is an English actress and singer. Her career includes singing ''Turn Back, O Man'' in the original 1971 London production of ''Godspell''. She sang the role of Madam Thenardier on the complete symphonic recording of ''Les Misérables'' and she narrated the children's television show '' The Flumps.'' Education Soper was trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art between 1963 and 1965. Theatrical career Soper was an alternate Eliza Doolittle on the original UK tour of ''My Fair Lady'' in 1965. She was later cast in the original 1971 London production of the musical ''Godspell'', alongside Jeremy Irons, David Essex, Julie Covington and Marti Webb. The production opened at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm and later transferred to Wyndhams Theatre. In 1974 she appeared as one of the two girlfriends in the original London production of the musical '' Billy,'' with lyrics by Don Black and music by John Barry, based on the story of Billy Liar. Billy was play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Academy Of Music And Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal is Professor Mark O'Thomas, who succeeded Director Sarah Frankcom in 2022. Benedict Cumberbatch succeeded Timothy West as President of LAMDA's Board of Trustees in 2018. The Academy's graduates work regularly at the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe, and the theatres of London's West End and Hollywood, as well as on the BBC, HBO, and Broadway. It is registered as a company under the name LAMDA Ltd and as a charity under its trading name London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. There is an associate organisation in America under the name of American Friends of LAMDA (AFLAMDA). A very high proportion of LAMDA's stage management and technical theatre graduates find work in their chosen field within ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916. It was designed to seat 759 patrons on three levels; later refurbishment increased this to four seating levels. The theatre was Grade II* listed by English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ... in September 1960. History Wyndham had always dreamed of building a theatre of his own, and through the admiration of a patron and the financial confidence of friends, he was able to realise his dream. Wyndham's Theatre opened on 16 November 1899, in the presence of the Ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salad Days (musical)
''Salad Days'' is a musical with music by Julian Slade and lyrics by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade. The musical was initially performed in 1954 in the UK in Bristol and then in the West End, where it ran for 2,283 performances. Background Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds had been working together on writing musicals since 1952, writing the book, music and lyrics. Reynolds was also an actress. They wrote ''Salad Days'' as a "summer musical for the Bristol Old Vic's resident company." The title is taken from William Shakespeare's ''Antony and Cleopatra'': "My salad days, When I was green in judgment, cold in blood, To say as I said then!", and the phrase has come to be used generally to refer to one's days of youthful inexperience. The musical's enduring popularity lies in its light-hearted innocence and apparent simplicity, in sharp contrast to the many "hard-nosed" American musicals of the era, and its bright score including the songs "We Said We Wouldn't Look Back", "I Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Side By Side By Sondheim
''Side by Side by Sondheim'' is a musical revue featuring the songs of Broadway and film composer Stephen Sondheim. Its title is derived from the song "Side by Side by Side" from ''Company''. History The musical had its origins when David Kernan was asked by Cleo Laine and her husband John Dankworth to put together a revue as a benefit for The Stables, a theatre they owned in Wavendon. Kernan contacted director Ned Sherrin and suggested that they do a revue of Sondheim material. Producer Cameron Mackintosh saw the benefit revue, which featured Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie, Kernan, and Sherrin as the narrator, and agreed to produce it."''Side by Side by Sondheim'' Article" Sondheim.com In the TV documentary ''Cameron Mackintosh: The Music Man'', Mackintosh admits that he never saw the benefit performance, but C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main news ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunday In The Park With George
''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting ''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte''. The plot revolves around George, a fictionalized version of Seurat, who immerses himself deeply in painting his masterpiece, and his great-grandson (also named George), a conflicted and cynical contemporary artist. The Broadway production opened in 1984. The musical won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony Awards for design (and a nomination for Best Musical), numerous Drama Desk Awards, the 1991 Olivier Award for Best Musical and the 2007 Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production. It has enjoyed several major revivals, including the 2005–06 UK production first presented at the Menier Chocolate Factory, its subsequent 2008 Broadway transfer, and a 2017 Broadway revival. Synopsis Act I In 1884, Georges Seurat, known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain. Founded by Laurence Olivier in 1963, many well-known actors have performed at the National Theatre. Until 1976, the company was based at The Old Vic theatre in Waterloo. The current building is located next to the Thames in the South Bank area of central London. In addition to performances at the National Theatre building, the National Theatre tours productions at theatres across the United Kingdom. The theatre has transferred numerous productions to Broadway and toured some as far as China, Australia and New Zealand. However, touring productions to European cities was suspended in February 2021 over concerns about uncertainty over work permits, additional costs and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mother Courage
Mother Courage (German ''Mutter Courage'') is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel ''Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche'' (''The Runagate Courage'') dating from around 1670. The character had played a cameo role in '' Der abentheuerliche Simplicissimus'' in 1669. The Bertolt Brecht play ''Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder'' (''Mother Courage and Her Children ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' (german: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, links=no) is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. Four theatrica ...'') gave her currency in the 20th century. Mother Courage is cast as a walking contradiction by Brecht. She is torn between protecting her children from the war and making a profit out of the war. Cúruisce (Courasche) appears in Ireland as a fictional character in Darach Ó Scolaí's Irish language novel '' An Cléireach''. After travel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A&C Black
A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing '' Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 1807 by Charles and Adam Black in Edinburgh. In 1851, the company purchased the copyrights to Sir Walter Scott's ''Waverly'' novels for £27,000. The company moved to the Soho district of London in 1889. During the years 1827–1903 the firm published the seventh, eighth and ninth editions of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. This was purchased from Archibald Constable after his company's failure to publish the seventh edition of the encyclopedia. Adam Black retired in 1870 due to his disapproval of his sons' extravagant plans for its ninth edition. This edition, however, would sell half a million sets and was released in 24 volumes from 1875 to 1889. Beginning in 1839, the firm published a series of travel guides known as ''Black's Guid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elaine Paige
Elaine Jill Paige (née Bickerstaff; born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16. Her appearance in the 1968 production of ''Hair'' marked her West End debut. Following a number of roles over the next decade, Paige was selected to play Eva Perón in the first production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''Evita'' in 1978, which brought her to the attention of the broader public. For this role, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Performance of the Year in a musical. She originated the role of Grizabella in ''Cats'' and had a Top 10 hit with "Memory", a song from the show. In 1985, Paige released "I Know Him So Well" with Barbara Dickson from the musical ''Chess'', which remains the biggest-selling record by a female duo. She then appeared in the original stage production ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Crawford
Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' and the title role in the musical ''The Phantom of the Opera''. His acclaimed performance in the latter earned him both the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He has received international critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his acting career, which has included many film and television performances as well as stage work on both London's West End and on Broadway. Crawford has also published the autobiography ''Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String''. Since 1987, he has served as the leader and public face for the British social cause organization the Sick Children's Trust. Early life and education Crawford was brought up by h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Liar
''Billy Liar'' is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse that was later adapted into a play, a film, a musical and a TV series. The work has inspired and been featured in a number of popular songs. The semi-comical story is about William Fisher, a working-class 19-year-old living with his parents in the fictional town of Stradhoughton in Yorkshire. Bored by his job as a lowly clerk for an undertaker, Billy spends his time indulging in fantasies and dreams of life in the big city as a comedy writer. Characters ;William "Billy" Fisher :Billy is 19, and living with parents Alice and Geoffrey, and his grandmother, Florence Boothroyd. Billy lies compulsively to everyone he comes across, whether it is by claiming that his father is a retired naval captain/cobbler, or telling his parents that Arthur's mother has broken her leg. Billy works as a clerk for undertakers Shadrack & Duxbury. He is engaged to two girls and in love with a third, and he constantly refers to a vague job offer wri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
