 You can next catch Rebecca onstage as she returns to the roles of Donna/Oolie in the West End transfer of the Donmar's Olivier award winning production of City of Angels.
A screenwriter with a movie to finish. A private eye with a case to crack. But nothing’s black and white when a dame is involved. And does anyone stick to the script in this city? This is Tinseltown. You gotta ask yourself: what’s real… and what’s reel… Josie Rourke’s “ingenious, stupendous revival” (The Telegraph) premiered in 2014, when it was hailed as “a blissful evening” (The Stage) that’s “smart, seductive and very funny” (Evening Standard). With a swinging score by Cy Coleman and David Zippel and a brilliantly witty book by Larry Gelbart, CITY OF ANGELS is a musical love letter to the glamorous world of old Hollywood and film noir. The West End production will also star Hadley Fraser, Theo James, Rosalie Craig, Jonathan Slinger, Nicola Roberts and Vanessa Williams. Performances run from March 5th-September 5th at the Garrick theatre. Click the link below to book! https://www.cityofangelsmusical.co.uk/
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Hello!
So it seems rather fitting that on a bitterly cold and snowy day like today, that the first rehearsal of a piece called Heart of Winter took place.... Heart of Winter is a one woman song cycle I'm very much looking forward to performing at the INK Festival in Suffolk on April 7th-8th. Written by Tim Connor and Lia Buddle, it tells the story of a young teacher, Kate, who struggles to adjust after her first long-term relationship falls apart. Imagine Cathy from The Last Five Years (but arguably more well adjusted and very, VERY Northern) and you're in the ballpark! It's a beautiful piece of writing and I'm both delighted and terrified to get my hands on it. Having the wonderful Susan Raasay and Caroline Humphris at the helm as director and musical director respectively is hugely comforting though! If you find yourself oop North in April, do come along and watch. Ink Festival itself is an annual weekend festival of new short plays, musicals, radio and film, plus a growing programme of workshops and talks, as well as a children’s programme, so there's masses of exciting stuff to come and watch. As well as that, I'll be performing an extract from another new piece of Tim's, based on The Bridge of San Luis Rey, tomorrow at the BEAM Festival at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, alongside the delectable Alex Young... Who is hosting the Sondheim society concert I'm singing at on March 5th at the Phoenix Arts club... Which has been some form of preparation for Sondheim on Sondheim at the Royal Festival Hall, which I'm also singing at on March 15th... Now excuse me whilst I go and have a quiet nervous breakdown over the giant pile of sheet music in the corner. R x INK Festival tickets Alex Young and friends tickets Sondheim on Sondheim tickets Hello!
Just a quick one to update you lovely people on my upcoming concert dates. I'm rather excited to be getting a bit of a European jolly thrown in to the bargain for some of them! First up, I'm jetting off to Ljubljana for a concert on August 21st. Next up is Proms in the Park in Swansea on Sept 9th, swiftly followed by a visit to the Toulon Opera House on Sept 16th. I'm hugely excited to then be singing the opening number at this year's West End Bares charity performance at the Novello theatre on October 29th. It's always the most brilliant night and for a wonderful cause. I can't wait, do come along if you can! I'll be finishing up the year in Lille with a series of Bernstein concerts between the 14th-22nd December, before scooting over to Lyon to see in the new year with concerts from Dec 29th-Jan 1st, 2018. Links to book for all events are below. Hope to see some of you on my travels! R x Ljubljana - August 21st Proms in the Park, Swansea - Sept 9th Toulon - Sept 16th West End Bares - Novello Theatre, Oct 29th Lille - Dec 14th-22nd Lyon - Dec 29th-Jan 1st, 2018
Hello readers,
After an unashamedly lazy period of blogging radio silence, I have some news of the jobs variety to share, in the hope that I'll get to see some of your lovely faces soon! First up, I'm very excited to be heading back to the Southwark Playhouse (for another show set in San Francisco... hello Dogfight memories.) I'll be appearing in The Diary of a Teenage Girl from March 1st-25th. And drumroll please; it's a play. No singing. None. Hoorah! The play recounts the coming-of-age adventures of Minnie Goetze, a San Francisco teenager who begins a secret affair with her mother’s boyfriend. I play said mother; ouch. Based on the critically acclaimed graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner, which was later turned into a major award-winning motion picture film starring Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård and Kristen Wiig, Marielle Heller’s explosive play is a sharp, funny and provocative account of one girl’s sexual and artistic awakening, without judgment. Which is why I like it so much. You so often see these stories from a male perspective and it's deeply refreshing to read such a frank and unflinching account from the other side. Required viewing for all, but especially you young women out there. Tickets start at £12, purchase link below. Also, I'm ridiculously excited to be making my Friday Night is Music Night debut very soon, alongside Doug LeBreque, Debbie Gravitte and Matt Ford. Tune in to BBC radio 2 at 8pm on February 14th for a glorious Gershwin tribute concert, with the wonderful Larry Blank conducting. Seriously, those songs are stunning and with the BBC concert orchestra playing them? No words. Lastly, I'll be singing again for one of my favourite contemporary composers, the wonderful Jonathan Reid Gealt at his concert on Feb 16th at the Hippodrome, Leicester Square. Jonathan is one of the nicest human beings I've ever met and lord, but he writes a good song. I'll be performing alongside Natalie Weiss, Craig Colton and Andy Coxon, with other guests to be announced. What's not to like? Come along! Oh, and I'm also looking forward to workshopping The Wicker Husband by Darren Clark and Rhys Jennings very soon, in development with Mercury Musicals. It was the 2016 winner of the MTI Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award in 2016. Afraid you can't see that one... yet. But if you'd like to learn more about it, there's a youtube link below! Til next time, R Diary of a Teenage Girl Jonathan Reid Gealt concert tickets The Wicker Husband
And the answer? Not two gigs, but three! Get your diaries out....
First up is an evening with the lovely Will Barratt, Live at the Pheasantry on Sunday 3rd April. I recorded a couple of songs on Will's gorgeous debut album, Confessions Of A Justified Sinner last year (which is well worth a listen and can be purchased here, if you haven't already). After a sell out launch gig at The Hippodrome last summer, Will returns to knock your socks off with a selection of songs both old and new. The evening will also feature the wonderful Nadim Naaman (Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd) and Jeremy Secomb, (Les Miserables, Sweeney Todd) with a live band led by the incredible Joe Davison. All this, and you can eat pizza at the same time. What's not to like?! Next up is the hugely popular concert series, West End Fest at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden on Sunday, 15th May. In conjunction with The MadTrust, the latest evening will feature a stellar line up of West End performers who will be tackling their favourite songs from their favourite icons in their own, inimitable way. These gigs are always great fun and you can pat yourselves on the back for doing your bit for charity whilst we belt in your face, too! The third gig is one for the Welshies among you! I will be disembarking from the Showboat for an evening in order to perform in the opening concert of the National Eisteddfod on Friday, July 29th. Fellow guests include Only Men Aloud, Gwawr Edwards and Caryl Hughes. It's sure to be a great evening and I'm very much looking forward to a flying visit to my homeland. I'll update you with ticket information when I have it. Hope to see you there! R Will Barratt at the Pheasantry West End Fest  Hello sailors,
I'm absolutely thrilled that the Cotton Blossom has set sail from Sheffield's Crucible and will be docking at the New London Theatre for a limited run beginning April 9th. It was a privilege and pleasure to be a part of this production and I'm very much looking forward to sharing it with a new audience before very long. Tickets went on sale at 10am this morning; check out our shiny new website, www.showboatmusical.co.uk for all the info you need to book! In the meantime, get following @ShowBoatMusical on Twitter and check out our Facebook page for all the latest production news. Hope to see some of you on the banks of the Mississippi before long! R x 
So the courtroom drama I filmed over the summer starts going out tonight. Excuse me whilst I have a mini freakout...
Dim ond y Gwir (Nothing But The Truth) will follow law court workers as they try to balance work, life and leisure, and a number of long-held secrets will come to light, both in and out of court. In the first two episodes, we follow a child’s murder case. There are twelve episodes in the series, with each case evolving over two episodes. Other cases involve violence, arson, prostitution, burglary and euthanasia. I play Karen McKay, a kick-ass barrister with a lousy personal life. Filming the series and working in Wales again after such a long time in London was an absolute joy and I'm excited/terrified to see what people think of it! The program starts transmitting on S4C at 8:30pm tonight, with a repeat going out every Tuesday at 11pm. Although it was filmed in Welsh, there are subtitles available for the non-Welsh speakers amongst you! It can also be watched live on BBC iplayer and Clic, S4C's equivalent, links below. So do me a favour and stick S4C on every TV in your house at 8:30pm for the next twelve Wednesdays. I'd really like it to get picked up for a second series. I have London rent to pay...! Trailer and interview footage below, if you need any more convincing! Watch live on BBC iplayer Watch live on S4C Clic
Firstly, apologies to Sondheim for the terrible pun. Couldn't resist. Secondly; what to do when two concerts you really want to take part in come along on the same day, at the same time? Well, where there's a will (and a great deal of goodwill on the part of others), there is fortunately a way! To that end, I'm greatly looking forward to the return, for one day only, of one of my favourite jobs in recent memory. Dogfight at Southwark Playhouse was an incredibly special experience for all involved (and at times, a controversial one too; for a recap, see my previous blog post here). I'm thrilled that the majority of the company will be reuniting for a matinee and evening concert performance of the production in the main space at the St James on October 11th. The problem was, at time of receiving confirmation of Dogfight in concert, I'd already agreed to take part in the launch of Jonathan Reid Gealt's new album, Whatever I Want It To Be. On October 11th. At the St James Studio... Luckily for me, both Jonathan and the lovely Danielle Tarento have been remarkably accommodating and have worked out a plan that allows me to take part in both concerts. Having performed at the launch of Jonathan's previous album a few years ago, I can't wait to get my teeth stuck into his new material. So, if you fancy a laugh watching me running around like a headless chicken on October 11th, come down to the St James! My eternal, undying gratitude to those who make it along to both concerts... Oh, and just to complicate things a little more, I will have spent the entire week workshopping a new musical called Midnight, by Laurence Mark Wythe and Timothy Knapman, at, you guessed it; the St James. I may as well move in. Hope to see some of you there! Dogfight tickets Jonathan Reid Gealt tickets  Hello! Or helo, as the Welsh would have it... Bet you'd never have guessed without my translation, right?!
I'm going to be making a flying visit to London whilst on hiatus from filming (let's just take a moment for the utter, wanky delight I'm experiencing in having an excuse to use the word hiatus.... Sue me, it makes me happy) to sing at the launch gig of my dear friend Will Barratt's album, and I can't bloody wait for you all to hear it. Believe me when I say that this is not your typical, MT-type-releases-album-just-because project. In addition to being an incredibly gifted singer, actor and pianist, turns out Mr Barratt is a devastatingly talented songwriter, too. Honestly, if he weren't such a good friend I'd probably have to punch him in the face. Each and every track on the album is an original composition, in a multitude of styles, unified by the skill and sincerity with which they are written. I appear on a few songs; as perky backing vocalist, Russian hooker (really) and lastly on a song written just for me. Now, it's kind of weird that Will can apparently read my mind (get that microchip out of me right now, Barratt). All facetiousness aside though, my lovely friend has written me the song that honestly, I wish I could've written, about the defining loss of my life so far. It's a hell of a gift to receive; of all the many songs I've recorded over the years it is hands down, my favourite and I feel incredibly privileged that I'm the first to get my grubby hands on it. Love you longtime, WB. Enough soppy stuff! The gig will be at the Hippodrome, Leicester Square on August 9th at 7pm. In addition to Will and myself, the lineup features Ryan Molloy, Nadim Naaman, Michael Conway and a live band led by Joe Davison (who also produced the album; take my word for it, if you're after recording something yourself you will not find a better producer, the man's incredible). Knowing Will and Joe, I have no doubt the band will be as tight as a gnat's chuff and I can't wait to hear what the rest of those lovely, shiny West End men do with the songs on the bill. There is a also Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign associated with the whole project, for which the link is below. You can purchase tickets to the gig here and if you feel so inclined, pledge towards the album, which has mostly been self-funded up to this point. Any pledges will go towards helping with the launch gig, proper promotion of the album and to film a music/dance video of one of the album tracks. There are some great rewards on offer, such as signed albums, special items from the creation of the album and private gigs. C'mon, how many more incentives must I offer?! Get involved! Please come along and *klaxon* support new writing. I'm so proud of Will and thrilled to have played a small part in the project. I promise you it'll be a cracking night. Kthanksbye. Kickstarter campaign; gig tickets, albums and more! Hippodrome site Auburn Jam production and recording studio Hello!
I've *woefully neglected* this blog, so if you're still here and reading, ta very much! Just a quick bit of info on a couple of upcoming gigs, for those who are interested/gluttons for punishment... First up is Symphonic Rock at the Albert Hall on May 1st. The eagle eyed/elephant memoried among you will know that it's a gig I've done numerous times before over the years. No false advertising; those of us singing are there to do some BV's and not much else, however if you fancy a night listening to the RPO tear through some classic rock songs, it's always a fun evening and a great atmosphere. Next gig is another revisit; West End Unplugged, at the St James Studio on May 24th. The last one is still up there as one of my favourites in recent memory; the lovely Kris Rawlinson did an incredible job of re-arranging West End songs you'll likely be familiar with in ways that made them sound brand spanking new, so I can't wait to hear what he comes up with this time around! Links to book for both gigs below. Also, I'm going to be bringing my Welsh speaking brain out of retirement and scooting off to my homeland for a few months over the summer, to shoot a new legal drama series for S4C. Looking forward to channeling my inner Ally McBeal! I'll keep you posted about transmission dates, etc when I know more. Lastly, tune into the Oliviers on Sunday night and you might just see some of us City of Angels lot up there...! Rebecca Symphonic Rock Tickets West End Unplugged Tickets * = Couldn't be arsed with/had nothing remotely interesting to blog about |
