Amateur Stage Magazine

As a friend of Amateur Stage we're pleased to bring you this special offer for tickets for all the final stops on Helena Blackman's Journey To The Past tour.

Since Disney's first full length animated movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarves graced cinema screens in 1937, animated films have touched the hearts and lives of billions of people the world over. From the captivating 1950s portrayals of classic fairy tales such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to the reawakening of the ancient Chinese poem Mulan and the romanticised retelling of the lost Romanov Princess Anastasia during the late 1990s, animated films have continued to enthral audiences old and new through their dream like imagery and use of some of the most famous and magical songs in the history of film. During the 1990s alone, 6 Academy Awards for 'Best Original Song' were awarded to animated films including Aladdin, Beauty and The Beast and Tarzan to name but a few.
Audiences are in for a treat as they hear songs written by some of the most famous songwriters of the stage and screen including Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, most famous for their collaborations on Disney classics including The Little Mermaid and Beauty and The Beast, Tim Rice and Stephen Schwartz, who has since gone on to write the lyrics for theatrical favourite, Wicked. 
 
Helena will take her audience on a nostalgic ride through a wealth of timeless songs, including moving renditions of Disney Classics; 'Part of Your World' (The Little Mermaid), 'Colours of the Wind' (Pocahontas), 'A Whole New World' (Aladdin); songs from Disney's latest animated fairytale Tangled and the Oscar Winning Beauty & the Beast;and songs from An American Tail, The Land Before Time, Thumbelina and the show's title song 'Journey to the Past' from Anastasia; as well as many, many more. The intimate performance, with Helena just inches from her audience, is sure to have most reliving the soundtrack of their youth, whilst allowing younger generations to discover these enchanting musical numbers for the very first time.
 
Helena Blackman first captured the nation's attention and the unfailing support of Andrew Lloyd Webber on the BBC's 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'. Since then, Helena has gone on to headline the acclaimed UK tour of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific and starred in the West End première of Stephen Sondheim's Saturday Night. Helena released her highly successful debut album 'The Sound of Rodgers & Hammerstein' in February 2011, launching the album with a concert at the Delfont Room in London's West End. Subsequently, she toured the UK as a guest artist with number one charting classical singer Jonathan Ansell, rounding off the year on a high with a stunning performance of the songs from her album at the prestigious Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall.   

You can now save 25% off on tickets purchased for the entire tour when you quote AMSTAGE when booking online (www.journeytothepasttour.com), in person and through the phone.

Dates and venues are as follows:-

Saturday 25 February    Birmingham Conservatoire    0121 303 2323
 
Saturday 3 March    Aylesbury Waterside Theatre    0844 871 7607
 
Thursday 8 March   Epsom Playhouse      01372 742 555
 
Thursday 22 March       Greenwich Theatre      0208 858 7755
 
Saturday 31 March     Arts Depot, Finchley      0208 369 5454
 
Saturday 7 April     Cardiff Millennium Centre     0292 063 6464
 
Thursday 12 April    Redditch Palace Theatre     01527 65203
 
DON'T MISS OUT

Necessity is the mother of invention and 'Lucky Bucket Productions' was born out of necessity. We were invited to provide a musical for a group of 30 young people between the ages of 8 and 18 to perform. We took up the challenge and then quickly realised we had never written a musical before, or a play, in fact the longest thing we had written was a shopping list. In retrospect I have no idea what made us agree to take on the task, maybe it was just one of those strange moments when fate intervenes. Anyway, the theatre group were really stuck for suitable material and we were about to provide it. Fortunately, the show was a success and the cast and audience responded positively. We then went on to write a show every year to be performed by the same group and eventually built a large catalogue which is now available to all schools and theatre groups.

The three year old youth group YoungBLODS are watching old episodes of 'Star Trek' to understand the wonderful 'send up' script and music of Dazzle written by John Gardiner with music by Andrew Parr.  The show will be staged at the Bexhill High School on 13th and 14th April.  Meanwhile, back at the rehearsal hall, the older BLODS are testing their tonsorial dexterity and grappling with the music of Elton John and the text of Tim Rice in the South East Coast Premiere of their 'Aida'.  It won so many awards on Broadway and ran for over 1,000 performances.  I wonder why it was never staged in the West End?  It will now be staged at the famous De La Warr Pavilion from 27 to 30th June.
Bernardo

Dear Amateur Stagers,

Thank you for being part of our growing community which is now heading towards the 1100 member mark at an astonishing rate.

We are looking to get as much news on the site each week as possible and we are now looking to recruit some regional bloggers who would be interested in posting regular updates about what is happening in their local areas. It doesn't need to be in the form of a full constructed essay just a "News from our area" type blog that outlines anniversaries, openings, auditions, or anything that might be of interest in your area.

It's a great way to get news about amateur theatre out there as it will also be picked up by search engines like Google and help spread the message that amateur shows are worth seeing. Please note this is a volunteer position - we can only offer fame and notoriety.

Can we tempt you to put fingers to keyboard and blog on a regular basis for us. Musicals, drama, festivals, we're keen to hear about it all.

Let us know if you'd be interested by emailing editor@asmagazine.co.uk.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES AT THE NATIONAL

Come work at the NT! We have a number of Customer Service and Usher roles currently available. Applications close today (Thursday 16th Feb) at 6pm. If you’re interested, more details are available HERE

THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY SEEKS AMATUER AND SEMI-PROFESSIONAL THEATRE GROUPS FOR OPEN AIR PERFORMANCES THROUGHOUT SUMMER 2012

The Dell
Stratford-upon-Avon
Saturdays from 9 June to 25 August 2012
www.rsc.org.uk

The Royal Shakespeare Company is offering amateur and semi-professional theatre groups the opportunity to put on a play at The Dell, the Company’s open air performance space in Stratford-upon-Avon, on Saturdays throughout summer 2012.

Now in its seventh year, The Dell provides a great platform for these groups to work with the RSC and to present their work to a large audience. Last summer’s season of open air theatre at The Dell saw record breaking attendances. Over 6,000 people watched 36 performances by 20 theatre companies, schools, universities and community groups with more than 1,100 people attending over one weekend alone.

With the World Shakespeare Festival taking place in 2012 this year’s season at The Dell offers a fantastic opportunity for amateur and semi-professional artists to perform to an even wider audience.

In keeping with the spirit of the World Shakespeare Festival, where thousands of artists from around the world will perform in the UK, the RSC is keen to see a broad mixture of performers from different nationalities and backgrounds playing at The Dell this year.

The Dell Co-ordinator Nicola Salmon said:

‘The Dell offers amateur and semi-professional theatre companies the chance to perform at and work with the RSC.

‘In addition to providing a stage we also hope to offer different opportunities for companies to promote their performances and to supply skills training with our professional artists.

‘We’re also expecting large numbers again this year, especially with the World Shakespeare Festival taking place.

‘The World Shakespeare Festival is a truly international, culturally diverse event with companies from across the globe taking part and l would really like to see this broad cultural mix reflected at The Dell.’

Performance times at The Dell are available on Saturdays from 9 June to 25 August 2012. There are two performance slots a day, although the exact time of each performance may vary.

Anyone interested in performing at The Dell will need to submit an application from which can be downloaded from the RSC’s website.

The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Monday 19 March 2012.

For further information and to download an application form please visit www.worldshakespearefestival.org.uk/stratford-upon-avon/the-dell.aspx  or contact Nicola Salmon via email: thedell@rsc.org.uk.

We are currently looking for Groups / Charities who might be interested in Publicising (FREE OF CHARGE) what they do.

We are on 2 Radio Stations Monday to Friday: www.tynefm.com & www.dynamic-radio.co.uk These are 2 Internet Only Radio Stations which cover Local , UK & International areas.

If possible we would like to speak to a contact within 30 miles radius of Gateshead who would be able to come to our Studio for a Live Interview to promote their group and the work that it does.

RON & IAN

TYNE FM

0191 4164864

I'm not a fan of things like Valentines but I'd write something about it anyway. I'm calling it a geeky Valentines because of my effort to relate it to my undergraduate thesis, which is Drama in Literature. Since I learned how to review a particular character from the stage, I feel like doing it every so often. So now, I'm giving you my top 3 characters whom I think would be perfect Valentine dates. They are from the books I've read so far. In no particular order:

Noah Calhoun - Whoever did not fall in love with Noah of The Notebook? Aside from the fact that we can't help think of Noah as Ryan Gosling, women would like to meet someone as passionate and dedicated as he is.

Jay Gatsby - The way that he's obsessed over the woman he loves is hot in his own style. And the fact that he did everything to become the man that he becomes to steal away his love is even more so. Some people like a sinister-romantic lover, like Shakespeare, minus the geekiness and the fancy way of speech. That would be Jay Gatsby, the hotshot, but then again, the ultimate lover.

Tristan - Tristan, the Celtic version of Romeo who fell in love with someone he cannot fall in love with. Just like any other romantic love stories in the olden times, Tristan and Isolde, was originally tragic, but it was retold in several ways - merry, tragic, brooding and in different styles. Tristan was such a knight, strong, dignified, and absolutely handsome.

If one day, I fell in love on stage while doing a practicum or a review, it would be because of my imagination as enriched by learning drama and reading books. Four years in Theater Arts can do that.

As well as renting the UK Productions stock of sets and costumes, you can produce their range of panto scripts by Tom Bright, all of which are licensed through Stagescripts Ltd - "oh, yes they are!"

UK Productions recently opened up its sets and costume store to amateurs around the UK.  AS spoke to Martin Dodd about the new hire business, making productions fit, and what makes productions work.“It’s taken us 15 years to get around to formalising our rental production. Over the years we’ve done the odd one or two” says Martin Dodd from UK Productions.

“UK Productions have been in business 15 years now. We were formed to produce pantos and musicals. Our first tour was Barnum in 1995 which toured for 18 months. Since then we’ve done numerous productions, with three to four musicals touring each year.” No mean feat, given the current economic climate.  “This year we have Disney’s Beauty & The Beast, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Singing In the Rain and we’ve just gone into production on Oklahoma! for 2010.”  For most people that would be more than enough, but at UK Productions that is only just the beginning of a massive theatrical operation. “We are also currently contracted to produce 10 pantos per year, which can get a little hairy around Christmas.  This year Beauty & The Beast will also stay out at Christmas in Glasgow so we are presenting all over the country.”



“As  a result of that we have built up an extensive store of costumes, sets and technical kit.” Martin said.  UK Productions are now in the hire business.  Their massive stores are now open to companies around the country who want to hire sets and costumes for any of the musicals they have produced.  “Being touring sets, they have been designed to tour and relatively quickly get in and out.  Beauty & The Beast is not quite so easy, it’s a big set.”  So how can UK Productions help your company? Martin is quick with a response “Because we are so used to playing all these different venues, with tight get in and out times, there are very few theatres that are unknown to us. Our production manager can tailor a hire to your time and space requirements.  We have various packages  available where you can swap elements to fit your venue and make it easier to present. Over the 5 years we’ve been touring Beauty and other shows  they’ve played in non-flying venues, small venues, massive venues, so we have two or three versions of the sets available”, he said.

So what prompted the move into rentals? “We have rented out the odd set in the past but we decided it was time to formalise it. Beauty & The Beast has really make us aware of the interest out there.  People have now started asking us if we have other shows available and chances are we probably do as we’ve never scrapped a show since the day we started.”


“It leads to some fairly hefty storage bills, that’s partly the driving force between our decision to start hiring if I’m honest.  We keep everything in very good condition so that we can revive shows easily.  In the meantime it does seem crazy to let them sit there.”

Surely, hiring out big commercial sets costs a fortune. Martin sets the record straight, “Costwise, hires depend on us trying to tailor a package to your company and budget.  For example Beauty & The Beast could go out for £5000 per week for the full set and all the bells and whilstles, we realise though not many companies could accommodate the whole set, so there are packages available for £1000 - £1200 per week.  We do the same with the costumes. We have our own wardrobe department and costume designer and huge warehouse in Blackpool which is manned all the time as we are always making for panto and our own shows. There are tens of thousands of costumes.  Obviously Beauty has a load of specialist costumes with all the enchanted objects so we have different deals available so you can hire the enchanted costumes or the whole shebang.  The same applies for all our other shows.”

Given that so many shows fail, what does Martin attribute his success to? “I tend to go for shows I grew up with and that I like myself. It’s why we mainly do revivals.  You need to get a show that is deep in people’s psyche, a show that they really love.  That is to a large degree what the amateur market does – shows that they really love.  That’s why R & H and shows like 42nd Street are so popular.  The audience knows what they are getting, they know the tunes, so if you give them a good production they come out with a smile on their face.”

So how much notice do UK Productions need to help groups with staging their productions? “We don’t, to be honest. As long as there is time to get it on a truck and get it out there. We are used to reacting to things so it takes next to no time. Our stores are fully manned, so its not an issue.  But obviously as more and more people are interested in shows like Beauty (we’re already taking bookings for the set for 2011), then a bit of notice would be great.”

For more information email
rentals@ukproductions.co.uk or visit
www.ukproductions.co.uk.

PANTO SCRIPTS
As well as renting the UK Productions stock of sets and costumes, you can produce their range of panto scripts by Tom Bright, all of which are licensed through Stagescripts Ltd. www.stagescripts.com