National Youth Music Theatre announce 2018 season with three week run at The Other Palace
Season preview
THE National Youth Music Theatre have announced their 2018 season, which opened with a mini touring production of Super Hero at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds as part of The Bury Festival before going on to Curve, Leicester and, finally, The Rose Theatre, Kingston for the International Youth Arts Festival.
The 2018 season will also see the production of three other British musicals – two of them new and one commissioned especially – at The Other Palace theatre in Victoria, London where NYMT will enjoy a three-week summer residency.
Super Hero is written by two recent alumni, Adam Johnson and Henry Roadnight, and has been developed as part of NYMT’s commitment to nurturing new, young musical theatre writers.
A Little Princess by Carl Miller and Marc Folan is based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This romantic, funny and thrilling drama gets an entirely new treatment, combining elements of classical Indian music and dance with a rich musical theatre score.
It is with great pride that, in his 70th birthday year and in his newest theatre, the National Youth Music Theatre will present Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Beautiful Game with book and lyrics by Ben Elton. This award-winning musical follows the fortunes of a group of teenagers from both sides of the religious divide during “The Troubles” in 1960s Belfast.
Jasper Britton will play the role of Father O’Donnell. Britton is a National Youth Music Theatre alumnus who spoke the very first lines in the original production of The Ballad of Salomon Pavey, when NYMT first began in 1976.
Finally, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Helen Watts and Eamonn O’Dwyer is this year’s new commission. Based on the short story by Washington Irving, this exciting new musical tells of strange events, tales of witches and ghouls, of wailing banshees and headless horsemen, and of course, the tale of the enigmatic outsider, Ichabod Crane.
In addition to their series of new productions, NYMT continue to provide invaluable opportunities for young people to develop existing strengths and learn new skills through regular half-term workshops and residential holiday courses. This summer also sees a further developmental workshop of a new musical, Growl, by Timothy Knapman and Laurence Mark Wythe.
LISTINGS
A Little Princess – The Other Palace from August 9 to August 11.
Sara is uprooted from her Indian home to a boarding school in Victorian London. Being plunged from wealth to poverty shows her things she never knew about the world and about herself.
The Beautiful Game – The Other Palace from August 15 to August 18.
The Beautiful Game follows a group of teenagers growing up during The Troubles in Belfast in 1969. John and Del both play for the local football team run by Father O’Donnell. They soon find love with Mary and Christine, but as time passes and events unfold they have to make some tough decisions.
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow – The Other Palace from August 22 to August 25.
Set in New England in 1833: A body is laid to rest in the shadowy town of Sleepy Hollow. A grieving little girl stands alone at the graveside, and the townsfolk talk in hushed tones of the strange events that led her to this place; tales of witches and ghouls, of wailing banshees and headless horsemen, and of course the tale of Ichabod Crane – once merely a man, now a terrifying legend.
Growl – The True Story of The Big Bad Wolf – Performance at Sevenoaks School on August 2. By invitation only.
Known as the evil eater of pigs and old ladies, The Wolf is actually the guardian of the forest and the Woodcutter redevelopment company have deforestation plans so need his name tarnished with tales of woe. But will the forest folk believe them or will the wolf remain a hero in their eyes.
Super Hero, The Musical – Mini Tour at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmonds (May 20), Curve Theatre, Leicester (June 30), Rose Theatre, Kingston (July 14).
Sammy Simpson has the power to turn everything he knows into a musical. The minute he starts singing or whistling so does everyone else, but now his parents have had enough so he’s got to go to Hero High – the school for the supernaturally gifted children. But with Evil Miss Menace and Mr Plop plotting to take over the school, Sammy has to prove that he’s a real hero and that it’s good to be different.
NYMT represents the very best in work with young people through musical theatre and for over 40 years has enabled thousands of youngsters across the UK to develop both their creative and personal potential, leading Andrew Lloyd Webber to dub it “the best youth music theatre in the world”.