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Claire Machin
Claire Machin is a British actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Career At the age of 16, Machin trained at Sylvia Young Theatre School, taking part in an adult drama course. Through the 1990s and early 2000s she appeared in the ensemble of several major West End Theatre, West End shows including roles in ''Les Misérables (musical), Les Misérables'', ''Oliver!'' and ''My Fair Lady''. She took part in workshops for the stage adaptation of ''Mary Poppins (musical), Mary Poppins'' and in 2004 was part of the original cast playing the role of Miss Lark, for which she appears on the Original London Cast Recording. In 2009, Machin played Mamie Eisenhower in the UK professional premiere of ''First Lady Suite'' by Michael John LaChiusa, with the Whatsonstage.com review describing her performance as "particularly memorable". In 2013, she played the role of Mabel in the Chichester Festival Theatre production of ''The Pajama Game''. The production then transferred to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire and one of the largest cities of the Midlands. Stoke is surrounded by the towns of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Alsager, Kidsgrove and Biddulph, which form a conurbation around the city. The city is wikt:polycentric, polycentric, formed from Federation of Stoke-on-Trent, the federation of six towns in 1910. It took its name from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent where the main centre of government and the principal Stoke-on-Trent railway station, railway station in the district were located. Hanley is the primary commercial centre. The other four towns which form the city are Burslem, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton. The home of the pottery industry in England, it is known as Staffo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joanna Riding
Joanna Riding (born Joanne Riding; 9 November 1967) is an English actress. For her work in West End musicals, she has won two Laurence Olivier Awards, and has been nominated for three others. Early life Riding was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, growing up on a farm, where her father ran a successful cheese-making business. She received theatre training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School from 1986 to 1989. Career After leaving school, Riding worked at Chichester Festival Theatre for a season, playing Anne Page in ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' and Dorothy in ''The Wizard of Oz''. She met her former husband, actor Peter O'Brien, at Chichester. He proposed outside the theatre and they married on Christmas Eve 1990. Their separation was announced in December 1993. She was next cast as a replacement Sally in the West End production of ''Me and My Girl''. In 1993, Riding played the role of Julie Jordan in Nicholas Hytner's Royal National Theatre revival of ''Carousel' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Edward Theatre
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London. History The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet.Earl and Sell (2000) pp. 132 It cost over £400,000 to be built. Named after Prince Edward (at the time Prince of Wales, briefly Edward VIII and later Duke of Windsor), it opened on 3 April 1930 with a performance of the musical '' Rio Rita''. Other notable events in its opening years included the London debut of famed cabaret artiste Josephine Baker, who performed her famous 'Bananas Dance'. The theatre was a failure and in 1935, Stone converted the theatre to a dance and cabaret hall at a further cost of £50,000, being renamed the "London Casino" offering dinner or supper dancing with a cabaret revue. The Casino closed but was reopened in 1939 after being bought by a syndicate led by Charles Clore and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol Hippodrome
The Bristol Hippodrome () is a theatre located in The Centre, Bristol, England, United Kingdom with seating on three levels giving a capacity of 1,951. It frequently features shows from London's West End when they tour the UK, as well as regular visits by Welsh National Opera and an annual pantomime. History The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham for Oswald Stoll, and opened on 16 December 1912. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building. An important feature of the theatre when it opened was a huge water tank at the front of the stage, which could be filled with 100,000 gallons (450,000 litres) of water. Along with the tank was a large protective glass screen which could be raised in order to protect the orchestra and those in the stalls. It also has a dome, which can be opened when necessary; however since air conditioning has been installed it is rarely opened. The theatre survived World War II, but less than three years after it e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and listed building, Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drury Lane. The present building, opened in 1812, is the most recent of four theatres that stood at the location since 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could "reasonably have claimed to be London's leading theatre". For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres, granted monopoly rights to the production of Legitimate theater, "legitimate" drama English drama, in London (meaning spoken plays, rather than opera, dance, concerts, or plays with music). The first theatre on the site was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s, when theatres were allowed to reopen during the Stuart Rest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Palladium
The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many with televised performances. Between 1955 and 1969 '' Sunday Night at the London Palladium'' was staged at the venue, produced for the ITV network. The show included a performance by the Beatles on 13 October 1963; one newspaper's headlines in the following days coined the term " Beatlemania" to describe the hysterical interest in the band. While the theatre hosts resident shows, it is also able to host one-off performances, such as concerts, TV specials and Christmas pantomimes. It has hosted the Royal Variety Performance 43 times, most recently in 2019. Architecture Walter Gibbons, an early moving-pictures manager, intended for the Palladium, in 1910, to compete with Sir Edward Moss's London Hippodrome and Sir Oswald Stoll's London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. Its red-brick facade dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus, London, Cambridge Circus behind a small plaza near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road. The Palace Theatre seats 1,400. Richard D'Oyly Carte, producer of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, commissioned the theatre in the late 1880s. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and intended to be a home of English grand opera. The theatre opened as the Royal English Opera House in January 1891 with a lavish production of Arthur Sullivan's opera ''Ivanhoe (opera), Ivanhoe''. Although this ran for 160 performances, followed briefly by André Messager's ''La Basoche'', Carte had no other works ready to fill the theatre. He leased it to Sarah Bernhardt for a season and sold the opera house within a year at a loss. It was then converted into a grand music hall and renamed the Palace Theatre of Varieties, managed successfu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manchester Opera House
The Opera House in Quay Street, Manchester, England, is a 1,920-seater commercial touring Theatre (structure), theatre that plays host to touring Musical theatre, musicals, ballet, concerts and a Christmas pantomime. It is a Grade II listed building and one of the main theatres in Manchester. The Opera House and its sister theatre the Palace Theatre, Manchester, Palace Theatre on Oxford Street are operated by the same parent company, Ambassador Theatre Group. History The theatre opened as the New Theatre in 1912, renamed the New Queen's Theatre in 1915 and as the Opera House in 1920 when it came under the wing of John Hart and his associates of United Theatres Ltd. In 1931, it was bought by, and prospered under, Howard & Wyndham Ltd which had been formed at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow in 1895 by Michael Simons. The group's managing director A Stewart Cruikshank, headquartered at the group's headquarters in the King's Theatre, Edinburgh, was joined on the board by Charles B Cochran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blood Brothers (musical)
''Blood Brothers'' is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Willy Russell and was produced by Bill Kenwright until his death in 2023. The story is a contemporary nature versus nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth, one subsequently being raised in a wealthy family, the other in a poor family. The different environments take the twins to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor, and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a rift in their friendship and leading to the tragic death of both brothers. Russell says that his work was based on a one-act play that he read as a child "about two babies switched at birth ... it became the seed for Blood Brothers." Originally developed as a high school play in Liverpool, ''Blood Brothers'' debuted in Liverpool before Russell transferred it to the West End for a short run in 1983. The musical won the Laurence O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amour (musical)
''Amour'' is a musical fantasy with an English book and lyrics by Jeremy Sams, music by Michel Legrand, and original French lyrics by Didier Van Cauwelaert, who also wrote the original French libretto. The musical is adapted from the 1943 short story '' Le Passe-Muraille'' by Marcel Aymé and set in Paris shortly after World War II. It centers on a shy, unassuming clerk who develops the ability to walk through walls, and who challenges himself to stick to his moral center and change others' lives, and his own, as a result. Production In 1997, Legrand, a noted film composer and jazz musician, and a newcomer to stage musicals at age 65, brought the musical (under its original title, ''Le Passe Muraille'') to Paris where it won the Prix Molière for Best Musical. The Broadway production, directed by James Lapine and presented without intermission, opened on October 20, 2002 at the Music Box Theatre. The show closed after 17 performances and 31 previews. The cast included ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, jazz pianist, and singer. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many songs. His scores for two of the films of French New Wave director Jacques Demy, '' The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (1964) and '' The Young Girls of Rochefort'' (1967), earned Legrand his first Academy Award nominations. Legrand won his first Oscar for the song " The Windmills of Your Mind" from '' The Thomas Crown Affair'' (1968), and additional Oscars for '' Summer of '42'' (1971) and Barbra Streisand's '' Yentl'' (1983). Life and career Legrand was born in Paris to his father, Raymond Legrand, who was himself a conductor and composer, and his mother, Marcelle Der-Mikaëlian, who was the sister of conductor Jacques Hélian. Raymond and Marcelle were married in 1929. His maternal grandfather was Armenian. Legrand composed more than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michelle Dotrice
Michele Dotrice (born 27 September 1948) is an English actress. She played Betty Spencer, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, portrayed by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'', which ran from 1973 to 1978, and returned in 2016 for a special. Career Her first significant role was in the 1962 13-part BBC TV adaptation of ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' in which she played Nell, and she appeared in '' The Witches'' for Hammer Films in 1966. In 1970, she had starring roles in the horror thrillers '' And Soon the Darkness'' and '' The Blood on Satan's Claw''. Her other film appearances include ''Jane Eyre'' (1970) with George C. Scott and the 1976 comedy '' Not Now, Comrade''. It was her appearance in ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' that made her a household name, and she played the role for five years from 1973. In 2016, she reprised the role in a one-off special broadcast as part of the Sport Relief charity fundraiser event. Her other 1970s roles inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
