Sarah Travis is a British

orchestrator Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

and musical supervisor for theatre and film. She received the

Tony Award for Best Orchestrations The Tony Award for Best Orchestrations is awarded to acknowledge the contributions of musical orchestrators in both musicals and plays. The award has been given since 1997. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple wins ;3 ...

and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations for the 2005 revival of

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March22, 1930November26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. He received Lis ...

's ''

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...

''.

Career

Travis attended City University and

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

.Biography
sunsetlondon.com, accessed 25 July 2009 She has been the musical supervisor and/or orchestrator for many musicals, both in the West End and at regional British theatres. Some of the latter include '' Crazy for You'' and ''

Me and My Girl ''Me and My Girl'' is a musical with music by Noel Gay and its original book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose. The story, set in the late 1930s, tells of an unapologetically unrefined Cockney gentleman named Bill Snibson, wh ...

'' (Aberystwyth); '' Annie'' (Belfast Lyric); '' Pal Joey'' (York). Additionally, she has composed music for several shows, such as ''

Dick Whittington Richard Whittington ( March 1423) of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal,Will of Richard Whittington: " I leave to my executors named below the entire tenement in which I live in the parish of St. Michael Paternoster Royal, Londo/ ...

'' at the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

, and seven other pantomimes for Chipping Norton. She was the musical director and arranger for '' Privates on Parade'' at the

West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds Playhouse is a theatre in the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1990 in the Quarry Hill area of the city as the West Yorkshire Playhouse, successor to the original Leeds Playhouse, and was rebranded in June 2018 ...

and

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre ...

Company (15 September 2008 to 11 October 2008). She was also the music supervisor for the

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

Marple series television movie ''

Sleeping Murder ''Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple's Last Case'' is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1976 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition ...

'' (2006).

Watermill Theatre

Travis has had a long relationship with the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. Several of her productions there have gone on to West End runs. Her Watermill productions have included '' Piaf'', a play by

Pam Gems Pam Gems ( Iris Pamela Price; 1 August 1925 – 13 May 2011) was an England, English playwright. The author of numerous original plays, as well as of adaptations of works by European playwrights of the past, Gems is best known for the 1978 Musi ...

, for which Travis prepared musical arrangements for an "abbreviated version" in 2001. She composed the original music for ''A Star Danced'' (2003) and arranged a swing version of ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London on 25 May 1878, and ran for 571 performances, w ...

'', entitled ''Pinafore Swing'', in 2004. One reviewer mentioned her "glorious arrangements". She was the musical supervisor and orchestrator of the revival of ''

'', which started at the Watermill Theatre in 2004 and transferred to both the West End (2004) and

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

(2005). Stephen Sondheim said of Travis' work on this production: "I think what she's done is absolutely brilliant.... The variety of sounds she's gotten out of the instruments and also the practical way in which they allow John oyleto work with the performers onstage is extraordinary. But what got me most about the orchestrations is what they did for the play's atmosphere. These are wonderfully weird textures." Travis was the Musical Supervisor and orchestrator for the Watermill and London revival of '' Mack and Mabel'' (2005–2006). She is working with producer-director

Craig Revel Horwood Craig Revel Horwood (born 4 January 1965) is an Australian-British author, dancer, choreographer, conductor, theatre director, and former drag queen in the United Kingdom. He is also a patron of the Royal Osteoporosis Society. Horwood is a jud ...

on several projects, in the theatre production company CRH Theatre Productions, including a jazz version of '' La Traviata'' and the 2010-11 UK tour of ''

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

'', which also transferred to the Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto in September 2011. Their revival of ''

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisad ...

'' opened in the West End at the

Comedy Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

, in December 2008, after first playing at the Watermill Theatre in July 2008.Staff
"Revel Horwood Lines up More Actor-Musician Revivals???"
whatsonstage.com, 24 September 2008 The latest collaboration with Craig Revel-Horwood is Fiddler on the Roof, which is currently touring the UK with Paul Michael-Glaser as Tevye.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Travis, Sarah Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British music arrangers Drama Desk Award winners Tony Award winners 21st-century British conductors (music) British women conductors (music) Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama