In 2006 Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber gave birth to a new form of TV talent show when he used ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’ to find the leading lady for his staging of The Sound of Music. Since then he has run similar programmes to find the lead on four other musicals, but where are the contestants now? We’ve tracked each one down for you!
Tag Archives: theatre
Lord Lloyd Webber Foundation supports new generation
Andrew Lloyd Webber is donating more than £380,000 to arts education projects across the UK, through his philanthropic foundation.
The Royal Ballet School will receive £180,000 to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
A £75,000 grant will go to Creative & Cultural Skills to train technical theatre staff.
The Foundation is dedicated to supporting a new generation of people entering the arts.
Foundation trustee Madeleine Lloyd Webber, the wife of Lord Lloyd-Webber, said: “The Foundation is delighted to be able to support such a diverse range of arts education initiatives as we feel it is hugely important to encourage the next generation of artistic talent.
“The UK is currently a global leader in the arts, and by investing in programmes to train young artists, we hope our country can continue to be a creative force.”
Read the full article here (will open in a new window)
ATG to pilot autism-friendly pantomimes
Ambassador Theatre Group will trial autism-friendly performances at three of its regional venues with a view to bringing similar shows to the West End.
The ‘relaxed performance’ pilot scheme will be aimed at families with children that have an autistic condition, sensory and communication disorders or a learning disability.
It will begin at the Churchill Theatre Bromley for its production of Peter Pan on December 5, starring Jennifer Ellison.
Click here to read the full article (will open in a new window)
The first ever SMP blog…
Thursday 25th October 2012, by Ben Hewis
Welcome to the SMP Blog! At the AGM last night a suggestion was made that we start a blog to keep you up to date with all that is going on at SMP. This can be mixture of news, announcements, reviews, opportunities or just things that we think would be of interest to you. So in this first post I thought I’d give you a bit of a mixture!
News
Rehearsals for our next pantomime, Beauty and the Beast, are in full swing and tickets are already starting to sell fast with virtually a quarter of the tickets sold. If you are coming to see the show or have family and friends that you know are planning to come but haven’t booked their tickets yet, please go to our online box office or call 0844 414 2731 to book yours today. We promise you won’t be dissapointed.
Announcements
After a fantastic reception last year, we have been invited back to the Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre in March 2013. We are planning to take 2 or 3 plays, so if you would like to be involved in any capacity please speak to Warren McWilliams, Ben Hewis or email contact@smptheatre.co.uk.
Get involved
To celebrate the release of STEPS: The Ultimate Tour Live on DVD and Blu-ray, there will be a Steps Dance-a-thon – Guinness World Record attempt on Wednesday 31 October 2012 at Sainsbury’s, Stadium Way, Crayford, Dartford, DA1 4HW at 3:30pm. This will be an attempt to gain a Guinness World Record title for the largest number of people dancing (180,000) to their hit Tragedy. More information can be found at www.stepsofficial.co.uk
Thanks for reading the first ever blog post. If there is anything you would like anything to be included in the blog post or would like to be an SMP guest blogger then get in touch by emailing contact@smptheatre.co.uk
Much love
Ben