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Dateline: 15th October, 2006
Cardiff Musical Theatre Festival Opens The third year of the Cardiff International Festival of Musical Theatre opens today (15th October) and runs until Sunday 5th November. There is a star-studded programme with many special one-off events with West End stars that include Graham Bickley, Patricia Hodge, Julia McKenzie, Marti Webb and the UK Premiere of the Gershwin's Treasure Girl, performance masterclasses, workshops and an educational conference. The centrepiece of the Festival is a production of Gypsy, which marks the Festival's centennial celebrations of composer Jule Styne. Helena Blackman, runner up in the BBC's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? will play Gypsy Rose Lee. Julia McKenzie also stars. Gypsy has not been performed in the UK for 25 years so this one night concert performance (Wales Millennium Centre, 29th Oct), conducted by Stewart Mackintosh, is set to be one of the Festival's highlights. There will be a Styne Symposium (Wales Millennium Centre, also 29th Oct) hosted by Don Black and including Festival patron and well known theatrical biographer, Robert Kimball. New to the Festival this year is the Forgotten Gems series that will be continued throughout future Festivals. The UK Premiere of George and Ira Gershwin's Treasure Girl (Sherman Theatre, 28th Oct) heralds the start of this new series. The performance stars Patricia Hodge and will be narrated by the Gershwin archivist, Robert Kimball. The Party of a Lifetime (Sherman Theatre, 4th Nov), starring Graham Bickley and Marti Webb, is a special concert celebrating the work of David Heneker, Welsh composer of many hit musicals including Half a Sixpence and Charlie Girl, whose centenary is being celebrated this year. BBC Radio 2's Voice of Musical Theatre (New Theatre, 15th, 17th, 19th, 21st Oct) once again seeks to find the international musical theatre stars of the future from performers around the world who compete for the title, a cash prize and BBC broadcast engagements, plus a demo recording opportunity with UCJ. Also looking for new, international talent is the Hugh James sponsored Global Search for New Musicals (Chapter Arts Centre, 3rd, 4th, 5th Nov,) which will present five of the best new musicals that have been chosen from over 300 entries from 28 countries. Many local schools and theatre companies are once again participating in the Festival. The Opening Gala Who Could Ask for Anything More (St. David's Hall, Sunday 15th Oct), introduced by Graham Bickley, features the Kitchener Primary School, St. Martin's School, Caephilly; Cowbridge Comprehensive School; Gorseinon College, Swansea and Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera. At the New Theatre (24th - 28th Oct) the Wales Theatre Company presents Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales in a new adaptation by Michael Bogdanov who also directs the show. The Sherman Theatre hosts the Bridgend Youth Theatre's production of Fiddler on the Roof, and two shows for children - Unga Bunga and Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince. At the Wales Millennium Centre (9th - 28th Oct) will be the multi-award winning production of the Donmar Warehouse's Guys and Dolls starring Claire Sweeney and Joe McGann. Everyone is encouraged to join in the Festival spirit and Sunday afternoons are transformed into Singa Longa Sundays, where audiences are invited to sing along to Rodgers and Hammerstein classics: Carousel, Oklahoma!, The King and I and South Pacific. A lively, showbiz quiz about musicals, Showstoppers, where teams from each of the Festival's shows pit their knowledge of musicals against each other, will be hosted by the Welsh broadcaster Mal Pope (Chapter Arts Centre, 18th - 20th Oct lunchtimes) and broadcast on BBC Radio Wales. Richard Alston Dance Company (Sherman Theatre, 2nd - 3rd Nov) presents three pieces - Red Run, About-Face and The Devil in the Detail which show both Alston's lyrical side and his lighter side. Opera UK present a double bill of Manuel de Falla's 'operatic ballet' El Amor Brujo and Mozart's School for Lovers (Sherman Theatre, 30th - 31st Oct). Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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