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Dateline: 9th January, 2004 Notes from New York Returns Following its success at the Arts Theatre in November, Notes from New York, the West End's first and only platform for contemporary US musical theatre, will make a triumphant return on Sunday 7th March across town at the Donmar Warehouse, featuring the work of Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Larson (Rent, Tick Tick Boom) and the Tony Award winning William Finn (A New Brain, Falsettos, Infinite Joy) alongside a new selection of songs by Jason Robert Brown (Songs for a New World, Parade, The Last Five Years). Staged in an intimate cabaret setting, Notes from New York will feature a number of UK and European premières of songs by Jonathan Larson and William Finn in addition to rarely performed material from Finn's extensive back catalogue and the much-lauded repertoire of Jason Robert Brown, whose songs proved so popular in November that a brand new selection will be presented by public demand. Young musical theatre stars Paul Spicer and Julie Atherton, who received widespread acclaim for their performances in the first of this series, will be joined by Debbie Kurup, currently starring as Dee Dee in Tonight's the Night at the Victoria Palace, and Craig Purnell, whose extensive credits include the UK première of Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World at the Bridewell Theatre. Prior to joining the cast of Tonight's the Night, Debbie Kurup played the lead role of Mimi in the recent West End production of Jonathan Larson's Rent and Carmen in the UK tour of Fame. Paul Spicer, whose credits include leads in The Witches of Eastwick, Fame and Taboo is currently involved in the development of the UK première of Andrew Lippa's John & Jen, and Julie Atherton, who received rave reviews for her part as Sophie in Mamma Mia is playing Serena in Fame at the Edinburgh Playhouse for a limited Christmas season. In addition to his work at the Bridewell, Craig Purnell's credits include the RSC production of The Secret Garden, the Cameron Mackintosh revival of Oklahoma, directed by Trevor Nunn, and the original West End cast of Martin Guerre. Jonathan Larson is best known as the composer of the smash hit musical Rent, which won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and four Tony Awards and has received numerous other accolades to date. He died tragically of an aortic aneurysm ahead of the show's world premiére in New York. His only other musical Tick Tick Boom was produced posthumously Off-Broadway in 2001 and has yet to receive a UK production. Less prominent than Larson, yet equally talented and somewhat more prolific, William Finn, himself mistakenly diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour in 1992, is the composer of In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland. His most recent shows include A New Brain, which is based on his experience of being misdiagnosed, and Elegies, a song cycle presented for the first time in New York last year. Jason Robert Brown's first musical Songs for a New World originally opened Off-Broadway in 1995, following which he made his Broadway debut in 1999 with Parade, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Original Score of a Musical. His most recent musical The Last Five Years premièred in New York last year. Notes from New York is directed by David Randall with musical staging by Paul Spicer. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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