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Dateline: 20th July, 2011
New Manager and New Season in Sunderland Ben Phillips has taken over as General Manager of Sunderland Empire. He began his career with SFX Entertainment as Theatre Administrator at the London Apollo, Hammersmith, before transferring to the Sunderland Empire, following the management takeover of the venue by SFX in 2000, when he took on the same role.
He spent four years at the Sunderland Empire, from 2001, becoming Box Office Manager and then Deputy General Manager, before moving on in 2005 to become General Manager of Grimsby Auditorium. In 2009 he took over as General Manager of the Apollo Victoria, where he saw Wicked continually break box office records. Now he has returned to Sunderland and says he is extremely excited to be returning to both the Empire and the city. At the same time the theatre has announced shows from September of this year through to October 2012. Returning to the theatre this year will be Calendar Girls (12 – 17 Sept), starring Lynda Bellingham, after its record-breaking week earlier this year, and We Will Rock You (27 Sept – 8 Oct) which visited in 2009. From 12th - 15th October Birmingham Royal Ballet will present La Fille mal gardée which will be followed, from 24th October to 5th November, by Grease, starring starring Danny Bayne as Danny, Carina Gillespie as Sandy and Rhydian Roberts as Teen Angel. From 15th - 26th November the touring priduction of Sister Act will arrive at the theatre, starring Coronation Street’s Denise Black as Mother Superior, and Brookside and The Royal's Michael Starke as Monsignor O’Hara, together with Cynthia Erivo as Deloris Van Cartier. From 29th November to 3rd December Su Pollard stars in Annie which is followed (6 – 31 December) by the already announced Christmas show, Legally Blonde the Musical. 2012 sees the return of Dreamboats & Petticoats (17 – 21 Jan), Blood Brothers (31 Jan – 11 Feb), Chicago (26 – 31 March) and Monty Python’s Spamalot (16 – 21 April). Foir opera lovers, after a two year break Ellen Kent International resumes its annual residency with the Ukrainian National Opera of Kharkiv, and productions of Verdi’s La Traviata (2 March) and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (3 March). In May the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical South Pacific comes to Sunderland in May (1 – 12 May), after its long awaited West End debut. Finally, as already announced, Dirty Dancing arrives at the theatre from 18th September to 6th October, 2012.
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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