An afternoon discussion and informative look at Theatre Tradition and all aspects of show production. Ideal for students and families with an interest in Theatre presented by Trevor Nicholls and Stephen Holroyd of Make It So productions.

Curtain Up! Make It So have organized with Brighton Museum a special entertaining evening of untold stories, historical details and anecdotes from the number one touring house that has seen plays and musical productions premiere and transfer to London’s West End Theatres. The evening consists of guest technicians, stage managers and touring management from the Theatre Royal Brighton’s past decades, discussing their experiences on shows with fun and informative insight to the backstage workings of the historic venue. The audiences are invited to interact with the evening’s proceedings and also get to meet the ‘Royal team’ afterwards.

Curtain Up on Friday 27^th July at 7.30pm at;

The Old Court Room,
118 Church Street (Side Entrance),
Brighton,
East Sussex,
BN1 1UD.

Stephen Holroyd has been commissioned by TheatreWorks to re-design the lighting for the 2007 tour of Railway Children which will play back to back with Little Women. This will involve the designing of a repertoire rig to ease of the mid week changeover of the plays. “It is so important that we keep the present charm of the Railway Children’s lighting and the magical tour through the seasonal atmosphere of Little Women whilst giving the cast well designed and meaningful lighting for both plays”

The Relight Technician for the tour will be Benjamin Lee during the period when Stephen Holroyd will be Staging Sinbad and the Pearl of Peace for Make It So’s latest production for the Great Entertainment Company at Dubia’s Centerpoint Theatre.

Selections of venues at which to catch Little Women and or Railway Children are:

Guildford. 18th - 23rd June. (Little Women)

Cardiff. 26th - 30th June. (Little Women)

Swansea. 9th - 14th July. (Railway Children)

Darlington. 16th - 21st July. (Little Women/Railway Children)

Cheltenham. 23rd - 28th July. (Railway Children)

Brighton. 31st July - 4th August. (Railway Children)

Paul Arden-Griffith – “Pag” – is delighted to have been engaged as a Guest Musical Director at the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center, based at Loch Sheldrake in the United States, from 13th June until 20th August, 2007.

Pag will be engaged as one of a team of seven Musical Directors, and will be personally responsible for the casting, musical preparation and rehearsal of three full-scale musical productions in a period of nine weeks.

Loch Sheldrake is situated in the beautiful Catskill Mountains and has played host to Stagedoor Manor for thirty years. The course offers the only performing arts training programme of its type in the world and boasts many of the world’s most successful artistes amongst its alumni, as displayed at www.stagedoormanor.com. Pag feels particularly proud to be representing Make It So in the United States.

Work is up and running on a series of shows aimed at families for the new Dubai Community Theatre in the United Arab Emirates, the first being ‘The Adventures of Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves‘.

Taken from the legendary book of 1001 Nights, Ali Baba takes us upon a magical journey back in time to the mysterious Persia of old.

The Book of 1001 Nights tells the story of a Medieval Persian Queen, Scherherezade, who must relate a series of stories to her husband to delay her imminent execution. The stories were told over a period of 1001 nights, each tale ending with a suspenseful situation, therefore, forcing the Sultan to keep her alive for another day.

One of the most popular tales from the famous book, Ali Baba is brought to life in this exciting production of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

The story begins with the Sultan of Baghdad and his medieval Persian Queen, Scheherezade. As night falls, Scheherezade begins here tale of Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves…

Just outside the Gates of Baghdad lives our poor yet happy hero, Ali Baba. One day on his way to chop wood in the forest at the foot of the mountains, he witnesses a band of thieves hiding treasure in a secret cave. He over hears the magic password, ‘Open Sesame!’ and decides to help himself to just a small amount of the treasure.

Unfortunately, Ali Baba has a wicked, greedy brother, Kassim, who, upon seeing that Ali has such riches, wants lots for himself. Unfortunately, Kassim is found by the thieves and killed. When the thieves find out that Ali Baba also has some treasure, they hatch a plan to kill him too! However, good will always overcome evil and Ali’s faithful servant saves the day.

With this performance up and running and with future productions in the pipeline, Make It So have been engaged to produce quality drama, comedy, music and dance together with a lot of fun and audience participation. This well received show begins a series of classic stories which continues through the summer with ‘The Adventures of Sinbad‘. This venture is a joint collaboration with Make It So & The Great Entertainment Company, in Dubai.

Watch this space for more information, Media and Reviews to follow soon!

Links:

The Great Entertainment Company
The Dubai Community Theatre

Paul Arden-Griffith, known to one and all as “Pag“, has hit the front page of The Stage website for his appearance in The Good Old Days at the City Varieties Music Hall, in Leeds. The Stage is considered in the United Kingdom to be the number one place to find news, reviews and features on every aspect of the arts and entertainment industry.

The Stage’s review of this excellent production describes how Paul Arden-Griffith is both a “fine tenor” and how he also makes an ”inspired contribution to the first of the autumn series of The Good Old Days”. The review should be in tomorrow’s edition of the printed newspaper but those eager to read it in full now may click here to read more.

The image to the right shows a screenshot taken of The Stage’s website taken on the day of the mention (click it to enlarge) and an archive of The Stage’s review can also be read from our website by clicking here.

The final stages of rehearsal are currently taking place for Make It So and The Worthing Musical Comedy Society’s full scale production of Guys and Dolls which runs from the 30^th of October until the 4^th of November at The Connaught Theatre, Worthing, England.

The show is packed with spectacular song, dance and quirky comedy from its energetic ensemble cast of fifty plus performers from the Sussex area of the south of England.

The rehearsal period has included master classes in voice work, singing technique (under the expert supervision of Paul Arden-Griffith), character development, fight technique and performance skills from its director Trevor Nicholls and high powered dance from its choreographer Terri Moore.

Stephen Holroyd is currently working on the productions intricate lighting design, bringing his own artistic vision to a show which will entertain with its humour, emotion, song and energy packed thrills. More information about bookings and the production itself can be found from our partner’s The Worthing Musical Comedy Society’s website at www.wmcs.org.uk.

Paul Arden-Griffith is delighted to have been invited to join the cast of The Good Old Days at the world famous Leeds City Varieties. The Grade ll* listed theatre is the finest surviving example of a Victorian music hall in all its original glory. Dating from 1865, it was an addition to the White Swan public house, purpose-built to house the most up-to-date popular entertainment of the day. Great stars to have “trodden the boards” there include Lily Langtry; Harry Houdini; Bud Flanagan; Marie Lloyd and, before achieving Hollywood eminence, Charlie Chaplin. The venue shot to fame when, between 1953 and 1983 it hosted the BBC television version of The Good Old Days, chaired in inimitable alliterative style by Leonard Sachs. Although no longer televised, the show lives on at the theatre, and to be a part of the cast is considered to be one of the highest accolades of achievement within the world of variety entertainment.

Paul said: “There is an enormously rich and colourful history surrounding variety theatre and traditional music hall in Britain. It is an important part of the development of our theatrical heritage, as is this wonderful old venue. I feel very proud to have been asked to perform there”.

The performances in which Paul will be appearing are on Friday, September 29th at 7.30pm and Saturday, September 30th at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are obtainable from The Box Office, The City Varieties, Swan Street, Leeds LS1 6LW. Tel: (0113) 243 0808.

Make It So and Parexel Medical Marketing are to stage a medical drama with patient and doctor enactments on the fight against Breast Cancer for Pfizer inc.

The enactment will be dramatised by Trevor Nicholls and directed by Stephen Holroyd. This will be an exciting corporate partnership to produce a realistic and informative performance on the study of Breast Cancer and will be presented to specialists at meetings in Copenhagen, Paris and Sydney in 2006.

Paul Arden-Griffith writes:

“For some time I have been toying with the idea of putting together a programme of music associated with the “Oscar”, the film industry’s most prestigious award, and I am delighted to say that this idea has become reality. The first performance of Songs From The Oscars will be presented at St. Paul’s Church, Grove Park Gardens, Chiswick, London W4 at 6.30p.m. on Sunday, June 18th with a cast of six West End singers and two top international Musical Directors playing two pianos!”

“Every item in the programme has won - or been nominated for - an Oscar, with music chosen from the finest film scores to have graced the golden age of Hollywood. My fellow singers are Mary Carewe; Sarah Payne; Anne Skates; Dean Collinson and David Combes, and we are honoured and delighted to have enlisted the services of Michael Reed and Paul Bateman to be our two-piano orchestra. This concert will be repeated on August 6th in Wiltshire to raise money for From Cradle To College, a charity to support vocational training for young people, established by the celebrated stage, film and television actor, George Baker.”

“For further information, and to book tickets for the performance in Chiswick on June 18th, please visit www.grovestock.co.uk. Information regarding the performance in Wiltshire on August 6th will be published here on www.makeitso.gb.com in the near future. I very much hope you can attend one of these performances, enjoy the wonderful music and support two very good causes.”