24 April 2014

Perfect Your Stage Acting Technique

If you are a budding musical theatre performer, you need all the help you can get to make it onto that illusive West End stage at the top of the bill. That’s why I thought I’d pull on my own experiences of the industry and give you a few tips to help you perfect your acting technique. If you don’t have any experience in the industry, you may think that it’s all about talent; that if you have the skill, you’ll rise to the top with no trouble at all. You couldn’t be more wrong. An actor needs to know their craft to be successful in it, and that starts...

17 April 2014

Take Her or Leave Her

Even I didn’t know, Simon Morris readers that Jessie Wallace once played Maureen in RENT. Reading that this week reminded me of the versatility of this iconic role and leads me to explore just why Maureen is such a fantastic character. Maureen Johnson is a bi-sexual performance artist who is the girlfriend of lawyer Joanne and ex-girlfriend of film maker Mark in the hit 90’s musical RENT. That short description alone should give you an idea of just how many opportunities an actress is given when she takes on this iconic role. Musically,...

10 April 2014

What I’d like to see from Elaine Paige’s New Chat Show

Musical theatre geeks cheered this week as the news was announced that legend of the genre, Elaine Paige, is set to front a new musical theatre inspired chat show. What’s coming up and what would I like to see from this new show? Elaine Paige is a genuine musical theatre icon; the woman’s a powerhouse on the West End Stage. She famously originated the roles of Eva Peron in the West End original production of Evita and Grizabella in Cats. She’s also had notable roles in productions of Hair, Chess, Jesus Christ Superstar and Grease. So she’s...

4 April 2014

A Reflection: We Will Rock You!

Musical theatre junkies were forced into mourning last week as it was announced that beloved West End staple‘We Will Rock You’ is set to close after 12 years. In tribute to the game changing show, I wanted to take the time to reflect on what made ‘We Will Rock You’ such a fan favourite. After 12 years, ‘We Will Rock You’ is closing. The show was originally written by Ben Elton and is a jukebox musical; a production framed around the songs of a popular music act. In this case, it was obviously Queen.  It became the longest running show...