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Martin Levan is a music producer and sound engineer who, during the 1980s and 1990s, designed the sound for many of the major musicals in the West End of London.
Levan began his career as the tea boy at Morgan Studios, London in 1971, rising to become an engineer and producer. His album credits include John Martyn's Grace and Danger , Ralph McTell's Water of Dreams, Iron Maiden's eponymous album, Neil Ardley's Kaleidoscope of Rainbows and Harmony of the Spheres, Colosseum II's Wardance, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Variations and Requiem , Gary Boyle's The Dancer and Electric Glide and Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia.
Levan's career developed in a different direction when, in 1982, Andrew Lloyd Webber contracted him to supervise the sound design for the original production of the musical Song and Dance at the Palace Theatre, London. He also produced a live recording of the first night performance. The impact of the sound production for the show led to him designing the sound for a number of musicals throughout the world over the next two decades, and regularly collaborating with Lloyd Webber.
With Lloyd Webber, he worked on the original 1984 London and 1987 Broadway productions of Starlight Express , the 1985 original Broadway production of Song and Dance, the 1986 London and 1988 Broadway productions of The Phantom of the Opera. [1] In all productions of the show, the overture is partially pre-recorded, with the orchestra playing along with a track originally created by Levan using a Yamaha DX5 keyboard, in his home studio.
He also collaborated with Lloyd Webber on the original 1989 London production of Aspects of Love , the 1991 revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium, the original 1993 London and 1994 Broadway productions of Sunset Boulevard , the original 1998 London production of Whistle Down the Wind , the original 2000 London production of The Beautiful Game and international productions of Cats . [1]
His other credits include Little Shop of Horrors , Kiss of the Spider Woman , Blondel , Carrie , The Baker's Wife , Show Boat and Lautrec. [2]
In 1988, while preparing the design for Aspects of Love, he developed the 'A-B System' to combat problems associated with the conventional method of combining multiple radio microphones systems on stage. Phase related interference patterns resulting in coloration and distortion in the sound system had hitherto been unavoidable but the use of the 'A-B System' effectively eliminated this phenomenon providing the audience with a much more natural, clearer and more focussed sound.
His original Broadway cast recording of Cats won a Grammy Award. Other awards include a NAACP Theatre Award for Best Sound Director for The Phantom of the Opera, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Sound Design for Sunset Boulevard and a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Design Team Achievement for Show Boat.
In 1998, Martin conceived and built the Red Kite Studio music recording facility in Carmarthenshire, Wales. He continues to produce and record there.
During 2010, he worked with Leeds-based guitarist and vocalist Tristan Mackay on some demo recordings before collaborating on his debut album Out Along the Wire which was released in February 2012, reaching No.1 on the iTunes Blues chart.
Martin and his wife Karen live in Wales. They have three children: Remy, Toby and Kim.[ citation needed ]
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. Several of his songs have been widely recorded and were successful outside of their parent musicals, such as "The Music of the Night" and "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from Evita, "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and "Memory" from Cats. In 2001, The New York Times referred him as "the most commercially successful composer in history". The Daily Telegraph ranked him the "fifth most powerful person in British culture" in 2008, with lyricist Don Black writing "Andrew more or less single-handedly reinvented the musical."
Michael Patrick Smith,, known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English actor, singer and comedian.
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart. It is based on the 1910 eponymous French novel by Gaston Leroux.
Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a unifying love story.
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. It is based on the 1950 film of the same title.
Charles Hart is an English lyricist, librettist and songwriter best known for his work on The Phantom of the Opera as well as a number of other musicals and operas for both stage and television.
By Jeeves, originally Jeeves, is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics and book by Alan Ayckbourn. It is based on the series of novels and short stories by P. G. Wodehouse that centre around the character of Bertie Wooster and his loyal valet, Jeeves.
Dave Willetts is an English singer and actor known for having leading roles in West End musicals.
Don Black, is an English lyricist. His works have included numerous musicals, movie, television themes and hit songs. He has provided lyrics for John Barry, Charles Strouse, Matt Monro, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Quincy Jones, Hoyt Curtin, Lulu, Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Meat Loaf, Michael Jackson, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand, Hayley Westenra, A. R. Rahman, Marvin Hamlisch and Debbie Wiseman.
Ramin Karimloo is an Iranian-Canadian actor, singer and composer recognised mainly for his work in London's West End. He has played the leading male roles in both of the West End's longest running musicals: the Phantom and Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny in The Phantom of the Opera, and Jean Valjean, Enjolras, and Marius Pontmercy in Les Misérables. He also originated the roles of Gleb in Anastasia and the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, which continues the story of Phantom. He's also known to many Phantom fans for playing the role of the Phantom during The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Performance at the Royal Albert Hall, which was shown live in movie theaters around the world in October 2011, appearing opposite Sierra Boggess and Hadley Fraser as Christine Daaé and Raoul de Chagny, respectively. He made his Broadway debut as Jean Valjean in the 2014 revival production of Les Misérables, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. and can be heard as Stavros in As The Curtain Rises, Broadway's first original podcast soap opera.
Siobhan Patricia Dillon is an English actress and singer, who rose to fame when she performed in the British talent show-themed television series How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? on BBC One in 2006. Since then, Dillon has performed in the West End, playing the roles of Sandy in Grease at the Piccadilly Theatre, Vivienne Kensington in Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Molly in Ghost the Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre, Ellen in Miss Saigon, and Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard with the English National Opera. Siobhan reprised this role at the Palace Theatre in New York City.
The Musical of Musicals is a musical by Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell. It is structured into five acts, each of which is a short musical parodying the style of an American or British musical theatre composer or composer/lyricist team, all dealing with roughly the same classic melodrama plot: "I can't pay the rent!"
The Hollywood Pantages Theatre, formerly known as RKO Pantages Theatre, is located at Hollywood and Vine, in Hollywood. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, it was the last theater built by the vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages. The palatial Art Deco theater opened on June 4, 1930, as part of the Pantages Theatre Circuit.
Lonny Price is an American director, actor, and writer, primarily in theatre. He is perhaps best known for his creation of the role of Charley Kringas in the Broadway musical Merrily We Roll Along and for his New York directing work including Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd, Company, and Sondheim! The Birthday Concert.
Uwe Kröger is a musical star in the German-speaking countries of the world. Besides starring on stage, Kröger has taken part in galas and concerts, as well as making television and film appearances. He has released cast recordings and solo CDs.
Love Never Dies is a romantic musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Glenn Slater, and a book by Lloyd Webber, Ben Elton, Frederick Forsyth, and Slater. It is a sequel to the long-running 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera and was loosely adapted from Forsyth's 1999 novel The Phantom of Manhattan.
Essential Musicals is an album by Elaine Paige, released in 2006. The album was produced by Mike Moran, vocals were recorded at Air-Edel Studios in London, and the orchestra backing recorded at The Hungarian State Radio Studios, Budapest. The album peaked at #46 in the UK Albums Chart.
Sings the Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber is a studio album by Shirley Bassey, released in 1993.
Anita Louise Combe is an Australian actress, singer, dancer who has worked extensively in the entertainment industry all around the world. Combe attended the Gwen Mackay School of Dancing and trained in the Cechetti method of ballet with Jennifer Pollard in Adelaide, South Australia before making her first professional appearance on stage as Sillabub in the Australian Premiere Production of Cats at the Theatre Royal in Sydney. She is one of the few people in the world to date who has played both roles of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly in the production of Chicago in the West End. Anita created the role of Stephanie Mangano in the World Premiere Production of Saturday Night Fever opposite fellow Australian, Adam Garcia and produced by Adelaide born, Robert Stigwood.
Ron Bohmer is an American actor and singer best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway and as a recording artist and singer-songwriter. He has starred in numerous Broadway productions, including The Scarlet Pimpernel, Les Misérables, and Fiddler on the Roof, and toured the United States playing such parts as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, and Joseph Smith in The Book of Mormon. As a concert soloist he has performed with symphony orchestras around the world.