He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School between 1974–1980. He read Zoology at Exeter University between 1980–1983 where he met his writing partner George Stiles.
Collaboration with George Stiles
For more than 30 years, Drewe has worked with the composer George Stiles. Together they have written eleven shows (see below). Projects currently in development include: Soap Dish; an adaptation of Graham Greene's Travels with My Aunt; and a new project with the director and choreographer Jerry Mitchell.[1]
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun was first performed at the Northcott Theatre and Imagination Buildings in 1984.
In 2001, Anthony Drewe directed an extensively reworked version at Boston’s North Shore Music Theatre in the USA, with designs by Peter McKintosh and choreography by Stephen Mear. With the same team, Anthony directed the 2004 Chichester Festival Theatre production, which received glowing reviews and proved to be a big hit.
It is frequently produced by schools and community theatre groups. Honk! has been seen by more than 6 million people all over the world in over 8,000 productions in more than 20 languages.
In 2007, the show was given its British theatrical premiere in a fully fledged production at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre as directed by Rachel Kavanaugh. In the summer of 2011, it made its American premiere at the Tri-County Performing Arts Center in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, recently renamed Steel River Playhouse. The production made its Canadian premiere with the St. Albert Children's Theatre in St. Albert, Alberta in November 2011.[needs update]
George Stiles and Anthony Drewe were commissioned by Cameron Mackintosh and Disney to write additional material augmenting the Sherman Brothers' original Academy Award winning Disney's classic 1964 film song score. The stage musical featured a new book by Downton Abbey writer and Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes. Mary Poppins opened at the Prince Edward Theatre in December 2004 where it had a hugely successful 3-year run before embarking on a UK national tour in 2008. It opened on Broadway in 2006 where it ran for 6 years at the New Amsterdam Theatre. A US tour hit the road in 2009, touring for over 2 years. A new production opened at The Ronacher Theatre in Vienna in 2014.
In the autumn of 2015 it embarked on a new UK Tour.[2]
The show received its US premiere at the Music Theatre of Wichita, Kansas in July 2013. A UK tour of ran from March–August 2014.
Soho Cinders
The show was premiered at a sold-out concert performance at the Queen's Theatre in October 2011 in aid of The Teenage Cancer Trust. A full staged production opened at the Soho Theatre in the summer of 2012.
Further productions have been staged in Dallas, Texas, at the Arts Educational School, London, University of Cumbria, University of West England, and it will open in 2015 in Belgium.
Three Little Pigs
The Three Little Pigs was commissioned by the Singapore Repertory Theatre for their Little Company and forms the first in a “trilogy of trios” (along with Goldilocks And The Three Bears and The Three Billy Goats Gruff). It premiered for 70 sell-out performances at the DBS Arts Centre in Singapore in March 2012 (in English), and returned for a further four week run at the same venue in July 2013 (in Mandarin).
In October 2013 it was selected for the NAMT Festival in New York – the first children’s show ever to receive that honour. Since then, there have been productions at The Greenwich Theatre, London, a hit season at Emerald City Theatre, Chicago and productions in Finland and China.
In the summer of 2015 Three Little Pigs had its West End premiere at Palace Theatre, London starring Simon Webbe as the Big Bad Wolf, Alison Jiear as Mummy Pig and Leanne Jones, Taofique Folarin and Daniel Buckley as the three piglets.[4]
The book was written by Julian Fellowes who Stiles and Drewe previously worked with on Mary Poppins and Half a Sixpence. The production will be directed by Rachel Kavanaugh (who also directed Half a Sixpence) with set and costume design by Peter McKintosh and lighting design by Howard Harrison.
Stiles and Drewe are founding members of Mercury Musical Developments (MMD), a charity devoted to nurturing new musical theatre in the United Kingdom. They have also written other revues and songs for theatre, TV, and radio, including the RSC's Shakespeare Revue, The Challenge, and Dame Edna Everage's Look at Me When I'm Talking to You.
Awards
Awards include the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical (Honk!), an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Production (Honk!), and a host of awards for Mary Poppins around the world. As a founding board-member of Mercury Musical Developments, Anthony also awards the annual Stiles and Drewe Prize for a new song written for the musical stage.
Independent work as a lyricist
The Card
Twist of Fate
Work as an actor
Rouges to Riches – Porthos
A Twist of Fate (musical)|A Twist of Fate – Inspector East
Honk! is a musical adaptation of the 1843 Hans Christian Andersen story The Ugly Duckling, incorporating a message of tolerance. The book and lyrics are by Anthony Drewe and music is by George Stiles. The musical is set in the countryside and features Ugly – a cygnet who is mistaken as an ugly duckling upon falling into his mother's nest and is rejected by everyone but Ida, a sly tomcat who only befriends him out of hunger, and several other barnyard characters.
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster, London.
Half a Sixpence is a 1963 musical comedy based on the 1905 novel Kipps by H. G. Wells, with music and lyrics by David Heneker and a book by Beverley Cross. It was written as a vehicle for British pop star Tommy Steele.
Laura Michelle Kelly is an English actress and singer, best known for originating the roles of Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins in the West End, for which she received the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies in Finding Neverland on Broadway.
Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) is a non-profit professional theatre company founded in 1993. It is located at the KC Arts Centre – Home of SRT at 20 Merbau Road, Singapore. The current artistic director is Gaurav Kripalani while its managing director is Charlotte Nors.
Mary Poppins is a musical with music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman and additional music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and a script by Julian Fellowes. The musical is based on the similarly titled Mary Poppins children's books by P. L. Travers and the 1964 Disney film, and is a fusion of various elements from the two, including songs from the film.
George William Stiles is an English composer of musicals for the stage.
Scarlett Aimee Vaigncourt-Strallen is an English stage actress, best known for her work in musical theatre productions in the West End and on Broadway. She has received two Olivier Award nominations, in 2006 for her portrayal of Josephine in HMS Pinafore, performed at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and in 2012 for her role in Singin' in the Rain. Strallen is also a former voice actress.
Lisa O'Hare is an English actress who has played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and the title character of Mary Poppins in the West End and UK stage. She more recently has appeared in several prime-time American television shows on TNT, ABC and NBC. She most recently starred on Broadway in the musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
Caroline Sheen is a Welsh actress who has played leading roles on stage in the West End alongside TV and film appearances. She won a Helen Hayes award for playing the role of Mary Poppins on the National Tour of America.
Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure is a musical based on J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, with a book by Willis Hall and music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. The show opened in Copenhagen in 1996. The production was first broadcast in 2001 as a New Year's Eve concert, starring Sheila Hancock, Laura Michelle Kelly, and Joe McFadden. It was presented at Festival Hall in the 2002/2003 Christmas period.
Betty Blue Eyes is a 2011 stage musical comedy based on the 1984 film A Private Function, and features music by George Stiles, with lyrics by Anthony Drewe. The book was written for the stage by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, adapted from Alan Bennett's original screenplay.
Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary are a London-based musical theatre writing partnership. They met at Bristol University, where they were studying Drama and Music respectively.
Soho Cinders is a musical with music by George Stiles, lyrics and a book by Anthony Drewe with Elliot Davis as co-author. A modern adaptation of the Cinderella story, Soho Cinders transfers the action to the heart of London's Soho. The eponymous heroine is replaced by a young rent boy called Robbie who gets wrapped up in an illicit affair with an aspiring politician called James Prince. The story intertwines elements of Cinderella with contemporary political scandal and an urban setting.
The Wind in the Willows is a musical written by Julian Fellowes, with music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, based on the 1908 novel of the same name, written by Kenneth Grahame. The musical received its world premiere at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth in October 2016, before transferring to The Lowry in Salford and the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. The following year the production transferred to the West End's London Palladium, where it was filmed for cinema broadcast.
Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) is the UK's largest membership organisation dedicated to developing new musical theatre writing, based in the United Kingdom dedicated to developing new writing in musical theatre. Founded in 1992 as the Mercury Workshop, it took on its present name when it merged in 1999 with the New Musicals Alliance. It now has over 560 members.
SimG Records is an independent record label, dedicated to the promotion of new musical theatre and new writers to the British audience. It was founded by London-based director/producer Simon Greiff in 2009. Its affiliate company, SimG Productions showcases new work on stage, in concerts, cabarets, plays and on CD. In 2014, SimG Records releases were nominated for seven Broadway World Album Awards.
Half a Sixpence is a stage musical based on the 1905 novel Kipps by H. G. Wells and the original 1963 musical, with music by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and lyrics by Anthony Drewe and Heneker, featuring several of the original songs by Heneker, and book by Julian Fellowes.
Charlie Stemp is an English actor. Stemp came to prominence for his leading role as Arthur Kipps in the West End musical Half a Sixpence, which earned him a WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and nomination for a 2017 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.
Kenny Wax is a British theatrical producer of musicals, plays, concerts and family entertainment.
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