Performing Arts Centre | |
 | |
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| Address | Rutland Street Leicester UK |
|---|---|
| Owner | Leicester Theatre Trust |
| Capacity | Theatre 968 Studio 350 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 2008 |
| Years active | 13 |
| Architect | Rafael Viñoly |
| Builder | Lendlease |
| Website | |
| www | |
Curve Theatre is a theatre in Leicester, England, based in the cultural quarter in Leicester City Centre. Before being named Curve, it was referred to as Leicester Performing Arts Centre. [1] It is adjacent to the Leicester Athena conference and banqueting centre.
Curve Theatre was designed by the architect Rafael Viñoly in association with the scenographers ducks scéno and Charcoalblue and the acousticians Kahle Acoustics; Adams Kara Taylor engineered the project, which stands in the centre of what the City Council calls the new "Cultural Quarter" on Rutland Street. It features two auditoria, one with 970 seats (referred to as the Theatre) while a 350-seat auditorium (referred to as the Studio) provides a smaller space with its own power flying system. The Theatre, Studio and their stages can also be opened up to create one large space with a capacity of 1,300. When the 2 18 tonne steel walls separating the stage and the foyer are lifted, the stage is visible from street level. The glass façade encloses an open plan foyer with views onto the café, bars, backstage area, and across the stage.
The theatre was built by a partnership of Leicester City Council, Arts Council England (with funds from The National Lottery), East Midlands Development Agency, Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, [2] with the project part-financed by the European Union (ERDF), in partnership with Leicester Theatre Trust and in association with Phoenix Arts Centre. [3] The project, which was undertaken by Lendlease, [4] was blighted by huge cost increases that more than doubled the initial estimates. [5]
The theatre opened on 11 November 2008 with a celebratory opening show called Lift Off. [6] This was followed by Simply Cinderella, which ran from 4 December 2008 (the day it was officially opened by the Queen) until 24 January 2009 – a new musical of the fairytale, written by Grant Olding [7] and Toby Davies, [8] and directed by dancer Adam Cooper. [9]
Covid-19 Hit the theatre industry hard, as the UK was put into multiple lockdowns, and theatres were unable to open. Curve acquired the rights to perform two 'At Home' productions of musicals that had previously been performed at Curve. The first was Sunset Boulevard, based upon Sunset Boulevard (musical), first performed at Curve Theatre in 2017. The show brought back the same cast as the 2017 show, with Ria Jones and Danny Mac in the starring roles. The performance was filmed 'as live' and streamed out online between December 2020 - January 2021. The show received multiple 4 and 5 star reviews from the local and national newspapers. [10]
The second show was The Color Purple, based upon the 2005 musical The Color Purple (musical). The Color Purple was originally performed at Curve in 2019, the same cast was brought back for this online stream. The Color Purple was a roaring success with multiple 4 and 5 star reviews from national and local news outlets. [11]
• Les Miserables (2018) • War Horse (2019) • The Phantom of the Opera (2020) • Beauty and the Beast (2021)
Curve Theatre is run by the Leicester Theatre Trust (LTT), an independent charitable organisation. [3] LTT took over the operation of Curve in August 2008. The Leicester Theatre Trust formed in 1969, it is a regularly funded client of Arts Council England (ACE) and receives annual revenue funding from Leicester City Council.
From 1973 to 2007 the organisation programmed and operated the Haymarket Theatre.
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLain and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie.
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York Times. He is the producer of shows including Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Miss Saigon, Mary Poppins, Oliver!, and Hamilton.
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics and a book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. It is based on the 1950 film of the same title.
Michael Ashley Ball is an English singer, presenter and actor. He made his West End debut in 1985 playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of Les Misérables, and went on to star in 1987 as Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera. In 1989, he reached number two in the UK Singles Chart with "Love Changes Everything", a song taken from the musical Aspects of Love, where he played Alex Dillingham. He played the role in London and on Broadway. His album Coming Home To You reached number one in the UK making it his 4th number one album to date. On 24 April 2020, Ball and Captain Tom Moore entered the UK Singles Chart at number one with a cover of "You'll Never Walk Alone", with combined chart sales of 82,000 making it the fastest-selling single of 2020.
Barnum is an American musical with a book by Mark Bramble, lyrics by Michael Stewart, and music by Cy Coleman. It is based on the life of showman P. T. Barnum, covering the period from 1835 through 1880 in America and major cities of the world where Barnum took his performing companies. The production combines elements of traditional musical theater with the spectacle of the circus. The characters include jugglers, trapeze artists and clowns, as well as such real-life personalities as Jenny Lind and General Tom Thumb.
The Meridian Arts Centre is a performing arts venue in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened on October 16, 1993, as the North York Performing Arts Centre and was designed by Canadian architect Eberhard Zeidler for musicals, theatre productions and other performing arts. At opening, North York awarded management of the centre to Livent, which sold the naming rights in 1994 to Ford Motor Company of Canada. It became the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts. Later, it debranded as the Toronto Centre for the Arts.
Sue Townsend Theatre is a theatre in the city of Leicester, England. The centre hosts live shows and films of the arthouse and world cinema genres. Julian Wright is credited for his work to preserve the theatre from demolition in the 1980s and in the 2000s. In 2010, after a new Phoenix Square opened on the other side of the city centre, the space became the Upper Brown Street Theatre, a music training and performance venue. It has since been renamed the Sue Townsend Theatre, to honour the late Leicester author and playwright, Sue Townsend.
George William Stiles is an English composer of musicals for the stage.
The Color Purple is a musical with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray, and a book by Marsha Norman, based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker and its 1985 film adaptation. The musical follows the journey of Celie, an African American woman in the American South from the early to mid-20th century.
The Regent Theatre is an historic former picture palace built in 1929, closed in 1970, and restored and reopened in 1996 as a live theatre in Collins Street, in the city of Melbourne, Australia. It is one of six city theatres collectively known as Melbourne's East End Theatre District. Designed by Charles Ballantyne in an ornately palatial style, with a Gothic style lobby, Louis XVI style auditorium, and the Spanish Baroque style Plaza Ballroom in the basement, it is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Janie Dee is a British actress. She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress, Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play, and in New York the Obie and Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer, for her performance as Jacie Triplethree in Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential.
Anthony Drewe is a British lyricist and book writer for Broadway and West End musicals. He is best known for his collaborations with George Stiles.
Danny Mac is an English actor, best known for playing the role of Dodger Savage in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks from 2011 to 2015.
Meredith Braun began her career as a child actor in her native New Zealand before relocating to the UK and starring in a number of West End musicals and touring productions.
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.
Robert Mandell was an American-born British-based conductor. He conducted family and children's concerts, and stage musicals.
Kyle Scatliffe is an American stage actor best known for playing Enjolras in the 2014 Broadway revival of Les Misérables, and Harpo in the 2015 Broadway Revival of The Color Purple. He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical in 2014 for his performance as Haywood Patterson in The Scottsboro Boys.
Laura Pitt-Pulford is a British actress, best known for her work in musical theatre and for playing Carol Butler in Emmerdale.
Toby's Dinner Theatre is a dinner theater based in Columbia, Maryland.
Brian James Stacey, was an Australian conductor who started his career with the Queensland Ballet, the Australian Ballet, and Victoria State Opera, latterly becoming known for his work in Australian musical theatre but continuing his cross-genre career to the end of his life.
