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Kenny Wax (born 23 June 1967) is a British theatrical producer of musicals, plays, concerts and family entertainment.
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Kenny Wax (born 23 June 1967) is a British theatrical producer of musicals, plays, concerts and family entertainment.
Born in Bowdon, Cheshire, third child of parents Robert and Valerie Wax.[ citation needed ] His brother Derek Wax is a multi BAFTA and Emmy winning television producer whose award-winning programmes include Sex Traffic , The Hour , Occupation and Humans .[ citation needed ]
Kenny was educated at Altrincham Preparatory School, [1] in Cheshire and Carmel College, Oxfordshire. He graduated from the Polytechnic of Central London with a 2(1) in Business Studies.[ citation needed ]
Wax began his theatre career as an usher at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on the 1989 production of Miss Saigon . He left there to work for Dewynters as a 'runner' before being offered full time employment in the media department of the theatre advertising agency. [2] He left there to be a runner for Cameron Mackintosh on the Stiles and Drewe musical Just So at the Tricycle Theatre. He was production administrator at the King's Head Theatre in Islington, where he produced his first production, a season of Sunday Night Concerts under the banner Kickin' The Clouds Away and spent a season as general manager of the National Youth Theatre.[ citation needed ] Wax spent three years at Imagination Entertainment before starting his own company in 1995. He was general manager for PW Productions of The Woman In Black and An Inspector Calls .[ citation needed ] Wax has produced both plays and musicals in London's West End. He has also produced family entertainment products such as Stiles and Drewe's The Three Little Pigs at the Palace Theatre, [2] and with Tall Stories The Gruffalo , [3] The Gruffalo's Child and Room on the Broom. [4] Wax's production of The Play That Goes Wrong opened on Broadway in March 2017. [5] and recently completed a 7-month UK wide tour [6] 2012. [7] [8]
Top Hat has been seen twice in Japan and in Sweden performed by the Malmö Opera. Hetty Feather has played at the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Mr Popper's Penguins [9] at the New Victory Theatre in New York City, The Tiger Who Came To Tea , We're Going On A Bear Hunt and The Three Little Pigs have all played at the Melbourne Arts Centre and the Sydney Opera House.[ citation needed ] A film version of We're Going On A Bear Hunt was shown on Channel 4 Christmas 2016. [10]
Wax's production of The Play That Goes Wrong was winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, [11] and the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design in a Play. [12] His production of Top Hat won three Laurence Olivier Awards and an Evening Standard Theatre Award for 'Best Night Out'
His production of Once on This Island won Best New Musical at the 1995 Laurence Olivier Awards. His productions of Hetty Feather , Room on the Broom and The Tiger Who Came To Tea have also received nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.[ citation needed ] His production of Wonderful Town won the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Production 2014.[ citation needed ]
He was appointed president of the Society of London Theatre in June 2017. [13] He listed 16th in the Stage 100, the industry newspaper's list reflecting the 100 most influential people working in the theatre and performing arts industry as well as being shortlisted by the Stage as Producer of the Year. [14] [15] He also sits on the board of the League of Independent Producers.[ citation needed ]
William "Willy" Russell is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine, Blood Brothers and Our Day Out.
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.
Me and My Girl is a musical with music by Noel Gay and its original book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose. The story, set in the late 1930s, tells of an unapologetically unrefined cockney gentleman named Bill Snibson, who learns that he is the 14th heir to the Earl of Hareford. The action is set in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth.
Brian Paul Conley is an English actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Conley has been the host of The Brian Conley Show, as well as presenting the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions. In his 40-year television career, he has starred in multiple award-winning television sitcoms including Time After Time and The Grimleys. In the West End, he has played the lead role in musicals such as Me and My Girl, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Hairspray, Oliver!, The Music Man, Barnum and Jolson for which he was nominated for a prestigious Laurence Olivier Award. As a musician, he has released five albums, including Brian Conley Sings, Let the Good Times Roll, and Stage to Stage. He has won numerous awards in his career including The National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Performer, Best Live Performer in Manchester Evening News and a British Comedy Award.
Philip Mark Quast is an Australian actor and bass-baritone singer. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times, making him the first actor to have three wins in that category.
Maria Friedman is a British actress and director, best known for her work in musical theatre.
George William Stiles is an English composer of musicals for the stage.
Summer Peta Vaigncourt-Strallen is an English actress who has performed various roles on stage and screen. Her most notable theatre credits include Meg Giry in the West End production of Love Never Dies and Maria von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music at the London Palladium.
James Gillan is a Scottish stage actor born in Glasgow, and trained at The Arts Educational Schools in London.
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.
Stewart F. Lane is a Broadway producer, director, playwright and former actor. He has also written books, including Let's Put on a Show! and Jews of Broadway. He has also produced in Dublin. In addition to publishing two plays, he has directed across the country, working with Stephen Baldwin, Shannen Doherty, Chazz Palminteri, and more. He is co-owner of the Palace Theatre (Broadway) with the Nederlander Organization and a partner in the Tribeca Grill with Robert De Niro, Sean Penn and Mikhail Baryshnikov. He has written three books: Let's Put on a Show!, Jews on Broadway: An Historical Survey of Performers, Playwrights, Composers, Lyricists and Producers, and Black Broadway: African Americans on the Great White Way.
Lara Pulver is an English actress. She has played Erin Watts in the BBC spy drama Spooks and Irene Adler on BBC's TV adaptation Sherlock. She won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical in the West End's revival of the Broadway musical Gypsy.
Leanne Jones is a British actress best known for her role as Tracy Turnblad in the West End production of the musical Hairspray. In 2008, she won both the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer.
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply TheOlivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, but they were renamed in honour of the British actor of the same name in 1984.
Steven Dexter is a theatre director and writer.
Jamie Hendry is a British theater executive, actor, and producer.
Steven Hoggett is a British choreographer and movement director. He has won an Olivier Award as well as an Obie Award, has been nominated four times for a Drama Desk Award and three times for a Tony Award.
Top Hat the Musical is a 2011 stage musical based on the 1935 film of the same name, featuring music and lyrics by Irving Berlin with additional orchestration by Chris Walker. The show opened on 16 August 2011 at the Milton Keynes Theatre, touring the United Kingdom before transferring to the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End. Top Hat won multiple 2013 Laurence Olivier Awards after receiving seven nominations. The musical closed in London on 26 October 2013, with a UK and Ireland tour commencing in August 2014.
Isaac Stanmore is an English actor best known for playing Saul in the stage adaptation of Hetty Feather and Young Arthur Bullimore in The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm.
Richy Hughes is an English musical theatre lyricist and theatre maker from Thurrock, England.
