Mercury Musical Developments

Last updated

Mercury Musical Developments
AbbreviationMMD
Formation1992
Legal status Registered charity
HeadquartersLondon
Location
Region served
United Kingdom
Membership
560
Executive Director
Emily Gray
Website mercurymusicals.com

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. [1] Founded in 1992 [2] [3] 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. [1]

Contents

MMD is based in Grosvenor Gardens, near Victoria Station, and was previously based at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End. Its Executive Director is Emily Gray, who succeeded Victoria Saxton, who succeeded Neil Marcus, previously Artistic Director at the Jermyn Street Theatre, in 2015. Neil Marcus succeeded Georgina Bexon in 2009. [4]

A registered charity, [5] it receives funding from Arts Council England. [6] MMD also work in consortium with Musical Theatre Network (MTN), a membership organisation who works to bring people and resources together to improve infrastructure and opportunities for new musical theatre in the UK, strengthen and diversify the new musical sector and the art form, and is a national network of venues, producers, directors, colleges and universities, organisations and individuals. Together, MMD and MTN produce BEAM, the UK's largest and only showcase of new musical theatre, curated via pitching days across England, Scotland and Wales, bringing together presentations of new musicals in development and providing networking opportunities and discussions for anyone with an interest in new musical theatre, or who is in a position to help develop and stage new British musicals.

MMD also work with founding members George Stiles and Anthony Drewe to deliver the Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize competition annually, and the Stiles and Drewe MTI Mentorship Award every two years.

History

In 1990 composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim took the Cameron Mackintosh chair in musical theatre at the University of Oxford, and in this capacity ran workshops with promising writers of musicals, including George Stiles, Anthony Drewe, Andrew Peggie, Paul James, and Stephen Keeling. These writers jointly set up the Mercury Workshop in 1992, which eventually merged with the New Musicals Alliance to become Mercury Musical Developments.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Sondheim</span> American composer and lyricist (1930–2021)

Stephen Joshua Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. With his frequent collaborations with Harold Prince and James Lapine, Sondheim's Broadway musicals tackled unexpected themes that ranged beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics were tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of life.

<i>Company</i> (musical) 1970 musical comedy

Company is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The original 1970 production was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards, winning six. Company was among the first book musicals to deal with contemporary dating, marriage, and divorce, and is a notable example of a concept musical lacking a linear plot. In a series of vignettes, Company follows bachelor Bobby interacting with his married friends, who throw a party for his 35th birthday.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Lapine</span> American stage director and librettist

James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Playwrights Horizons</span> Off-Broadway theater in Manhattan, New York

Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit American Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work.

George William Stiles is an English composer of musicals for the stage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menier Chocolate Factory</span> Theatre in Southwark, London

The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat off-West End theatre, which comprises a bar and theatre offices.

James Gillan is a Scottish stage actor born in Glasgow, and trained at The Arts Educational Schools in London.

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.

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.

Notes From New York is a successful London based concert series, created primarily to showcase the output of contemporary musical theatre writers.

Stephen Keeling is a British composer and musician who works predominantly in musical theatre.

<i>Betty Blue Eyes</i> 2011 Musical

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.

<i>Soho Cinders</i> Musical

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, it transfers the action to the heart of London's Soho, and replaces the eponymous heroine with Robbie, a young rent boy who gets wrapped up in an illicit affair with an aspiring politician. The plot intertwines elements of the classic fairy tale with contemporary urban political scandal.

The Academy for New Musical Theatre (ANMT) is a non-profit 501 c(3) organization dedicated to the creation and development of new musical theatre. The organization is composed of writers, composers, producers and actors who work together to create new musicals. The workshop is located in 5628 Vineland Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

<i>The A–Z of Mrs P</i> Musical by Gwyneth Herbert

The A–Z of Mrs P is a musical conceived by Neil Marcus and written by British playwright Diane Samuels and British composer Gwyneth Herbert. Described as "a musical fable inspired by the autobiographies of Phyllis Pearsall", it tells the story of Phyllis Pearsall's creation of the London A to Z street atlas. The A–Z of Mrs P was performed in workshop with actress Sophie Thompson in May 2011. It opened in London at Southwark Playhouse on 21 February 2014, starring Peep Show actress Isy Suttie and Frances Ruffelle.

Christine Denniston is a playwright, author and dance teacher and one of Britain's leading exponents of the tango. She graduated in theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge.

Richy Hughes is an English musical theatre lyricist and theatre maker from Thurrock, England.

References

  1. 1 2 "About". Mercury Musical Developments. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  2. ↑ Shenton, Mark (17 October 2012). "The changing face of the British musical, and another new cabaret space". The Stage . London. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "Anita Dobson Hosts Mercury Musical Development's 20th Anniversary Gala". BroadwayWorld . 14 October 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "New Executive Director for Mercury Musical Developments". Stephen Sondheim Society. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "1045606 – Mercury Musical Developments". Charity Overview. Charity Commission . Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Mercury Musical Developments". Arts Council England. Archived from the original on 5 September 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.