 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Notes From New York is a successful London (West End) based concert series, created primarily to showcase the output of contemporary musical theatre writers.
Founded in 2003 by producer Neil Eckersley and actor/musician David Randall (who became the series regular director and arranger), the concerts have usually been headlined by the primary collaborators Paul Spicer and Julie Atherton who also fulfil creative roles in musical staging.
Other frequent collaborators include regular actors (such as Oliver Thompsett & Ashleigh Gray), sound designer Mark Dunne, pianists Mark Collins and Joe Hood.
2 November 2003 – Arts Theatre, Leicester Square Starring Julie Atherton, Paul Spicer, Shona Lindsey and Damien Edwards. Featuring music by Jason Robert Brown and Andrew Lippa.
7 March 2004 – Donmar Warehouse, Covent Garden Starring Julie Atherton, Paul Spicer, Debbie Kurup and Craig Purnell. Featuring music by Jason Robert Brown, Jonathan Larson and William Finn.
4 July 2004 – Arts Theatre, Leicester Square Starring Julie Atherton, Paul Spicer, Kellie Ryan and Samuel Barnett. Featuring music by Andrew Lippa, Craig Carnelia and Jimmy Roberts.
19 September 2004 – Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall Starring Rebecca Thornhill, Stephen Weller, Oliver Tompsett and Ashleigh Gray. Featuring music by Adam Guettel, Michael John LaChuisa and John Buccino.
21 November 2004 – Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall Starring Julie Atherton, Paul Spicer, Amy Nuttall, Jon Lee, Shona Lindsay, Damien Edwards, Oliver Tompsett and Ashleigh Gray. Featuring music from all composers in the series so far and Tim Acito.
9 December 2013 - Palace Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue Starring Eden Espinosa, Scott Garnham, Andy Coxon, Zoe Rainey, Julie Atherton, Tori Allen-Martin, Lucy May Barker, Luke Kempner, Ambra Caserotti, Sarah Goggin, Nathan Lodge and Sebastian Thomas.
Notes From New York presented an evening of new British musical theatre on 19 March 2006 at the Duchess Theatre, Covent Garden. Starring Julie Atherton, Paul Spicer, Anna-Jane Casey and Dougal Irvine, the evening showcased the output of composers Grant Olding and Charles Miller.
The success of the concerts meant that Notes From New York could create successful evenings on various other themes:
Notes in Heels (6 April 2008 – Duchess Theatre, Covent Garden) showcased female writers Georgia Stitt, Jenny Giering, Zina Goldrich. Again it starred Julie Atherton and Paul Spicer, with newcomers Selina Chilton, Stuart Matthew Price and Amy Pemberton.
The Last Five Years (12, 19 & 26 October 2008 – Theatre Royal, Haymarket) A gala staging of the Jason Robert Brown musical to celebrate five successful years of Notes From New York. Starring the series regulars Julie Atherton and Paul Spicer.
Producer Neil Eckersley and creative Paul Spicer have also formed Speckulation Entertainment, which produced 'A Spoonful of Stiles And Drewe' (6 July 2008 – Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket), a celebration of British musical theatre writers George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. The concert has since been released on CD.
The seasonal musical celebration has been going since 2006:
Sunday 10 December 2006 – Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, Starring Josie Walker, Julie Atherton, Paul Spicer, Cassidy Janson, James Gillan, Oliver Tompsett, Jon Robyns, Clare Foster, Melanie La Barrie, Daniel Boys, Sophia Ragavelas and Emma Williams.
Sunday 9 December 2007 – Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue Starring Anna-Jane Casey, Julie Atherton, Paul Spicer, Oliver Tompsett, Emma Williams, Melanie La Barrie, Matt Cross, Ashleigh Gray, Alex Jessop, Debbie Kurup, Steven Webb and Rachael Wooding.
Sunday 7 December 2008 – Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue Starring Maria Friedman, Julie Atherton, Oliver Tompsett, Ashleigh Gray, Michael Xavier, Adrian Hansel, Zoe Rainey, Richard Reynard and Lorna Want.
Sunday 6 December 2009-Princes of Wales Theatre Starring Julie Atherton, Samuel Barnett, Daniel Boys, Ashleigh Gray, Jenna Lee James, Alex Jessop, Leanne Jones, Paul Spicer, Oliver Tompsett, Hannah Waddingham and Rachael Wooding.
In the summer of 2009, a week-long course, designed for up and coming Contemporary Musical Theatre enthusiasts, was held at The London School of Musical Theatre. The week consisted of day long sessions, workshopping various Musical Numbers including Die Vampire Die (Title of Show), Come to Your Senses (Tick, Tick... Boom!), Nothing in Common (Wearing Someone Else's Clothes: Jason Robert Brown), You Shall Go to the Ball (SOHO Cinders) and two pieces devised by Taking Notes' resident MD new British Musical Theatre composer Michael Bruce, entitled A Little Less Ordinary and Looking Back (Ed: The Musical). The Original Taking Notes Cast comprising 45 students from various areas of the UK, who worked with a number of currently established and successful Musical Theatre artists including Julie Atherton (Avenue Q), Oliver Tompsett (Wicked), Clare Foster (The Bill, Avenue Q), Sam Buntrock (Sunday in the Park with George) Keiran Hill (RSC) and Paul Spicer (The Last 5 Years). The week-long course worked towards a showcase at the end of the week to a privately invited audience. An Original Cast Recording of the Taking Notes Showcase unofficially nicknamed 'Post-It Notes from New York' is available.
Andrew Lippa is an American composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer. He is a resident artist at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City.
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. It opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, with a capacity of 2,500. The current capacity is 1,416. The title "Shaftesbury Theatre" belonged to another theatre lower down the avenue between 1888 and 1941. The Prince's adopted the name in 1963.
ODEON Covent Garden is a four-screen cinema in the heart of London's West End. Formerly known as The Saville Theatre, a former West End theatre at 135 Shaftesbury Avenue in the London Borough of Camden. The theatre opened in 1931, and became a music venue during the 1960s. In 1970 it became the two cinemas ABC1 Shaftesbury Avenue and ABC2 Shaftesbury Avenue, which in 2001 were converted to the four-screen cinema Odeon Covent Garden.
Joanna Ampil is a musical theatre and film actress from the Philippines and United Kingdom.
Julie Atherton is a British actress, singer and director. She is best known for originating the role of Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut in the West End production of Avenue Q. and playing Sister Mary Robert in the first UK tour of Sister Act: The Musical. As a singer she released her debut album, A Girl of Few Words, on 2 October 2006. After signing with the Speckulation record label, she released her second album titled No Space for Air in 2010, with her third album released in 2014 and titled 'Rush of Life'.
Ashleigh Gray is a Scottish Actress and Musical Theatre performer best known for playing Elphaba in the London and UK & Ireland touring productions of Wicked.
Laurence Mark Wythe is an English composer, lyricist and writer for West End, international and Off-Broadway musicals. He is principally known for the off-Broadway musical Tomorrow Morning (2011), Through the Door and Midnight. Tomorrow Morning won the Jeff Award in Chicago for Best Musical (midsize) in 2009. The musical opened at the Landor Theatre in South London in October 2010, and off-Broadway at the Theatre at Saint Peters on Lexington Avenue in New York on 31 March 2011 and has played all over the world. Also: Creatives written with Irvine Welsh has been seen in the US and the UK; Extraordinary was produced by the University of Central Lancashire in 2017. He has also written one play's incidental music. The movie adaptation of Tomorrow Morning was shot in 2021 and will be released by Kaleidoscope Films in 2022, starring Samantha Barks and Ramin Karimloo with Omid Djalili, Fleur East, Joan Collins, Henry Goodman and Harriet Thorpe.
The Queen's Theatre was a London theatre established in 1867 on the site of St Martin's Hall, a large concert room that had opened in 1850. It stood on the corner of Long Acre and Endell Street, with entrances in Wilson Street and Long Acre. The site is within the modern Camden, part of Covent Garden.
Thomas Aldridge, also known as Tom Aldridge, is an English television and theatre actor. He is best known for playing Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London's West End. He is married to West End actress Helen Owen.
Oliver Tompsett is a British actor and singer, best known for his work in musical theatre. He originated leading roles in multiple West End productions, including Drew Boley in Rock of Ages and William Shakespeare in & Juliet. In addition, Tompsett is known for his portrayal of Fiyero in Wicked and Galileo in We Will Rock You.
Sarah Lark is a Welsh singer and actress who rose to fame when she competed as one of the finalists in the BBC talent show-themed television series I'd Do Anything in 2008.
Dress Circle is a British specialist store that sells products related to the musical theatre, including cast albums, books, merchandise, and memorabilia. From 1978 until 2013, it operated a store near Covent Garden, London; since 2013 it has been an online-only retailer.
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.
Michael D. Xavier is an English actor and singer. He is a two-time Laurence Olivier Award nominee and has performed on Broadway and in the West End.
Michael McCarthy, is an Irish musical theatre performer who is best known for his many appearances as Javert in the musical Les Misérables.
Speckulation Entertainment is a British record label dedicated to musical theatre. It was founded by Neil Eckersley who has released original cast recordings of A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe, Stiles & Drewe's Peter Pan, Christmas in New York and Dougal Irvine's Departure Lounge.
James Yeoburn is an English producer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of international theatre production company United Theatrical
Simon Lipkin is a British actor, best known for his work in musical theatre. He has originated roles in several major West End musicals such as Avenue Q and Rock of Ages. His television work includes The Amazing World of Gumball and Doctor Who. He has acted in small roles in film as well as in the starring role in 2018 comedy Nativity Rocks!.
Matthew Price is a British actor, dancer and West End stage and concert singer known for playing Riff Raff in three European tours of The Rocky Horror Show. He is also a composer, having written Before After (2014) and Imaginary (2017) among other musicals and a theatrical producer, being a co-founder with James Yeoburn of the international production company United Theatrical.
Cassidy Janson is a British actress, known for her work in musical theatre. She won the 2020 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for & Juliet.
