Willy Russell | |
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 Russell in 2003 | |
| Born | William Russell 23 August 1946 Whiston, Lancashire, England |
| Occupation | Playwright, screenwriter, author, lyricist, composer |
| Notable works | |
| Spouse | Annie Seagroatt (m. 1969) |
| Children | 3 |
| Website | |
| willyrussell | |
William Russell (born 23 August 1946) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are Educating Rita , Shirley Valentine , Blood Brothers and Our Day Out .
Russell was born in Whiston, Lancashire (which is now Merseyside). On leaving school, aged 15, he became a women's hairdresser, eventually running his own salon, until the age of 20 when he decided to go back to college. This led to him qualifying as a teacher. During these years, Russell also worked as a semi-professional singer, writing and performing his own songs in folk clubs. [1]
At college, he began writing drama and, in 1972, took a programme of three one-act plays to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where they were seen by writer John McGrath, who recommended Russell to the Liverpool Everyman, which commissioned the adaptation, When The Reds…, Russell's first professional work for theatre. [2]
Russell's first play was Keep Your Eyes Down (1971), written while he trained as a teacher at Saint Katherine's College of Higher Education in Liverpool and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1971. [3] [4]
In 1974 Russell wrote John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert , a musical about the Beatles. Commissioned by the Liverpool Everyman, it ran for a (then) unprecedented eight weeks before transferring to the West End where it ran for over a year, winning the Evening Standard and London Theatre Critics awards for the best musical of 1974. [5] It premiered at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, [6] and then transferred to the Lyric Theatre in the West End in 1974. [7] [8]
Alongside further stage works, One for the Road (1976) [9] and Stags and Hens (1978), Russell was a screenwriter with television films, Death of A Young Young Man (1975, BBC1), [10] Daughters of Albion (1979), [11] Our Day Out (1977) [12] and the five-part serial One Summer (1983). [13]
Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Educating Rita premiered at the Warehouse, London in 1980 and transferred to the West End Piccadilly Theatre, London in August 1980, and starred Julie Walters and Mark Kingston. [14] Since its premiere and long West End run (the play ran to "at least" June 1982), the play has been translated and produced in almost every part the globe garnering awards both for its author and for many of the actors who have played the roles of Rita and Frank.[ citation needed ]
Returning to the Liverpool Everyman in 1986, Russell wrote Shirley Valentine which went on to an acclaimed West End run, [15] earning Olivier Awards for both its author (Comedy of the Year) and star Pauline Collins (Actress of the Year in a New Play). [16] The play transferred to New York for a highly successful Broadway run in February 1989 to November 1989, and a Tony Award as Best Actress for Collins. [17]
Both Educating Rita (1983) and Shirley Valentine (1989) [18] became feature films with Michael Caine, Julie Walters and Pauline Collins all receiving Oscar nominations for their respective roles, as did Russell for his Educating Rita screenplay. [19] [20]
Russell's other worldwide theatrical success has been Blood Brothers , "a Liverpudlian folk opera" about a pair of twins separated at birth and brought up in completely different environments. It won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 1983. Its 1988 revival had over 10,000 consecutive performances during its 24-year West End run, which ended in November 2012. Simultaneously, there were UK touring and international productions, including a two-year run on Broadway starting in 1993. The Broadway production was nominated for the 1993 Tony Award, Best Musical. [21] [22] [23]
In 1985, Russell co-wrote the song "The Show", the theme for the TV series Connie with series creator Ron Hutchinson. The song was performed by vocalist Rebecca Storm and released as a single by Towerbell Records in June 1985, reaching number 22 on the UK Singles Chart.
Russell (with musical collaborator Bob Eaton) realised a long-held ambition to develop Our Day Out further and after extensive rewriting, and recomposing created Our Day Out – The Musical . This modern musical retelling retains all the characters and plot of the original but with the action brought forward to today with a new score and lyrics to reflect this twenty first century setting. The musical was produced in 2010 at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. [24] [25]
The Wrong Boy , Willy Russell's first novel, was published in 2000.[ citation needed ] In 2004, Russell returned to his original singer/songwriter roots, releasing his album, Hoovering the Moon on Pure Records. Russell also co-produced the Tim Firth album Harmless Flirting.[ citation needed ]
In 2013, the Archive and Special Collections department of Liverpool John Moores University established the Willy Russell Archive containing manuscripts, programmes, publicity and media material including newspaper cuttings and press releases, correspondence, legal, financial and administrative documents, records relating to the casting and audition process, audio and film material, and promotional ephemera. The material was produced throughout the course of Russell's career and is a comprehensive representation of his work to date. It also illustrates Russell's collaborative works, both written and musical. [26] [27]
In 1969, Russell married Annie Seagroatt; the couple have one son, Rob, and two daughters, Rachel and Ruth. [28]
Educating Rita is a stage comedy by British playwright Willy Russell. It is a play for two actors set entirely in the office of an Open University tutor.
Blood Brothers is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Willy Russell and was produced by Bill Kenwright until his death in 2023. The story is a contemporary nature versus nurture plot, revolving around fraternal twins Mickey and Eddie, who were separated at birth, one subsequently being raised in a wealthy family, the other in a poor family. The different environments take the twins to opposite ends of the social spectrum, one becoming a councillor, and the other unemployed and in prison. They both fall in love with the same girl, causing a rift in their friendship and leading to the tragic death of both brothers. Russell says that his work was based on a one-act play that he read as a child "about two babies switched at birth ... it became the seed for Blood Brothers."
Barbara Ruth Dickson is a Scottish singer and actress whose hits include "I Know Him So Well", "Answer Me" and "January February". Dickson has placed fifteen albums on the UK Albums Chart from 1977 to date, and had a number of hit singles, including four which reached the top 20 on the UK Singles Chart. The Scotsman newspaper has described her as Scotland's best-selling female singer in terms of the numbers of hit chart singles and albums she has achieved in the UK since 1976.
Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.
Sir Antony Sher was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 and toured in many roles, as well as appearing on film and television. In 2001, he starred in his cousin Ronald Harwood's play Mahler's Conversion, and said that the story of a composer sacrificing his faith for his career echoed his own identity struggles.
Lewis Gilbert was an English film director, producer and screenwriter who directed more than 40 films during six decades; among them such varied titles as Reach for the Sky (1956), Sink the Bismarck! (1960), Alfie (1966), Educating Rita (1983) and Shirley Valentine (1989), as well as three James Bond films: You Only Live Twice (1967), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).
The Everyman Theatre stands at the north end of Hope Street in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1964, in Hope Hall, in an area of Liverpool noted for its bohemian environment and political edge, and quickly built a reputation for ground-breaking work. The Everyman was completely rebuilt between 2011 and 2014.
Amanda Lillian Muggleton is an English Australian theatre, television and film actress. She is best known for her supporting television soap opera role in Prisoner as Chrissie Latham, with appearance between 1979 and 1983.
Con O'Neill is an English actor. He started his acting career at the Everyman Theatre and became primarily known for his performances in musicals. He received critical acclaim and won a Laurence Olivier Award for playing Michael "Mickey" Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers. Subsequently, he was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for the same role. He has also appeared in many films and television series, including Chernobyl, The Batman and Our Flag Means Death.
Tracie Bennett is an English singer and stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London. She played the role of Sharon Gaskell in Coronation Street from 1982 to 1984, returning to the role in 1999 and again in 2021.
The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat Off-West End theatre, which comprises a bar and theatre offices.
Andrew Schofield is an English actor best known for starring as the Narrator in Willy Russell’s original production of the musical Blood Brothers in 1983, and playing Johnny Rotten in Alex Cox's 1986 film Sid and Nancy.
George J. Costigan is an English actor who is best known for portraying Bob in the 1987 film Rita, Sue and Bob Too and for roles in TV series such as Prime Suspect and also Line of Duty.
One For The Road is a comedic play by Willy Russell, written in 1976 and published in 1980. The script was revised and updated by Russell in 1985 and the rights are held by Samuel French Ltd. It is not to be confused with the Harold Pinter play of the same name. It was originally entitled The Tupperware Man and performed under this name until a legal threat from Tupperware. It then became 'Painted Veg And Parkinson'.
John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert is a 1974 musical by Willy Russell based on the story of the Beatles.
The Wrong Boy, published in 2000, is playwright Willy Russell’s first novel.
David Pugh is a West End and Broadway theatre producer.
Alan Dossor was a British theatre director.
Peter McKintosh is a British theatre set and costume designer.
Dafydd Rogers is a theatre producer known for a number of award winning plays produced in the UK and internationally. and for his commitment to making theatre as accessible and affordable as possible. He is a long-standing board member of the Society of London Theatre and the UK Theatre Association.
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