The British Theatre Academy will be presenting a one night concert of Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens at the Charing Cross Theatre on Sunday 4th September. Funds will go towards giving young people opportunities to train and perform for free in Professional Theatres. 

Heading up the mixture of students and professionals are Jaymi Hensley (Union J), Anton Stephans (X Factor), Gerard McCarty (The Fall), Edward Bennett (Photograph 51), Max Bowden & Becky Craven (Waterloo Road), Harry Francis (Book of Mormon), Akiya Henry (Silent Witness) and Matthew Seadon Young (Urinetown).

A musical song cycle inspired by the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens celebrates those who have lost their lives to AIDS. Through a series of dramatic, powerful and emotionally intense monologues, we hear the struggles of various people who have battles with the disease. Each coming from very different walks of life, every character has their own unique story to share, but one tragic link in common. Interspersing these stories are the poignant and uplifting songs from the victims' loved ones, reminding us that AIDS affects the lives of more than the individual sufferers. 

• Mainstage

Stiletto

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In Italy during the 18th century, an average of 5,000 boys were castrated annually. Almost exclusively, they came from poor families. Their treble voices intact, castration promised those who survived a chance to earn fame and fortune by singing female roles in the opera. A few made it, but most didn’t and were swept aside.

Stiletto, a new musical with Music and Lyrics by three-time Grammy nominee, Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Matthew Wilder (Disney’s Mulan), Book by double Olivier Award nominee Tim Luscombe (Noël Coward’s Easy Virtue, Terrence Rattigan’s The Browning Version and Harlequinade), is set in Venice, Europe’s opera capital.

During the winter of 1730-31, Venice is a city bristling with opportunity where fortunes can be made but life is cheap. A city of lustre and intrigue with plenty of chances of success for Marco, who was castrated as a child to retain his perfect voice. Opera stars being the rock stars of their day, Marco is on course to be an 18th-century Jagger or Bowie, to snag a powerful patron and play leading roles.

In a busy square he meets Gioia, confident, strong willed...and supremely talented. But despite her musical gifts, being the daughter of an African slave, there’s no chance for her to fulfil her dreams. Marco recognises her talent and, sensing that they are both outsiders as well as sharing a love for music, they fall in love.

In an attempt to get her on stage, Marco introduces Gioia to society and his patron, the Contessa Azzurra, but at the end of the evening, a body lies dead and Gioia is hauled off to prison. To free her, Marco must overcome the demons of his past and the morally corrupt forces of the present.

Click here for exclusive first listen to Stiletto

Creatives:

Music & Lyrics: Matthew Wilder

Book: Tim Luscombe

Director: David Gilmore

Staging Consultant: Anthony Van Laast

Musical Director: Jae Alexander

Orchestrator: Simon Nathan

Set Designer: Ceci Calf

Costume Designer: Anna Kelsey

Lighting Designer: Ben Ormerod   

Sound Designer: Andrew Johnson

Casting: Neil Rutherford

Executive Producer: Guy Kitchenn

Produced by Patrick Bywalski for the Robert Stigwood Organisation and Steven M. Levy for Charing Cross Theatre Productions Limited.

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