College Productions

BOA in Birmingham put on some really creative work and use the Old Rep as their venue(not to be confused with the Birmingham Rep).Focus seems to be on plays and revues.

If anyone went to any of the Mountview shows earlier this year, Joe Boyle (who was Marius in their Les Mis production and was also in Carousel and Nell Gwynn) will be making his debut as JD in Heathers tonight and will be on until Friday. Robin Hayward who was in Arts Ed's Spongebob and Lysistrata Jones this year is also currently playing Kurt in Heathers

Charis Alexandra (she was in the ensemble in Spongebob and was a bigger part in Lysistrata) is also in Grease and covers Rizzo if I remember correctly!

Chrissie Bhima (another one from Spongebob) was meant to be taking over as Cinderella after CHF (although we all know how that turned out).

They've also got 2 graduates (I think they were in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Bandstand since I didn't see either of them) in the Girl From the North Country tour.

Is this of interest to anyone? More of a 'greatest hits' than a complete show, but it is the Royal Academy of Music, so I imagine the standard will be very high.



tickets.ram.ac.uk/sales/categories/musical-theatre/colored-lights-the-songs-of-ka

Loads of availability when I checked this morning.

ArtsEd doing Catch Me If You Can 1 - 5th November

Yeah I thought I'd better get in quick, booked for the Friday matinee 😁

I hadn't checked back on Arts Ed since booking Catch Me If You Can and they don't seem to use a mailing list to notify new shows so I also missed out on Sweeney Todd. It's completely sold out now. 

It's possible to see two different college productions of A Little Night Music  in the same week or even the same day. As well as the previously mentioned Mountview production next week it's also on at the Bridewell Theatre 31 October -5 November by City Academy. Could even sort of do a third as Mountview's is double casted !

( A lot of amateur companies and colleges use Ticket Source for their ticketing and once a show is sold out their terms and conditions seem to mean it stays sold out, whereas organisations that have their own booking system like Mountview often add returns, sometimes on the day. Not that many shows sell out these days...)

Thanks, very helpful. I've signed up just for their Student Shows mailings.

Many venues notify previous attenders of new shows without the need to request information but now I've registered I'll hopefully get that info from Arts Ed in future.

As for train strikes I've so far managed to get to or change all shows booked on those days.  Even if a journey takes four hours by bus and Elizabeth Line /Underground compared to an hour by train ( eg to Central London from where I live) I'll do it but only if I can get at least part of the way home by public transport afterwards.

aaaaah this makes so much sense. I was sat there so so confused in the first half because I only recognised half the songs and I was thinking to myself is there another Catch Me If You Can like how we have 2 different Wild Partys?

Catch Me If You Can was really good. Loved the style of the music and I like how Arts Ed always do their best to add in a tap number. I don't know the original, but I found the first half better than the second half (nothing to with the strength of the performances).

Funnily enough, I was there for the Thursday matinee and although this was sold out, there were lots of empty seats. Also no one ever checks if I have a ticket. I think that show ends up being mostly for family and agents. I did overhear some family members mentioning that I was "clearly an agent" (which I'm not, although I do have a pretty good track record of picking out who will make it). One of the ensemble was trying his best to look me in the eye as well (either that, or I know him from somewhere, but I can't quite place where from). I was quite impressed by Michael Franks as Hanratty. Wish I'd been able to see the other cast.

I also caught A Little Night Music at Mountview on Monday. These productions are always full of Mountview students in the audience, which means you overhear the oddest things. I made the mistake of letting a student have my seat, so I ended up with a partially restricted view behind the conductor, lesson learnt! Both Mountview and Arts Ed shows are always top notch, but Mountview comes across as so much more relaxed. I liked the addition of a gay relationship between the servants. This show is tough vocally for professionals, let alone students, but many of the cast coped admirably. Very glad to have seen this, but I didn't feel the need to rush back.

I'm still waiting for Italia Conti to announce some musical theatre shows following their move to Woking.

Gosh, I only checked Italia Conti's website last weekend and there was nothing advertised then. Rhoda McGaw is indeed next to the main auditorium at Woking and I would have booked Flashdance for last Friday afternoon. Might try for Sweeney Todd  on Friday or Saturday afternoon though rail strike will make a Saturday journey challenging.

Made At Dagenham continues at Mountview Peckham until Wednesday and Tonbridge Schools' Les Miserables is at the EM Forster Theatre Tonbridge from Tuesday to Saturday - it's the School Edition (which has just minor cuts from the full version) but reimagined to be set in a cafe,  performed by actor-musicians and in the round ! Got both booked.