Matthew Malone Archives - North West End UK

Brief Encounter – Royal Exchange Theatre

8Dec

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Brief Encounter – Royal Exchange Theatre

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2 is undoubtedly one of the most famous pieces of music in cinematic history, the dark strains being synonymous with the 1945 David Lean directed 'Brief Encounter', its tone of repression and guilt defining a certain very English attitude to love and sex in the immediate post war period. The film was based on Noel Coward's pre war one-act play 'Still Life', and this festive season the Royal Exchange Theatre has turned this melancholy tale of squandered opportunity into a quirky and witty musical using songs exclusively from Coward's extensive back catalogue. The resulting Christmas confection is a soft fondant of nostalgic memory wrapped round a bittersweet centre. The central love story is the paper thin tale of Laura (Hannah Azuonye), an upper middle c...

Cast announced for world premiere of
The Book Thief

Ahead of its world premiere at the Octagon Theatre Bolton this autumn, the musical adaptation of The Book Thief announces its cast. Directed by the Octagon’s Artistic Director Lotte Wakeham (One Man Two Guvnors, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Peter Pan, Octagon Theatre) and choreographed by Tom Jackson Greaves (Amélie, Criterion Theatre), the script is penned by award-winning author Jodi Picoult (My Sister’s Keeper) and Timothy Allen McDonald (adaptor of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka and James and the Giant Peach), with music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson (Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, Walt Disney Animation Studios) and musical direction, orchestrations and arrangements by Matthew Malone. This spellbinding production is based on Markus Zusak’s worldwide best-selling novel and follows...

Spotlight on Ricky Allan, Composer and Co-writer of Treason The Musical

Remember, remember the 5th of November, for its gunpowder, treason, and plot We're here to tell you the rest of the tale, the one that history books forgot Guy Fawkes remains an anonymous figure, we have more to bring to the table It's time to meet the rest of the plotters, in our fiery musical fable We caught up with Ricky Allan to find out more about his new musical ‘Treason The Musical’. Filmed at Cadogan Hall, this concert version is available to watch from 12th March to 14th March 2021. To buy tickets go to https://treasonthemusical.com/ What inspired you to write/compose ‘Treason The Musical’? I have always been fascinated by the story and felt it had a natural theatrical flair to it which deserved to be explored. Whilst working on the Strand...