tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83561006726537079352024-12-19T03:26:48.210+00:00Putting together a new musical is like building a bridge, between a vision in your head and the public. This blog charts the journey by librettist lyricist Teresa Howard and composer Steven Edis.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger347125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-36914512162183545332018-10-05T19:38:00.000+01:002018-10-05T19:38:16.425+01:00

Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Model - Jane Burden  Steve Edis and Teresa Howard's musical POSSESSED based on the lives of Jane Burden, William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Lizzie Siddal is having a showcase at The Pleasance Theatre on 15th October at 7.30pm.  It will be on with four other new musicals in COMPOSURE a new writing showcase presented by Edward Baxter

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-9654795787882510522017-03-19T21:16:00.002+00:002017-03-19T21:17:33.172+00:00

From left: Lowri Izzard, Kate Batter and Suzanne Ahmet star in the musical adaptation of Dodie Smith’s beloved novelPhoto by Richard Lakos In Saturday's Times Review (March 18th 2017) we had a wonderful piece about our musical-  I Capture the Castle by the Editor Alex O'Connell. The show opens on 31st March at Watford Palace Theatre.  You can read the piece HERE

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-24195563686495202122017-01-20T01:41:00.004+00:002017-01-20T01:43:46.648+00:00

The posters for our show I Capture the Castle went up at Watford Palace Theatre today!  So thrilling to know that it will be opening on 31st March.   After all the years of writing, composing, workshops, retreats, re-writing, new ideas, new songs, new scenes, more workshops, Arts Council applications, negotiation, collaboration and an unwavering belief that somehow we were

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-62942174736276187482016-07-11T10:34:00.000+01:002016-07-11T10:34:06.839+01:00

So happy to be back at the Hosking House retreat in Stratford-Upon-Avon! The doves are cooing and the wind blowing in the trees in the churchyard and it's another great day to be writing. Yesterday Sarah Hosking took me for a walk with her dog Daisy to The Heart of England Forest - a new broadleaf forest being planted across south Warwickshire.  It is the legacy of Felix Dennis a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-71793456180495066422016-06-02T16:39:00.001+01:002016-06-02T16:39:23.802+01:00

Watford Palace Theatre proudly presents the world premiere musical I Capture the Castle, based on the iconic novel by Dodie Smith, and co-produced with the Octagon Theatre Bolton and Kevin Wallace Limited, in association with Deborah Ward. Set in the Bohemian England of the 1930s, Dodie Smith’s worldwide bestselling classic is a warm and sharply funny coming-of-age

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-84773385846760496092016-04-12T21:58:00.001+01:002016-04-12T21:58:21.686+01:00

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: A Very Hot Pie Indeed!: Stuart Pendred as Sweeney Todd  - photo: Jamie Scott Vivo D'Arte never cease to amaze me with their brilliant productions, but this...

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-37142594517178450142016-04-12T21:39:00.002+01:002016-04-12T21:56:53.497+01:00

Stuart Pendred as Sweeney Todd  - photo: Jamie Scott Vivo D'Arte never cease to amaze me with their brilliant productions, but this immersive, promenade production of Sweeney Todd, at Frogmore Paper Mill in Apsley, has really raised the bar. The story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who slits the throats of his customers to fill the pies sold in Mrs Lovett's shop was brought to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-82080196200072966692016-04-07T23:19:00.003+01:002016-04-07T23:19:44.826+01:00

Steven Edis and I received a wonderful Arts Council Lottery Grant, through our company Kelmscott Productions, for a very special production which opens at Watford Palace Theatre next Spring. Today I have been trying to get to grips with logos, re-sizing, publicity, credits, domain names, changes to blog domains and auctioning domains.  Tomorrow I will get back to finishing that song! But

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-4962012558610527682016-04-07T22:53:00.003+01:002016-04-07T22:53:46.906+01:00

I am changing the domain name of this blog to puttingittogethermusicalblog.com Hopefully everything will all be exactly the same but the domain name will be more relevant to the content and not confused with the website for Steve's and my musical Possessed.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-52852755988435273322016-03-10T10:41:00.000+00:002016-03-10T10:41:12.066+00:00

There has been a tremendous buzz in the Musical Theatre world in the UK, generated by a two day event at The Park Theatre, London, called BEAM16, mounted by Musical Theatre Network and Mercury Musical Developments. It was dubbed, by writer Dougal Irvine, as a sort of musical theatre version of Cannes. I am so proud to have been a part of the initial stages of this as a Board Member of MMD and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-62343212964610391882016-02-04T13:23:00.001+00:002016-02-04T13:23:35.587+00:00

PUTTING IT TOGETHER: Possessed Opens Tonight!: Grace Roberts as Jane Morris So looking forward to the opening of Possessed at Camden Peoples Theatre tonight!

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-684669232561324612016-02-04T13:22:00.003+00:002016-02-04T13:22:45.883+00:00

Grace Roberts as Jane Morris So looking forward to the opening of Possessed at Camden Peoples Theatre tonight! 

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-77697549499463062742016-02-02T01:59:00.000+00:002016-02-02T01:59:05.882+00:00

Today the technical crew moved into the Camden Peoples Theatre and tomorrow I will sit in on the first tech and dress rehearsal. The cast and creatives have worked so hard over the last few weeks bringing the show to life. It's been wonderful to have felt part of it.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-1212598090841345942016-01-27T17:50:00.000+00:002016-01-27T17:50:02.257+00:00

Grace Roberts as Jane MorrisThe UCL students who are appearing in Possessed are from the award winning Musical Theatre Society at the University.  Charlie Smith as Gabriel and Heather Barnish as Lizzie With such a young cast we decided that we would cut out the two little Morris girls from the show and so now it is a cast of six.   Topsy (William Morris) Simon Whitaker &

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-84931776247329244822016-01-15T13:38:00.002+00:002016-01-15T13:41:42.593+00:00

Really excited to announce that there will be a production of Possessed at the Camden People's Theatre opening on 4th February.  It is being produced by the UCLU Musical Theatre Society and directed by Madeleine Edis. The link to the theatre to buy tickets is HERE More information about the show and the story behind it can be found on our website HERE

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-60852684080273582102015-10-11T15:55:00.003+01:002015-10-11T15:55:58.200+01:00

Tomorrow I have a workshop of a new show at Hackney Empire.  We have got together a wonderful group of actors and Neil McArthur is going to be the MD.  This is going to be another week of exploration finding out whether songs and scenes and structure work.  I can't wait to hear the actors sing these songs at last and speak the words that have only been living in my head!  

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-89998050858776332492015-08-23T23:04:00.002+01:002015-08-23T23:04:55.587+01:00

This week Steve Edis and I have a workshop of our musical adaptation of I Capture the Castle at the Royal National Theatre Studio directed by Brigid Larmour with associate director Shona Morris and musical supervisor Catherine Jayes.  We will have fabulous actors drawn from three shows on at the National: Three Days in the Country, Warhorse and the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-48051558131951381502015-08-13T20:55:00.000+01:002015-08-14T00:58:30.010+01:00

Last weekend I went up to Stratford to see the work two of my collaborators had been doing over the past few months.  Steve Edis had composed the music for Trevor Nunn's wonderful and hilarious new production of Volpone and Brian Protheroe was playing Brabantio in the ground breaking Othello with Lucian Msamati's black Iago,  also Brian gave us a stupendous Aragon in The Merchant of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-68013571969795172182015-08-13T19:11:00.000+01:002015-08-13T19:11:22.758+01:00

RNT Studio Sitting at a beachfront table at Meltemi Cafe on the tiny island of Patmos, in Greece, I found myself glued to my laptop hungry for moments of wifi so I could access the internet.  I was collaborating on casting for a workshop of I Capture the Castle at the National Theatre, and the heat was on.  This is the musical that Steve Edis and I wrote, based on Dodie Smith's

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-15383852320473411362015-06-14T19:58:00.000+01:002015-08-13T20:17:50.683+01:00

Big Gestures for Tiny Shows with Jennifer Toksvig Over the Weekend of the 13th and 14th June I worked on an immersive Tiny Show Project with The Copenhagen Interpretation and Women Who Write Musicals.  It was led by the creative genius that is known as Jennifer Toksvig.  Above you can see her explaining.  She had to do quite a bit of explaining  about the process at the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-27370733086329012212015-06-08T19:13:00.000+01:002015-08-14T01:01:50.834+01:00

Suzanna Kempner, James Meunier, Steven Edis, Teresa Howard and Claude-Michel Schonberg Claude-Michel Schonberg It isn't often you get the chance to spend the day with a superstar, a creative superstar who is taking the time and trouble to actually listen to your work and give you his pure golden nuggets of wisdom. On the 8th of June Steve Edis and I, along with seven other MMD writing

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-17265030421300877972015-06-03T00:37:00.003+01:002015-06-03T00:37:54.379+01:00

Blue Silk Dress by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Tomorrow I have an exciting day of dramaturgy on our Pre-Raphaelite musical POSSESSED with John Sparks from the New Musicals Inc. Academy in LA. In the evening Steve and I are rehearsing with performers Suzanna Kempner and James Meunier for the Masterclass we have next week on scenes and songs from POSSESSED with Claude-Michel Schonberg. It will

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-50082681352590648372015-05-29T17:26:00.001+01:002015-05-29T17:30:38.630+01:00

A wonderful article from The Stage by MMD's New Executive Director Victoria Saxton Victoria Saxton: Where are the women who write musical theatre? The cast of Fun Home, written by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori. Photo: Joan Marcus Victoria Saxton Victoria Saxton is executive director of Mercury Musical Developments and a librettist, lyricist and dramaturg. She gained an MFA in

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-66861794521720410432015-05-29T17:02:00.001+01:002015-05-29T17:02:11.973+01:00

Les Miserables Steve Edis and I are having a private Master Class with Claude Michel Schonberg on 8th June. Seven other writing teams from Mercury  Musical Developments  have also won a place at this amazing event and we will spend the day together. So excited to be learning from one of the great legends of musical theatre who wrote book & music for Les Miserables and Miss

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8356100672653707935.post-49617188743082651102015-02-19T11:51:00.003+00:002015-02-24T18:21:02.763+00:00

A very exciting MMD Board Meeting yesterday. We welcomed in the absolutely fabulous MMD interim Executive Director Victoria Saxton who brings with her a wealth of contacts, experience and brilliant new ideas. Looking forward to the MMD conference on 12th March and all the innovative plans for the future beginning to unfold!

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0