FAT FRIENDS the Musical announce full casting

The first image of the the Musical family has today been released, as full casting for Kay Mellor’s new musical is unveiled. Fat Friends the Musical will premiere at Leeds Grand this November with an extensive UK tour to follow in 2018. Joining the previously announced cast, Natasha Hamilton (Atomic Kitten) will take on the role of Julia, Kevin Kennedy (Coronation Street) stars as Fergus and Rachael Wooding (We Will Rock You) appears as Joanne, alongside Jonathan Halliwell (Let It Shine) as Paul and Chloe Hart (Hairspray) as Val. Alan will be played by Neil Hurst, one of dozens of Yorkshiremen who applied for the role through an open audition call.

Also newly announced, What’s On Stage Award nominee Joel Montague, who recently starred alongside Sheridan Smith in Funny Girl, will share the role of Kevin with Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff. Freddie will appear in Leeds, Southampton, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford and Blackpool with Joel completing the remaining tour dates. 

Futher cast includes: Craig Armstrong, Lizzie Bea, Paul Brangan, Emma Crossley, Ellie Leah, Laura Mansell and Ryan Pidgen. As previously announced, the cast is completed by Jodie Prenger and Natalie Anderson with Sam Bailey and Elaine C. Smith sharing the role of Betty.

Goodbye WE WILL ROCK YOU! A look back at the productions history...

Having rocked over 6.5 million people in a record-breaking 12 years at London's Dominion Theatre, the smash hit Queen & Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You is due to close on 31 May 2014. Now the longest running show ever at the Dominion by a margin of nine years, the show takes its rightful place in West End history, sitting proudly in the Top 10 longest running musicals of all time.

The show has now been performed in 28 countries around the globe, and has been seen by a more than 16 million people.

From its opening night at the Dominion on 14 May 2002, We Will Rock You quickly became the overwhelming people’s choice of musical in the UK and overseas. In its second year at the Dominion it won top honours in five categories in the Theatregoers Choice awards presented by whatsonstage.com, including Best New Musical. In 2011, nine years after the curtain first went up, the show won the prestigious Olivier Audience Award, the only category voted for entirely by the public. The show went on to win a number of international awards for productions around the globe.

Momentous Musicals: Theatre Review

Having perviously played a One off night in Wimbledon last year, Momentous Musicals is back. Keeping some of the songs from last years show with lots of new additions. From classics like Andrew Lloyd Webber to new Broadway hits like Newsies, this show celebrates generations of shows that have audiences coming back. The production also showcases what British musical talent has to offer, from the extremely experienced and well respected John Owen-Jones to new graduates from Drama Schools such as Mountview and GSA. The set list for the show has been chosen very well, I loved the selections of songs because even though there was the expected like Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked and West Side Story there was also some surprises like a Disney Melody, SMASH, Ghost and The Wiz. 

For what the show was it was very good, when you see something like this you could expect a bit of a budget performance with poor quality orchestrations and average performers, this was the total opposite. First of all the stage looked very classic, a simple black background with a starry effect was elegant and made room for Tom Boucher (lighting designer) to really fill the stage with some fantastic colours. The lighting had a lot of great moments, it was a delightful design and he adjusted the lighting to every song which really added to the over quality of the performance. 

Ashleigh Gray | Interview

Graduating from Guildford School of Acting in 2003, Ashleigh made her professional debut as Kim in the UK national Tour of Taboo before making her West End debut in the London Company of WICKED at at the Apollo Victoria Theatre where she was in the ensemble and understudied Elphaba. She was soon promoted to Stand-By Elphaba the year after joining the company, she left in 2010. Her other credits include Notes from New York, Kirsty in Only You Can Save Mankind, NHS the Musical, Miss Lynch and cover Rizzo and Jan in Grease, Emily in Myths and Hymns, Simply the Music of Scott Alan, Maid Marion in Robin Hood, The Songs of Bobby Cronin, Unwritten Songs; The songs of Michael Bruce, First Things Last; The Music of Lance Horne, Miranda in Betwixt!, Diva’s Sing Scott Alan, Wicked Witch in Mother Goose, Amanda in After The Turn, Lorraine Campbell in I Dreamed a Dream, Fairy Firefly in Jack and the Beanstalk, West End Men and Supporting Susan Boyle in concert. She can also be heard on The Journey Home by Mark Evans, Surrounded By The Sounds by Tim Prottey Jones, Acoustic Overtures; The songs of Dougal Irvine, Stand Tall; A New Rock Musical, Unwritten songs; The Songs of Michael Bruce, Christmas in New York and Sentimental Heart by Oliver Tompsett. She will be featured in Momentous Musicals alongside Gareth Gates, Rachael Wooding and John Owen-Jones which starts its short UK Tour from the 17th July. 

How did you get into performing arts?

I always loved singing as a child. As far back as I can remember there's always been music around me and even though no one else in my family sang or played, I found myself singing along and creating little dance routines to songs at any given chance. So I guess I was always destined to grow up to be a performer. My family were, and continue to be, very support of my love of music and performance so they willingly allowed me to join the local amateur dramatic group and also encouraged me to follow my dreams and go to drama school. The rest, as they say, is history.

Momentous Musicals: Album Review

Momentous Musicals premiered at the Wimbledon theatre in mid 2012 and will be returning to the theatre again this month prior to a UK Tour. The show brings together the musical talent of Gareth Gates (who headlines the event), Rachael Wooding, Daniel Boys, Emma Williams and Jonathan Ansell. 

The CD starts off with the wonderful Rachael Wooding singing One Night Only, what a fantastic opening for the recording. Rachael has a lovely tone to her voice with great power behind it and she sings the song with so much umph! The moment I listened to this track I was drawn in immediately by the brilliant orchestration at the start, a similar moment happened when I listened to Mein Hier sung by Emma Williams. Rachael has an amazing energy in her voice and just by listening to the recording you can tell it would have been a brilliant opening to the show. 

After the high energy opening track we then get to hear the wonderful Daniel Boys sing Maria, such breathtaking control in his voice. It’s beautiful to listen to and you really get drawn into his vocals, even though you’re just listening to it you can really feel the emotion through the vocals.