Birdsong Live Productions CIC is delighted to announce the casting for the forthcoming world premiere of its new British Musical – Liver Birdsong – The Liverpool Blitz Musical.
The production, which commemorates the 75th anniversary of The Blitz will run at the Epstein Theatre, Liverpool, this Autumn.
Liver Birdsong receives its debut in the city in November, to remember The Blitz, when Liverpool was bombarded by the German Luftwaffe during World War II. It runs from Tuesday 29 November to Saturday 3 December.
The show is produced by Birdsong Live Productions CIC, who are father and daughter team Tony Bradley and Rebecca Myers. Liver Birdsong is their first joint venture into professional musical theatre, although each has a background in theatre, music or TV. This emotionally-charged and heart-warming musical is packed with 18 brand new songs, delivered by a professional musical theatre company and a live band.
Following months of rigorous searching and auditions the cast and main creative team are now in place. The cast selections covered an intensive three-week period, from the more than 50 professionals who made it through to the final auditions.
The cast features Kate McHenry who plays Maggs Williams, Katie Burke as Daisy Mae Beech, Sophie Gaudie as Carla Evans, Rachel Jones as ‘Cockney’ Lil Ford, Corey Rumble as Hal Brandon, Tom Sentia as Chad Tyler, Michael Bailey as ‘Red Ted’ Forsythe, Miles Walker as Lawrence Gale, Chloe Fay as Ira Jones, Mia Molloy as Mrs Williams, Natalie Dignam as the contemporary dancer and Ben Keith as the narrator.
Writer/producer Tony Bradley comments: “We are absolutely thrilled by the calibre of the professional cast we have managed to secure for Liver Birdsong. They are an incredibly talented group of 12 musical theatre professionals, some with experience in the industry, over many years, and others just starting out.
“Alan Moore (Musical Director), who many will know from shows and pantos at The Epstein and across the North-West and Natalie Dignam (Choreographer), who runs her own dance school in Cronton and teaches at Liverpool Theatre School, really put everyone through their paces.
“At one audition, we had to say good-bye to 13 professionals after the dance audition alone! But, together with our experienced Director, Jodie Marshall (A Mind Apart, Sheffield), Rebecca and I are blown-away by the talent we’ve assembled. It is going to be a great, great show – a must see! We are so excited now the final cast is in place!”
The musical is set on the night of 28/29 November 1940, in the early phase of the Liverpool Blitz. The events of that night were, later, described by Winston Churchill as “the worst single (civilian) incident of the war”. It involved a direct hit by a parachute bomb on Durning Road Air Raid Shelter near Edge Lane, which killed 180 people.
Join the ‘Liver birds’ – Maggs, Carla, Daisy Mae and Lil from Kirkby Munitions Factory – as they battle not only the Nazis but also their own threats, fears and jealousies. Will they overcome their troubles and find hope?
Although the production is entirely a work of fiction, it is based on the facts of that night and the first-hand experiences of women – much like the four ‘Liver birds’ in the show – from one of Britain’s largest wartime munitions factories.
Liver Birdsong combines broad comedy, poignant tragedy and the musical styles of 1940, into a compelling mix that will have the audience roaring with laughter and searching for their hankies. So book your tickets now!
To book tickets call 0844 888 4411, visit www.epsteinliverpool.co.uk or book in person at the theatre box office which is open 2pm to 6pm from Monday to Thursday, or 12pm to 6pm on Friday and Saturday.
Facebook: /Liverbirdsong
Twitter: @LiverBirdsong
LISTING INFORMATION
LIVER BIRDSONG
Tuesday 29 November – 7.30pm
Wednesday 30 November – 2.30pm / 7.30pm
Thursday 1 December – 2.30pm / 7.30pm
Friday 2 December – 7.30pm
Saturday 3 December – 2.30pm / 7.30pm
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets from £15.00 – £24.00*
Opening night all seats £18.00. Midweek Mats all seats £15.00
Group Rates available
Book tickets by calling 0844 888 4411
Book tickets online at www.epsteinliverpool.co.uk
Book in person at the theatre box office (open 2pm-6pm Monday-Thursday / 12pm-6pm Friday-Saturday)
*plus 50p restoration levy per booking
The Epstein Theatre
85 Hanover Street
Liverpool
L1 3DZ
ENDS
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For more information, images, interview or review requests, please contact Bill Elms at Bill Elms Associates on 0151 245 0135 | bill@billelms.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
Images of the full cast are available on request.
Attached photo shoot images of Katie Burke – credit David Munn Photography.
Press Night: Wednesday 30 November at 7.30pm
About Birdsong Live Productions CIC
Birdsong Live Productions CIC is a new social enterprise, which has been established to support the development of community-based musical theatre in Merseyside and beyond. All profits from the company’s productions are re-invested to fund future developments. Tony Bradley and Rebecca Myers are committed to the principles of community development and personal therapy, through music, drama, dance and the arts. The company’s second production – to be funded from the surplus generated by Liver Birdsong: The Liverpool Blitz Musical – is already in early development, as a mixed professional and amateur community-generated piece, and will tell the story behind the Toxteth Riots in 1981.
Tony Bradley is a university lecturer in social enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurship at Liverpool Hope Business School, and has also had a lifelong involvement in media, theatre, music and the arts. He was Development Director of Forward Vision Communications, a multi-media TV production company, for 10 years and later a producer/director with Sky. Music and the arts is in Tony’s lifeblood – he started as a boy chorister at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral; ran his own theatre company in Essex during the 1980s; and has written/produced for TV and stage. Liver Birdsong: The Liverpool Blitz Musical is Tony’s first full musical theatre book and lyrics.
Rebecca Myers graduated from the University of Hull in Music & Drama in 2012. She now specialises in music composition and music therapy. Liver Birdsong: The Liverpool Blitz Musical is Rebecca’s first full musical composition.
Liver Birdsong 