Tag Archives: Charlie Stemp

Charlie Stemp to Make Broadway Debut

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Producer Scott Rudin announced today that Charlie Stemp, whose stunning debut in Half A Sixpence “has taken the West End by storm” (The Evening Standard), will make his Broadway debut as Barnaby Tucker in the most successful and beloved Broadway production of the year: Hello, Dolly!.

Mr. Stemp will begin performances opposite the previously announced stars Bernadette Peters and Victor Garber on Saturday evening, January 20, 2018, prior to a Thursday, February 22 opening night. Taylor Trensch will play his final performance as Barnaby Tucker on Sunday, January 14 ahead of taking the lead role in Dear Evan Hansen.

Mr. Stemp’s turn as Arthur Kipps in Half A Sixpence has been called “one of those fairy-tale performances that’s the stuff of legend” (The Sunday Telegraph). He has been universally praised by critics as “a huge find” (The Telegraph), who is filled with such “undiluted charm” (The Daily Express) and “magnetism” (New York Post), that “you just have to sit forward and stare” (The Times of London) at his “megawatt glow” (The Evening Standard) – which contains “enough energy to light up the West End” (The Daily Mail).

Charlie Stemp will replace Taylor Trensch (shown above) as Barnaby Tucker in ‘Hello, Dolly!’ Photo by Julieta Cervantes
This production of Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! instantly became the most coveted ticket of the year when it broke the record for best first day of ticket sales in Broadway history. By the time it began previews, it had the largest pre-performance advance sale in Broadway history. It went on to win four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Bette Midler), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Gavin Creel), and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Santo Loquasto), and has continued to break the Shubert Theatre house box office record over and over and over and over again.
Directed by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle, Hello, Dolly! began performances on Broadway on March 15, 2017, and officially opened on Thursday, April 20, 2017.
This Hello, Dolly!, the first new production of the classic musical (based on Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker) to appear on Broadway since it opened more than fifty years ago, pays tribute to the work of its original director/ choreographer Gower Champion, which has been hailed both then and now as one of the greatest stagings in musical theater history.
Mr. Stemp is appearing with the permission of Actors’ Equity Association. The producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association for its assistance to this production.

Stemp Broadway

Charlie Stemp as Arthur Kipps in ‘Half a Sixpence’ Photo by Manuel Harlan
Charlie Stemp (Barnaby Tucker) garnered unprecedented critical acclaim for his star-making performance in the West End revival of Half A Sixpence. The production premiered at the Chichester Festival Theatre and transferred to the West End in 2016, where it received rave reviews. For his performance as Arthur Kipps, he was nominated for the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, the 2017 Carl Alan Performer’s Award, and was honored with the 2017 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Musical. In addition, for the Chichester production, he received a 2016 UK Theatre Award nomination for Best Performance in a Musical. Mr. Stemp made his professional debut in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, before playing Eddie in the international tour of Mamma Mia!. He was born in London and graduated from Laine Theatre Arts.

 

 

 

Dick Whittington – Further Casting

Elaine Paige (Queen Rat), Ashley Banjo and Diversity (The Sultan and his Entourage), Gary Wilmott (Sarah the Cook) and Charlie Stemp (Dick Whittington) will join the previously announced Julian Clary (Spirit of the Bells), Paul Zerdin (Idle Jack) and Nigel Havers (Captain Nigel) in the line-up for Qdos Entertainment’s London Palladium production of Dick Whittington. Final casting will be announced at a later date. Dick Whittington will run at the London Palladium for five weeks only over the festive season from Saturday 9 December 2017 to Sunday 14 January 2018, with press night on Wednesday 13 December 2017 at 7pm.

Multiple award-winning actor, recording artist, producer and broadcaster Elaine Paige will play Queen Rat. She has previously starred in more West End and Broadway musicals than anyone else of her generation – Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Billy, Evita, Cats, Chess, Anything Goes, Piaf, Sunset Boulevard, The King & I, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Drowsy Chaperone and Follies. In addition, she was part of the Sir Peter Hall Company for The Misanthrope and Where There’s A Will. Her BBC Radio 2 programme, Elaine Paige on Sunday, is broadcast weekly to over 2.5 million listeners. She continues her extensive live work with a series of UK concerts in October and November of this year. As a recording artist, she has released 22 solo albums as well as featuring on multiple cast albums. Paige was made an OBE in 1995.

Ashley Banjo is a dancer, choreographer and creative director. He is the founder and leader of dance group Diversity who won the third series of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent in 2009. Aside from the group’s achievements Banjo has since been a judge on all 5 series of Sky 1’s Got To Dance, has had 4 of his own series on Sky 1 and has co-hosted BBC 1’s Can’t Touch This. He now judges on ITV’s new primetime show Dance Dance Dance.

Innovative dance group Diversity took the nation by storm when they won the third series of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent in 2009. The group have since gone on to achieve worldwide success and have just completed their 7th sell out UK tour Genesis. The group also have countless television performances to their name including 2 primetime ITV shows, Diversity Live and Diversity Presents Steal The Show.

Gary Wilmot’s multiple theatre credits include Big The Musical for the Theatre Royal Plymouth, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Savoy Theatre and on UK tour, The Pajama Game at the Shaftesbury Theatre, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium, Copacabana at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Carmen Jones at the Old Vic, Pirates of Penzance for Regent’s Park Theatre and Me and My Girl at the Aldephi Theatre. His many UK tour credits include End of the Rainbow, Oklahoma!, Oliver!, Chicago and From Hackney to Hollywood. Later this month Wilmot will open at the London Palladium playing Badger in The Wind in the Willows.

Award-winning Charlie Stemp is currently playing the lead role in Half a Sixpence at the Noel Coward Theatre, a role he first performed at Chichester Festival Theatre, which has garnered him both great critical and audience acclaim. His previous theatre credits include Wicked at the Apollo Victoria and the international tour of Mamma Mia!

Dick Whittington is produced by Nick Thomas and Michael Harrison for Qdos Entertainment, the team behind last year’s twice Olivier-nominated London Palladium production of Cinderella, which broke box office records for the highest grossing week in West End theatre history. Dick Whittington is written by Alan McHugh, directed by Michael Harrison, choreographed by Karen Bruce with musical supervision and orchestrations by Gary Hind, lighting by Ben Cracknell, set designs by Ian Westbrook, 3D Creations, costumes by Hugh Durrant, visual special effects by The Twins FX, projection design by Duncan McLean and sound design by Gareth Owen.

Nick Thomas is the founder and Chairman of Qdos Entertainment Group. The business that he started in 1982 is now one of the largest entertainment companies in Europe. Aside from the company’s credentials in pantomime, it is the UK’s second largest regional theatre and concert hall operator, and employs 1,800 full time staff.

Michael Harrison has previously produced over 100 pantomimes for Qdos Entertainment where he is also Managing Director. He has directed 12 consecutive pantomimes at Newcastle Theatre Royal and 7 productions at Birmingham Hippodrome and as a producer in the West End his credits include Gypsy, The Bodyguard and Annie as well as the forthcoming production of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.

As the world’s biggest pantomime producer, over the past 35 years Qdos Entertainment has established itself as one of the largest entertainment companies in Europe. Over the past three decades the pantomime giant has staged 684 pantomimes and this season expects over two million people will see one of its shows.

The London Palladium, owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatres Group, is a venue to which all performers aspire and has hosted more annual Royal Variety Performances than any other theatre. It recently returned to its variety roots and is taking its rightful place as one of the most popular venues for leading musicians, performers, comedians and now Pantomime which returned last December after an absence of nearly 30 years.

 

www.ReallyUsefulTheatres.co.uk


9 December 2017 – 14 January 2018

For full performance details please visit:

 

www.DickWhittingtonPalladium.com

 

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