FULL CAST AND CREATIVES ANNOUNCED FOR NORTHERN IRELAND OPERA’S SPECTACULAR PRODUCTION OF FOLLIES
Table of Contents
Behind the scenes interview with cast and creatives
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Goldman
Produced Originally on Broadway by Harold Prince
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
By special arrangement with Cameron Mackintosh
Presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International
Directed by Cameron Menzies. Musical Director Greg Arrowsmith
Featuring the Orchestra of Northern Ireland Opera
The Show
A host of Northern Irish and Irish talent are announced today completing an epic thirty-two strong cast of Northern Ireland Opera’s historic revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies at the Grand Opera House in Belfast this Autumn.
Completing the cast are Northern Irish singers Brigid Shine, with Anna Violet and Chris Kane making their professional debut and Reece McGowan his debut in Northern Ireland. The four perform respectively as Sally, Phyllis, Ben and Buddy the 1940s counterparts to West End stars Anna-Jane Casey’s Sally Durant Plummer, Annette McLaughlin’s Phyllis Rogers Stone, Alasdair Harvey’s Benjamin Stone and Mark Dugdale’s Buddy Plummer, previously announced.
Northern Irish soprano Petra Wells is paired with legendary opera singer Lesley Garrett, cast as ingénue Heidi Schiller to Garrett’s latter-day character. Rachel Stanley will play the coquettish Solange Le Fitte, Pippa Winslow stars as veteran Stella Deems, Northern Irish singers Darren Franklin plays Follies’ famous tenor Roscoe while Christina Nelson and Richard Croxford are song and dance couple Emily and Theodore Whitman. Marty Maguire is cast as impresario Dimitri Weismann, Colette Lennon Dougal as Dee Dee West and Orla Mullan performs as Sandra Crane. A further twelve singers, all based in Northern Ireland, make up the talented ensemble.
Follies is Northern Ireland Opera’s second musical during renowned Artistic Director Cameron Menzies’ five-year tenure and follows the award-winning Into The Woods at the Lyric Belfast (2022 Winner of Best Production Irish Times Theatre Awards and Nominated Best Director). This production also marks a historic first-ever staging of the show in Northern Ireland.
Cameron Menzies says: “This production of Follies is spectacular in every way, from the incredibly talented cast brimming with legends from Northern Ireland, Ireland and the West End to the award-winning creative team. The heart of this story so deeply resonates with so many people and speaks about the real human connections. I’m looking forward to bringing this glittering showstopper to life. The sheer scale of this musical, the epic cast and our orchestra of Northern Ireland Opera makes this a history-making Northern Irish production not to be missed.“
Previously announced cast includes the illustrious Lesley Garrett CBE, one of the world’s most celebrated classical singers and acclaimed British soprano with a prestigious and varied 45 year international career spread across many genres including leading roles in opera and musical theatre; music theatre royalty, actress and one of the UK’s finest jazz vocalists Jacqueline Dankworth MBE (leading roles in Royal Shakespeare Company’s MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE; Touring in UNCLE VANYA; LES LIASONS DANGEREUSES). Cast in Sondheim’s original West End debut of INTO THE WOODS in 1990 and in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at the Leicester Haymarket, the star returns to perform in another Sondheim production in the role of Carlotta Campion.
Anna-Jane Casey (CATS, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT, GREASE, STARLIGHT EXPRESS, WEST SIDE STORY, CHICAGO) and Annette McLaughlin (PLAYER KINGS, SCANDAL TOWN, MATILDA THE MUSICAL, HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, CHICAGO) who are renowned musical theatre and West-End stars are cast as former room mates Sally Plummer and Phyllis Stone. Both have enjoyed extensive careers and performed in leading roles in countless productions spanning the West-End, musicals on Broadway to the RSC at Stratford Upon Avon.
Belfast’s own Mark Dugdale (COME FROM AWAY, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, JERSEY BOYS, THE COMMITMENTS) and much sought-after West-End star Alasdair Harvey (COME FROM AWAY, BIG LITTLE LIES, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, GUYS AND DOLLS, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, WE WILL ROCK YOU) star as best friends Buddy Plummer and Benjamin Stone respectively. Both have appeared in an incredible roster of hit shows. West End performer and TV actress Allison Harding (INTO THE WOODS, NI OPERA; SISTER ACT and Olivier Award winning RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET)now based in Belfast, currently appearing in hit TV detective series Ellis plays Hattie Walker, the tough-talking, no-nonsense showgirl who sings the legendary showstopping number ‘Broadway Baby’.
Greg Arrowsmith (ROCKY HORROR SHOW, HAIRSPRAY, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, SISTER ACT, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN) a much-lauded Musical Director is welcomed to the creative team. This year he celebrates conducting his 21st West-End show in a career spanning 25 years. Arrowsmith will lead the Orchestra of Northern Ireland Opera, a full-scale ensemble of 35 local instrumentalists in this highly entertaining yet rarely staged musical due to its scale.
Rounding out the creative team are West-End Choreographer Jennifer Rooney (INTO THE WOODS, ONCE, OLD FRIENDS AND OTHER DAYS, HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, THE JUNIPER TREE) and Set Designer Niall McKeever. This show marks McKeever’s fifth magical collaboration for the organisation which includes EUGENE ONEGIN, TOSCA, LA TRAVIATA and INTO THE WOODS. He was also nominated for The Irish Times Theatre Awards for ‘Best Set’ for Into The Woods in 2022. Gillian Lennox assists as Costume Co-Designer, Jake Wiltshire is welcomed asLighting Designer with Andy Graham asSound Designer, Nuala Campbell returns as Hair and Make-Up Designer with Fraser Hickland as Repetiteur.
Listings information:
Venue: The Grand Opera House, Belfast
Dates: 13, 16, 19, 20 September
Time: 7.30pm, 20 September (matinee 2.30pm & 7.30pm)
Prices: From £17.50 to £60 including booking fee.
Booking Link: https://www.goh.co.uk/whats-on/follies
Address: Great Victoria Street, Belfast, BT2 7HR
Box office: 028 9024 1919
Twitter: @NIOpera Insta: @northernirelandopera Facebook: @NorthernIrelandOpera
Cast
Anna Jane Casey Sally Durant Plummer
Annette McLaughlin Phyllis Rogers Stone
Mark Dugdale Buddy Plummer
Alasdair Harvey Benjamin Stone
Brigid Shine Young Sally
Anna Violet Young Phyllis
Reece McGowan Young Buddy
Chris Kane Young Benjamin
Jacqueline Dankworth MBE Carlotta Campion
Pippa Winslow Stella Deems
Allison Harding Hattie Walker
Rachel Stanley Solange La Fitte
Christina Nelson Emily Whitman
Richard Croxford Theodore Whitman
Lesley Garrett CBE Heidi Schiller
Petra Wells 1940s Heidi Schiller
Marty Maguire Dimitri Weismann
Darren Franklin Roscoe
Colette Lennon Dougal Dee Dee West
Orla Mullan Sandra Crane
Ensemble: Becky Anderson, Maeve Byrne, Sophie Fleet, Chloe Hopcroft, Johanna Johnston, Anna Tennyson, Mark D’Arcy, Nic Cain, Ciarán McCormack, Fionan O’Carroll, Sean O’Neill, Jed Hoyle
Creatives
Cameron Menzies Director
Greg Arrowsmith Musical Director
Jennifer Rooney Choreographer
Niall McKeever Set Designer
Gillian Lennox Costume Co-Designer
Jake Wiltshire Lighting Designer
Andy Graham Sound Designer
Nuala Campbell Hair and Make-Up Design
Fraser Hickland Repetiteur
Greg Eldridge Associate Director
Previous Praise for Northern Ireland Opera’s work
Winner Best Production – Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2022 for Into The Woods. The only time a musical production has won this award in 30 years of the awards existing.
‘Seriously good-looking’ 4 Stars,The Stage, Lyric Belfast (Into The Woods, 2021)
‘Storms along with such irresistible zest’, 4 Stars, The Times, Lyric Belfast (Into The Woods, 2021)
‘A tour de force’ 4 Stars,Irish Times, Grand Opera House Belfast, 2024 (Eugene Onegin 2024)
‘Thrills and chills in Northern Ireland Opera’s stirring new production.’ 4 StarsIrish Times (Tosca 2023)
‘An intelligent new production from NI Opera of Puccini’s masterpiece is full of vocal intensity’ Opera Now (Tosca 2023)
‘Northern Ireland Opera’s La Traviata suggests that the artistic director Cameron Menzies has at long last realised the region’s ambition to have a grand opera company truly deserving of the name.’ Opera Magazine (La Traviata 2022).
‘One of the Classical Music highlights of 2022’ La Traviata ranked no. 2 in The Observer, December 2022.
‘Opera at its Finest’, 5 Stars. Opera Now Magazine, Dec 2021 at Belfast’s Carlisle Memorial Church (La Bohème, September 2021).
Cast Biographies
Lesley Garrett CBE
Lesley Garrett CBE is Britain’s best-known soprano, regularly appearing in opera, music theatre, concert, on television and CD. For more than 40 years she has enjoyed one of the most successful and diverse careers of any modern-day, classically trained soprano, winning both critical acclaim and the affection of many fans and music lovers through the breadth and diversity of her work.
As a recording artist, she has fourteen solo CDs to her credit; Soprano in Red receiving may awards for best-selling CDs. Lesley has also made many operatic recordings, among which are two award-winning Mozart operas, Cosi fan Tutte and The Magic Flute, both conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.
Lesley’s major television appearances include Lesley Garrett…Tonight, The Lesley Garrett Show, The Singer, Sacred Songs and Lesley Garrett – Desert Dreams, Christmas Voices, Who Do You Think You Are, Strictly Come Dancing, Loose Women and a Songs of Praise Special – My Story, My Music for the BBC. Lesley was also the subject of a South Bank Show on LWT.
Lesley’s operatic career includes engagements with all the major UK companies, having also been a Principal Soprano at English National Opera from 1984. During her time with ENO, Lesley starred in many productions and drew critical praise for her portrayals of both comic and serious roles, working with many acclaimed conductors and directors. She has also performed in high profile musicals, including Sound of Music at the Palladium, Carousel at the Savoy Theatre, My Fair Lady on tour and a touring version of Patrick Barlow’s play, The Messiah.
Anna-Jane Casey
Anna-Jane Casey is a versatile performer with over 40 years of experience in TV, theatre, and music. Hailing from Lancashire, she moved to London at just 16 to star as Rumpleteazer in CATS. From there, she became a fixture in London’s West End, appearing in the original casts of Children of Eden, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Out of the Blue, and Grease. She’s performed iconic roles in Starlight Express (Buffy, Dinah, and Pearl), West Side Story (Anita), and Chicago (Velma Kelly), among others. Stage credits also include the title role in Sweet Charity, Sheffield Crucible, where she received a Best Actress nomination at the 2003 TMA Awards.
She later reprised this success at the Crucible in Piaf. Other standout roles include Dot in Sunday in the Park with George, Menier Chocolate Factory, Maggie in Hobson’s Choice, Watermill Theatre, and the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot at the Playhouse Theatre. More recent credits: Flowers for Mrs Harris (2016) and the West End revival of Girl from the North Country (2019-2020). She originated the role of Fraulein Fritzie Kost in the award-winning Cabaret at the KitKat Club/Playhouse Theatre and played Cilla Quack in Mother Goose alongside Sir Ian McKellen, winning the 2023 British Pantomime Award for Best Supporting Artist.
Her extensive TV and film credits include roles in Family Guy, Silent Witness, Coronation Street and EastEnders. Anna-Jane has also performed with prestigious orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Philharmonic and the BBC Concert Orchestra. A frequent guest soloist on Friday Night is Music Night, BBC Radio 2.
Annette McLaughlin
Theatre: Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 (Donmar), Player Kings (Noel Coward); Box of Delights, Volpone, Love’s Sacrifice, The Jew of Malta, Measure for Measure, Written on The Heart, Heresy of Love, Matilda (RSC); 42nd Street (Châtelet, Paris); Scandaltown (Lyric Hammersmith); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace); Pinocchio (National); Twelfth Night (Globe); Billy Elliot (UK Tour); Our Town, The Odyssey (Almeida Theatre); Apocalypse Meow (Southbank Centre); Brief Encounter (UK and Broadway); She Loves Me, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, 5/11 (Chichester); Chicago (Adelphi and Cambridge); Anything Goes (National and Drury Lane); Love’s Labour’s Lost (National)
TV and Film: Professor T, Outrageous, Silent Witness, Holby City, Grantchester, Heartbeat, Legionnaire, Lunar IV and Law & Order UK.
Mark Dugdale
Trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Theatre: Handsome Stranger in The Necklace (Belfast Ensemble); Kevin T and Others in Come From Away, West End; The Book Thief, Curve Theatre; The Threepenny Opera, NI Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Regents Park Open Air Theatre; Jersey Boys, Piccadilly Theatre; The Commitments (Palace Theatre); We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre); Les Misérables (Queen’s Theatre); Mary
Sunshine in Chicago (Cambridge Theatre); Soup in Merry Christmas Betty Ford (Lyric Theatre); Chris in Have a Nice Life (Union Theatre); The Boy Friend (National Tour).
Alasdair Harvey
Alasdair is originally from Scotland and has built a diverse career across stage and screen. His recent theatre credits include The Little Big Things, Come From Away, Pack of Lies, and roles in Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You, Side by Side by Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George, Putting It Together, Guys and Dolls, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Beauty and the Beast, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Sunset Boulevard, Carousel and Aspects of Love. TV credits include roles in Casualty, Coronation Street, EastEnders, Taggart, The Bill, River City, Birds of a Feather, Sweeney Todd and award-winning short film, Courted.
Jacqueline Dankworth
Jacqueline trained as an actress at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her leading roles in theatre include Hero (Much Ado About Nothing), and Nerissa (The Merchant of Venice) for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her musical theatre credits include playing Cinderella in the West End debut of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Beth (Merrily We Roll Along), at The Leicester Haymarket, directed by Sondheim and Paul Kerrison. Touring credits: Sonya (Uncle Vanya), and Emily in (Les Liaisons Dangereuses.) Recent television appearances include Rosa (The Borgias). the BBC’s “Jazz 625 Live: For One Night Only” with Gregory Porter.
Her film work Includes Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables. As a vocalist, Jacqueline tours and records regularly with her band. Her latest album project “Windmills” collaborates with the BBC Big Band, the Carducci String Quartet and has been described as “One of the year’s most captivating vocal jazz offerings.” – Peter Quinn, Jazzwise. She has performed the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC Concert Orchestra. As well as international orchestras: RTÉ Concert Orchestra, New Zealand Philharmonic. In the 2019 Queen’s Honours, Jacqueline was awarded an MBE for her services to music.
Allison Harding
Allison trained in acting at The Arts Educational Schools and is an Actor Musician, born in Portsmouth and living in Belfast. West End Theatre credits: Return to The Forbidden Planet; Sister Act, The London Palladium (directed by Whoopi Goldberg and Anthony Van Laast); Once, The Phoenix Theatre. Other theatre credits: The Lyric Theatre Belfast: Little Women; Alice The Musical, Peter Pan, Pinocchio; Pirates of Penzance, Belfast Ensemble; Northern Ireland Opera: Into The Woods Kiss Me Kate; The MAC Belfast: Cinderella, The Night Before Christmas; Into The Woods.
Touring Credits: Sister Act, Blonde Bombshells of 1945, The Girls (by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth), Forbidden Planet and From A Jack to A King. Film Credits: Disney’s Beauty and The Beast; Mama Mia ‘Here we go Again’. Television Credits: The Bill, Nova Jones, London’s Burning, Dalgliesh, Malpractice 2 and Ellis S1. She is currently filming Ellis S2.
Full cast biographies can be found here
Creative Biographies
Cameron Menzies
Award-winning director Cameron Menzies joined Northern Ireland Opera in November 2020. His career encompasses opera, theatre, music theatre, cabaret and film-making and his work has been seen throughout Australia, United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa, Japan and China. He has worked for Shakespeare’s Globe, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Diva Opera UK, Opera Australia, Victorian Opera, Short Black Opera Company, Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
He is a Helpmann and Green Room Nominated director and awards include the Berlin New Music Opera award (2011), Bayreuth Opera Award for Opera Foundation Australia and a Sydney Award in 2016 for the best direction of Pecan Summer Australia’s first Indigenous Opera.
Recent credits include Cupid’s Bow, The Juniper Tree and Sequins and Satire, Divas and Disruptors: The Wild Women of the Weimar Republic, Carnegie Hall. The short feature film: Old Friends and Other Days, 50th Anniversary National Australian tour of HAIR The Original Tribal Rock Musical, Sister Act The Musical at The Vaults UK, Fluid and Under the Covers starring Courtney Act, Lucia di Lammermoor UK and Australia,
Yma Sumac: The Peruvian Songbird starring Ali McGregor, Tosca, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème Die Sieben Todsünden by Brecht/Weill starring Meow Meow and Strauss’ Salome at the Palais Theatre. He has directed the world premieres of Pecan Summer, Redfern, The Selfish Giant, CONTACT! A Netball Opera, The Grumpiest Boy in the World.
Greg Arrowsmith
This year Greg will be conducting his 21st West End production in a career spanning over 25 years. These shows include: The Rocky Horror show (Playhouse Theatre, Peacock Theatre and Dominion Theatre), Songs for nobody’s (Ambassadors Theatre), Women on the Verge of a nervous breakdown (Playhouse Theatre), Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre), Shall we dance (Saddlers Wells), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium) and 9 Pantomimes at the London Palladium. Tours include Chess, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Happy Days, Calamity Jane, Kiss Me Kate, Shout and Sister Act.
Internationally Greg has worked on shows in Tel Aviv, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Turin, Naples, Milan, Trieste, Toronto, San Diego, Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore.Greg has conducted various major orchestras most recently a season of performances of Rimsky Korsakov’s Sheherazade with the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales.
Jennifer Rooney
Jennifer Rooney has worked as a choreographer for over twenty years across television and film (including Derry Girls (series 2 and 3), opera and musical theatre. Credits include Associate Movement Director: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre London), Once (Coex Theatre Seoul), Truth (Helen Chadwick Company, UK Tour), Once (The Olympia Theatre, Dublin & Charlotte Theatre, Seoul) . She has worked with Northern Ireland Opera on Eugene Onégin, La Bohème, The Juniper Tree, Old Friends and Other Days and Into The Woods at The Lyric Theatre in 2022 and His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth in 2023.
Niall McKeever
Niall is an Irish scenographer and visual artist based in London, working across performance, film, painting and collage. He recently made his West End debut as Associate Set Designer for Waiting for Godot at Theatre Royal Haymarket. Recent theatre credits includes: Making History (Everyman Theatre, Cork); The Brightening Air, Oedipus (The Old Vic); Waiting for Godot (West End); The Tragedy of Richard III (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); Eugene Onegin, Tosca, La Traviata and Into the Woods – winner of IrishTimes Irish Theatre Award for Best Production (N.I. Opera, Belfast);
Translations (National Theatre); Peter Pan (Gate Theatre, Dublin); Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act – won the JMK Award – and Yellowman (Orange Tree); The Dry House (Marylebone Theatre); Under the Kundé Tree (Southwark Playhouse);
This Beautiful Future (Jermyn Street Theatre); and Into the Woods (His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth). Television and film work includes Game of Thrones season V – VII (HBO); In The Earth, In Fabric,(Rook Films); LOVE, (Cuba Pictures/National Theatre); Dungarees, (BBC/BFI). Niall was awarded the Max Rayne Production Designresidency at the National Theatre in 2018. www.niallmckeeverdesign.com
Gillian Lennox
After graduating with a BA Honours in Fashion and Textiles at The University of Ulster Gillian Lennox went on to be a designer within the fashion industry. Throughout her career Gillian also continued with her own freelance work and has been a maker and illustrator for Universal Studios when they first came to Northern Ireland with films such as Your Highness and more recently was a maker for the film The Northman.
For the Lyric Theatre, Gillian has supervised the Costume Department on all producing shows for the past six years and has been the Costume Designer for Dr Scroggy’s War, Good Vibrations, Alice: The Musical, Double Cross, Rough Girls (Arts & Business Awards) Dark of the Moon, Shirley Valentine, Peter Pan: The musical, 1984 (Postponed Covid), Sadie, Dracula, Pinocchio, Blue stockings, The Snow Queen, Romeo & Juliet and most recently Good Vibrations 2023 which is now showing in New York.
Nuala Campbell
With a career spanning 15 years as a Makeup Artist, working on some of the greatest Fashion week shows in the likes of London, Milan, Tokyo and Paris and been published in many different magazines including Vogue.
Recent works include the sell-out Agreement at the Lyric Theatre, Good Vibrations, Propaganda, the Award-Winning La Traviata, Gap Year, Translations by Brian Friel, Into the Woods, This Sh*t happens all the time, La Boheme, Old Friends & Other Days, Rough Girls, Sadie, Kiss me Kate, Playboy of the Western World, Peter Pan, Driving Home for Christmas, A Street Car Named Desire, Good Vibrations, Shirley Valentine, Street Car Named Desire, 39 Steps, Sweeney Todd, 3 Penny Opera, Don Giovanni, Turandot, The Importance of being Earnest, The Little Prince, Jungle Book.
With numerous Awards under her belt such as, Winner of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce Award and the Aer Lingus Viscount Awards in the prestigious Pall Mall, Nuala went on to be voted one of Northern Ireland’s Most Inspirational Women and one of Northern Ireland’s Top 40 under 40 business people by Business First Magazine. Most recently Nuala was listed as Entrepreneur of the Year in the Ulster Tatler Influential Women Awards.
Jake Wiltshire
Jake designs extensively both in the UK and worldwide. His work has been seen with major opera companies and festivals including The Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera, New Zealand Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Leipzig Oper, Garsington Opera and St. Galler Festspiele, as well as nearly all of the UK’s top music conservatoires. Internationally, he’s worked throughout Europe, North America, and Asia in a variety of venues from traditional proscenium arch theatres to unique site-specific spaces. In 2009 he was made an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (HonARAM) and in 2023 he was nominated for a Canadian Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding lighting design.
Recent credits include: L’Olimpiade, a co-production between the Royal Opera House, Irish National Opera and Fribourg Nouvel Opera; Nabucco for Savonlinna Opera Festival, Finland; Albert Herring for Scottish Opera; Il Viaggio a remis for Oper Leipzig, Germany; Andrea Chenier for St. Galler Festspiele, Switzerland; Don Giovanni for Kilden Opera, Norway. The Magic Flute and Don Pasquale for Welsh National Opera; Blue Beards Castle for Theatre of Sound (Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award) London, Atlanta, Beijing, Toronto, Edmonton and a multicity tour of New Zealand; Amadigi and Le Comte Ory for Garsington Opera.
Andy Graham
Credits include Grease (Pitlochry / Blackpool Grand Theatre), Piaf (Watermill Theatre), Frank and Percy, Alone Together, The Chalk Garden, The Shawshank Redemption, Dial M for Murder, Twelve Angry Men, Sleuth (Theatre Royal Windsor); Hey! Christmas Tree (Chichester Festival Theatre); Grenfell: Value Engineering & Grenfell: System Failure (London, Birmingham); An Hour and a Half Late (Theatre Royal Bath/UK tour); The Upstart Crow (Apollo/Gielgud); The Book Thief, Beryl, One Man Two Guvnors, Seagulls, Treasure Island, Spring and Port Wine (Octagon Theatre Bolton);
The Last Temptation of Boris Johnson (Park Theatre/UK tour); The Season (Royal & Derngate Northampton, New Wolsey Ipswich); Jess and Joe Forever, Alice in Wonderland (Stephen Joseph Scarborough); The Greatest Wealth, One Hand Tied Behind Us, Monstrous Tales (Old Vic); The Hound of the Baskervilles (English Theatre Frankfurt, Jermyn Street Theatre, UK tour); Little Mermaid (UK tour).
Associate Sound Design credits include Wild Rose (Royal Lyceum Theatre); High Society (Old Vic); Handbagged (Vaudeville); Once (London/Dublin/Korea); Brief Encounter, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes (Kneehigh).
Northern Ireland Opera
As Northern Ireland’s national opera company, we are the only professional company in the country producing full scale work on stage and which celebrates and platforms Northern Irish artists, for audiences from their local communities and beyond. We contrast this with nimble smaller scale high quality opera productions which we tour to communities across the country where there is low/no classical music provision. From teenagers experiencing their first opera, to those with a lifelong love of the artform; our critically acclaimed produced work engages audiences in a unique opera experience rooted in a country with a rich history of music.
We are building a community of local and international singers, musicians and creatives and supporting them to develop their craft and progress their professional pathways. Our approach instils generosity as well as aspiration and collaboration as we draw on, invest in and contribute back to our local communities. We capture imaginations and provide the space and tools for people to explore their creative skills and potential. Every person who participates with us, whether as a member of our Northern Ireland Chorus Development Programme, a participant on a creative workshop or Skills Expo session, is given the personalised support which will enable the most impactful outcomes.
About The Grand Opera House The Grand Opera House is Northern Ireland’s Premier Theatre, and the only surviving Victorian playhouse in the country. With a stunning and recently restored Frank Matcham auditorium and a wide range of productions staged throughout the year, the Theatre is one of the best-loved and most important cultural assets in Northern Ireland.
