MA Musical Theatre students will perform the musical ‘Xanadu’ in The Gate Theatre in Cardiff on the 23rd and 24th of March. The show ‘Xanadu’ follows the journey of an enchanting and beautiful Greek musician who falls from the heavens of Mt. Olympus to Venice Beach, California in 1980 in an attempt to inspire an artist who is finding it difficult to achieve the greatest ever artistic creation – the first ROLLER DISCO!
The show is based on the film that stars Olivia Newton-John with the music of Jeff Lynne from the Electric Light Orchestra, and it is a show that portrays the 80s exactly.
Luke Hereford has directed the show for UWTSD with Chris Fossey as Music Director.
Cody Walkingshaw, a member of the cast, said:
“Working on the enchanting musical Xanadu has shown me that nothing is impossible. Also, you should always dream big, you never know where you could end up next.”
Then students of BA Musical Theatre will perform the famous musical ‘RENT’ in the Blue Room of the National Dance Company Wales in Cardiff on the 29th and 30th of March. Robbie Bowman has directed the musical with the renowned John Quirk as Music Director
Based on Puccini’s well-known opera, La Bohème, Rent follows the ups and downs in a year in the life of a group of poor artistic friends, who live in East Village, Manhattan. The musical deals with themes such as living with HIV and AIDS, and several love stories.
For Nico James,
“Working on this production has been an amazing process, showing exactly why I started studying musical theatre!”
Senior Lecturer, Eilir Owen Griffiths, said:
“It is important for us to give our students experiences that are as true to the life of a professional actor as possible within the boundaries of higher education. The students always look forward to a production period and working with professional creative teams is invaluable. Both these shows are iconic in their own way and it has been a pleasure to watch the students get to grips with varying styles of musicals.”
