Brian Conley to star in tour of Barnum

Brian Conley is to star in a new UK tour of the musical Barnum which Cameron Mackintosh is co-producing with Michael Harrison (whose West End credits include The Bodyguard).

It will  open at Leicester’s Curve Theatre next summer and is based on the Chichester Festival production this July and August, but it is believed that the staging will undergo some changes.

Conley is a real showman and I think he will make a great PT Barnum with strong theatre credits illustrating this including Jolson, Me and My Girl, Hairspray and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Fagin in Oliver!

More information and dates to follow.

Brian Conley going into Jungle for I'm a Celebrity ...

Brian Conley has just finished playing Fagin on the tour of Oliver! and is due to appear in  panto as Robinson Crusoe at the Birmingham Hippodrome over Christmas.

But it has just been announced that he is somehow managing to fit in a trip to the Jungle to appear in "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here" which starts filming in Australia this weekend.

Brian is a close friend of fI'm A Celeb presenters Ant and Dec and  has reportedly said: "I asked Ant and Dec whether they'd advise me to do I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! and they said, Don't!'"

 But it seems he ignored their advice!

Neil Diamond's Brother Love heading for Gielgud?

Brian Conley has got a very busy time ahead if the Mail's Baz Bamigboye’s is correct that he and Darren Day are in negotiations to bring the Neil Diamond musical Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show into the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End some time this autumn.

Conley is playing Buttons in Cinderella at the Birmingham Hippodrome over Christmas and then going on to share the role of  Fagin in the new tour of Oliver! which opens on 13th December at the Cardiff Millennium Centre with Men Behaving Badly’s Neil Morrissey in the role. Conley takes over next year at Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre on 1st May 2012 and plays the part until 13th November when Morrissey returns. Presumably Conley will then be off to start rehearsals for his next panto!

Brother Love toured earlier this year with Conley playing preacher Brother Love who decides the world needs to experience the “Power of Neil” via his music. This production was directed by Craig Revel Horwood and starred Darren Day and Ben James-Ellis.  It played at open air grounds inside a heated and adapted big-top.

Brian Conley talking about new Neil Diamond Musical

Entertainer and West End Star Brian Conley is soon to embark on a tour of Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show which is a musical based on Neil Diamond's mildly controversial fourth album which upset US evangelists.  Joining him in the cast will be Darren Day, Ben James-Ellis, Amy Diamond, Abbie Osmon and Cleopatra Rey.  The production will be directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood.

The launch of the show took place appropriately in a church earlier today. Brian is playing Brother Love and he is talking about his role on the Steve Wright in the Afternoon Show today which is on BBC Radio 2 between 14:00 and 17:00 

Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show will play at open air grounds inside a heated and adapted big-top. It opens at Cheltenham Racecourse on 8th April.

Brian Conley starring in Neil Diamond Musical

Comedian and West End Theatre star Brian Conley has recently finished playing Buttons in panto as well as sharing the the role of Edna Turnblad with Michael Ball in Hairspray the musical both in London and on tour.

He is now about to star in Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show which is a musical based around Neil Diamond's mildly controversial fourth album  which upset US evangelists.  The production will be directed by  Craig Revel Horwood.

The show is about a preacher called Brother Love (Conley) who decides the world needs to experience the “Power of Neil” via his music. With a 15 piece band and catchy Neil Diamond songs, he spreads the word and offers salvation with some great dance-moves thrown in.

Revel Horwood was holding auditions for Brother Love earlier this week so more casting news to follow shortly.

Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show will play at open air grounds  inside a heated and adapted big-top offering all the amenities of a standard venue.  It was originally due to tour in October/November but the dates have been changed and below are the latest venues:

Cheltenham Racecourse 8-10th April: Leeds Castle Maidstone 12th-17th April: Beaulieu Palace House 19th-24th April: Woburn Abbey Milton Keynes 26th-30th April: Rockingham Castle Market Harborough 3rd-8th May: Goodwood Chichester 10th-15th May: Sandringham House King’s Lynn 17th-22nd May


Purchase tickets for Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show

Best of Brian Conley Tour

Brian Conley has recently finished a stint playing Edna Turnblad in the tour of Hairspray (a role he has been sharing with Michael Ball and Michael Starke)  and is about to start panto rehearsals at the New Theatre Cardiff where he is playing Buttons in Cinderella from 11th December to 23rd January.

But before this he is doing the Best of Brian Conley Tour where he will be backed up with a full cast of singers and dancers. He is also joined by West End Phantom of the Opera performers Sam Hiller and Emma Edwards, along with Britain’s Got Talent comedy ventriloquist semi-finalist Gareth Oliver.

The show will include appearances of his characters Dangerous Brian, Larry the Loafer, Nick Frisbee and Al Jolson, who he played in the West End for three years.

The tour dates are Southampton Mayflower 7th November: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall 9th November: Bradford St George’s Hall 11th November: Chesterfield Winding Wheel 12th November: Buxton Opera House 13th November: Southend Cliffs Pavilion 14th November: Llandudno Venue Cymru 15th November: Swindon Wyvern Theatre 16th November: Eastbourne Congress Theatre 17th November: Swindon Wyvern Theatre 18th November and Stevenage Gordon Craig Theatre on 20th November

See Hair’s Gavin Creel in Concert

Gavin Creel has recently been playing Claude in Hair at the Gielgud Theatre and is due to perform three UK concerts next month before he heads back for the States where he is presenting a new show Back to New York at Birdland in November.

Creel had Tony nominations for his performances in Hair and Thoroughly Modern Millie, with other musical theatre credits including Bert in the West End production of Mary Poppins and Jean-Michel in the 2004 Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles.

He will perform his UK concerts at: The Komedia in Brighton on October 19th / London’s Jazz Café on October 20th / The Deaf Institute in Manchester October 21st

To buy tickets visit: www.ticketmaster.co.uk

Michael Ball Back on Radio 2

Michael Ball's Sunday Brunch will be back on BBC Radio 2 for five weeks from Sunday 9th May 2010.

Michael has been reprising his West End role of Edna Turnblad on the tour of Hairspray (for which he is also an associate producer). He is in Glasgow for another week and will open at the Mayflower in Southampton on 11th May for three weeks. He is sharing the role on tour with Brian Conley and Michael Starke.

Frank Loesser Centenary Tribute Concert

Brian Conley and Imelda Staunton are lined up to perform with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Capital Voices at a Friday Night is Music Night BBC Radio 2 concert celebrating the life of Guys and Dolls composer Frank Loesser in his centenary year. The special event will be hosted by Paul Gambaccini and broadcast live from the Mermaid Theatre in London on May 7th.

Loesser was born in 1910 and made his first attempts at song writing during the Second World War. In 1948 he wrote On a Slow Boat to China and went on to pen more than 700 songs, including Hey, Good Looking, Luck Be a Lady, Two Sleepy People the Oscar-winning Baby it’s Cold Outside.

He also wrote stage musicals including Guys and Dolls, Where’s Charley?, The Most Happy Fella and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -  in which Daniel Radcliffe (of Harry Potter Fame) is due to appear on Broadway next year.  Imelda Staunton played Miss Adelaide in the 1983 and 1996 productions of Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre.

A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim Side by Side

A concert entitled A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim Side by Side will be held at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Saturday 10th April 2010 at 19:30 

It will feature Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carl Davis with soloists Mary Carewe and Graham Bickley.

Stephen Sondheim is the undisputed king of the American musical and fellow New Yorker Carl Davis leads this 80th birthday tribute with music spanning Sondheim's career including classics from Send in the Clowns, A Little Night Music, West Side Story, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd.

For more information contact: www.liverpoolphil.com

Maria Friedman Rodgers & Hammerstein Concert

Maria Friedman and Daniel Evans perform show-stoppers from the legendary Broadway duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein at the Barbican Hall in London on Sunday 14th March. They will be accompanied by the London Concert Orchestra and Capital Voices.

Maria Friedman and Daniel Evans bring to life the colourful characters, fabulous storylines and timeless tunes from four of the greatest musicals of all time, Oklahoma! The King and I, South Pacific and Carousel.

The Magical World of Rodgers & Hammerstein programme  includes. Hello Young Lovers – The King and I, People Will Say We’re in Love – Oklahoma!, Some Enchanted Evening – South Pacific and If I Loved you and You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel.

Monkee Micky Dolenz to appear in Hairspray

Micky Dolenz, who starred in the 1960s sitcom about a fictional band called “The Monkees,” is heading to London’s West End next February to appear in the hit musical Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

He will play the part of Wilbur Turnblad, the father of the show’s heroine, Tracy Turnblad.
Micky Dolenz has appeared in a number of stage musicals including Grease, Aida, Pippin’ and A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. He has most recently has been touring the States in Teen Idol  which also stars Peter Noone (ex Herman’s Hermits) and appropriately features hit music from the 1960s.

He has also just finished recording a tribute album to the legendary singer/songwriter Carole King called “King For A Day, and this is due for release around the time of his London-debut on 2nd February 2010.

Brian Conley will return to the musical at the same time as Dolenz makes his debut.  He will have finished pantomime and be ready to reprise his role as Tracy’s voluptuous mother, Edna.