Welcome to the official website of the A STAGE KINDLY New Musical Theatre Initiative - an organisation founded to encourage and develop the present and future of new musicals.

 

             

    

  

 STOP PRESS!!

A STAGE KINDLY recently cast a showcase of the exciting new musical 'Don't Cry Butterfly', to be performed as part of 'The Works' readings by Mercury Musical Developments, www.mercurymusicals.com at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on March 23rd in an invite-only showcase which will be directed by Katherine Hare and Musically Directed by Katy Lipson. This production will feature Gillian Ford and Fenton Gray in the lead roles, with a terrific supporting cast. More details can be found by clicking the poster below.
 
    

 

'Don't Cry, Butterfly' is a sung-through musical from Italy by Anna Hurkmans and Rafaelle Paglione dealing with the lives of the great opera composer and exotic dancer/spy Mata Hari, who had a brief but passionate love affair together. After Mata Hari's execution as a spy Puccini conceives the idea of writing an opera about her. The more his jealous wife, his publisher and his surgeon try to prevent him from developing his project, the more the dancer becomes and erotic obsession with him. Sitting at his piano and reading her diaries, Puccini evokes Mata Hari's dramatic life. But what is stopping him finishing this opera? The musical will reveal all...
 
 
This showcase of "Don't Cry, Butterfly" is to an invited audience of industry professionals. However, we do have another very exciting show forthcoming! Read on to find out more!
 

Other projects forthcoming include the UK premiere of David Reiser's new musical "Ballets Russes" about the famous ballet company and also potentially another new writing revue featuring some of the highlights from our three previous revues, to be performed as part of the London Fringe Festival. Details to follow soon!!

 

We welcome applications from performers interested in being involved in either of these productions. 

 

We are presently considering applications from directors  interested in working on "Ballets Russes" and welcome CVs and coverring letters to astagekindly@aol.com

 

For this production, we will be looking for several outstanding performers to create the lead roles. Many of these will require 'triple threat' performers with both strong singing skills and a solid dance technique who are confident in dancing balletically.

 

If you have any friends who you think would do well to audition for us, do ask them to get in touch. We are constantly updating our database of performers to invite to future auditions. The same goes for talented MDs, choreographers, pianists, arrangers, etc.

 

A STAGE KINDLY have most recently undertaken two successful projects. "Bravo", the third of our new-writing revues, toured  venues including Pizza On The Park and Freedom Bar in London and the Manchester Maccabi, to critical acclaim in October. Attended by producers, performers, academics, and other professionals throughout the industry, we debuted many songs that have never been staged in the UK before, featuring work from the UK, America, Australia, France, and Italy. with a cast of star vocalists includig Arabella Rodrigo, Adam Bayjou, Frank Loman, and Charlotte Donald.  We have just uploaded to this site for free download the studio sound recording, also the professionally edited video of the show created by Samuel Pearce. You can find out more about the repertoire, perfomers, and writers elsewhere in this site. The photographs of "Bravo" and "Soviet Zion" were taken by Gavin Bambrick. Details about all cast members and technical support personell can be found under the subheading 'The Company'.

 

 


 

 

"Bravo" featured work by writers including Darryl Chute, Anna Hurkmans & Raffaele Paglione, Bob Gould and Caden Jones, Jon Bartlett with Mark Kelser, Scarlett G Antaloczy, Nigel Osner & Marc Urquhart, David Brush  & Jim Farley, Ludovic-Alexandre Vidal & Julien Salvia. This revue will also feature work from writers who have previously had work featured in A STAGE KINDLY revues including, Michael Gordon Shapiro, David Reiser, Noel Katz, Michael Colby, Jack Urbont, Paul Katz, Peter Millrose, Katy Lipson and Giles Howe.

 

 

 

The other project we undertook recently was the world debut showcase concert of an epic new musical called "Soviet Zion" starring Julia Buckley, Arabella Rodrigo, Giles Howe & Katy Lipson (the show's composers) and making her professional debut, Nancy Hill. A live recording of this one-night-only special has just been made for free streaming and download form the 'multimedia' section of this website and also from Jamendo.com as well as an e.p of three studio recordings and the video recording of this showcase is also available to watch or download both here and elsewhere within this site.

 

 T H E    A I M   O F    " A   S T A G E   K I N D L Y "

There is a wealth of fantastic material that lies in the shadow of the mega-musical, both here in the UK and internationally, and the aim of A STAGE KINDLY is to offer a platform to bring these fantastic independent works to the audience they deserve. 

 

The name "A STAGE KINDLY" is actually an anagram, of its founders,  who, as an independent writing and creative production team themselves have diverse experience and skills in many different aspects of the industry - as both as writers, producers, and as performers. Their combined skills and also the talent of their network of associates is now focussed on not just developing their own work, but also the work of other people with a similar ambition - for whom getting their work on stage may not otherwise be possible.

 

 

 


 


A STAGE KINDLY launched in London in the autumn of 2008, with a sell-out run at The Battersea Barge and The Rosemary Branch Theatre called "Debut", showcasing some of the best pieces from new musicals from around the world. It was very well recieved and in response to the acclaim, an extended version of the show, "Encore!", toured London and Brighton throughout March 2009.

  

 

 

"Debut" and "Encore" were followed with a first full-length presentation: a recital of the fiendishly difficult sing Turkish Delight the Opera, which was a great success!! Following that, projects included a third revue of international new work, "Bravo", and the world premiere preview showcase of material from the epic new musical "Soviet Zion".

 

As well as staging revues and new musicals, they offer many services to writers and composers involved in writing for the theatre. You can read more about the current services and opportunities A STAGE KINDLY offers by clicking on on the sum-menu above marked 'The Services'. 

 

 

The A STAGE KINDLY development opportunities are open to any writer, lyricist, or composer writing for the musical theatre who would benefit from having their work exposed. We particularly welcome submissions from writers who would otherwise be somehow unable to stage or record their own music in London. We would also be pleased to hear from any West End standard performers who would like to be considered for future performances. Please email CVs and headshots toastagekindly@aol.com.

 

 
Shows A STAGE KINDLY have already featured include "Slay It With Music," "Tales of Tinseltown", "Mind The Gap", "A Fine Time For Wine," "Ballet Russes", "All About Love", "Joined At The Heart", "Lady Jane," "The Company of Women", "The Cristmas Bride", "The Charmed Life", "Mrs McThing", "Quel Fromage", "My Land's Shore", "This Time Next Week", "Grace Notes", "B.O.A.T.S", "A Weekend Of Art Deco", "Macho Manly Men," "Spilt Milk" and "Murder At The Savoy". The third revue, BRAVO, also featured"The True Princess", "Vincent", "Don't Cry Butterfly", "After The Turn", "Whitechapel", "Rock Heaven", "Alison The Musical," "Quel Fromage", "Soviet Zion", "The Big Picture", "The Prince And The Pauper", "Revolution", "Mrs McThing", "Tales of Tinseltown", "All About Love", "The Company Of Women", "The Charmed Life" and "Turkish Delight The Opera". You can find out more about each of these shows by clicking the link above marked 'The Shows'.