Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ever popular State Fair will be performed for the first time on the London stage as a symphonic concert by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra under award winning director and Evening Standard Awards nominee Thom Southerland.
In a double first for the LMTO, this is also the first full scale public performance by the company which debuted its inaugural gala, in June of this year, to a packed house at Bishopsgate Institute where the orchestra is in residence.
State Fair will be performed at Cadogan Hall on 6 November 2016. The 32-piece orchestra, conducted by LMTO’s founder Freddie Tapner, brings to life the rich music of the 1996 Broadway production about the Frake family and their trip to the Iowa State Fair. The score features favourites including It Might as Well Be Spring, You Never Had It So Good and The Man I Used to Be.
Cast includes:
Wendi Peters (Melissa Frake) – best known for her role as Cilla Battersby Brown in Coronation Street, as regular character Cook Jenkins in BBC’s Hetty Feather, and with extensive stage credits, including, most recently Hatched ’n’ Dispatched (Park Theatre), Oh What a Lovely War! (National Tour) and White Christmas (Dominion Theatre). Richard Fleeshman (Pat) – appeared as Bobby Strong in Urinetown (St James Theatre), Sam in Ghost The Musical (West End and Broadway, WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor in a Musical) and Warner in Legally Blonde The Musical (Savoy Theatre); Emma Hatton (Emily) Emma has just finished playing the lead role of Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked. She is also a celebrated jazz singer with a Number 1 EP; Oliver Savile Oliver is currently starring in the West End as Fiyero in Wicked; Celinde Schoenmaker – currently playing Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (West End) and recently Fantine in Les Miserables.
London Musical Theatre Orchestra— which counts luminaries including Jason Robert Brown, Stiles and Drewe, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz among its patrons— comprises a range of London’s greatest professional musicians with an enthusiasm for musical theatre. Playing alongside these musicians, a small number of the most talented developing professional players from the LMTO’s rehearsal orchestra will take their seats making for an enriched, passionate and joyous evening of the very best of Rodgers and Hammerstein in concert.
The depth of character this unique ensemble of musicians bring, serves to not only make full orchestral performances accessible to brand new audiences, but also to bring the exciting repertoire of musical theatre to a more traditional orchestral audience.
In keeping with LMTO’s aim to make musical and orchestra music accessible, LMTO has partnered with SYMM (one of the UK’s premier building companies) to release 100 tickets for State Fair priced at £15 and valid for a range of seats across the house. Tickets will be released on Thursday 13th October at 8pm to those who pre-register via lmto.org
LMTO Presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s State Fair at Cadogan Hall on 6th November 2016
cadoganhall.com
