Guten Tag from me, Rebecca Gediking – the Little German! (this is a well known character in the original ‘Sleeping Beauty’ fairytale so I’m told… Yah!) Tonight was SMP’s opening night of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ by Warren Mc Williams for charity and community groups and what a great night it was! It was so much fun performing […]
Author: admin
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Tech Run & Dress
We’ve reached the end of our rehearsals and Wednesday night will be our first performance in front of an audience. Monday started off early as our lighting designer Matt arrived at 10 am to start plotting the show ready for the tech run later that evening. Alex our stage manager wasn’t far behind and with […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Get in and Band Call
Hi, Carl here, playing the King. A lovely crisp winter’s morning is a beautiful start to a great day. First of all, band call; when the band and the cast come together for the first time. OMG it sounds amazing thanks to the talented Mike B., Chris W., Tim H., Steve R. and John F. […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Final Week 17
Hi Guys, Prince Rupert here looking forward to seeing you all next week in the wonderful world of SMP Pantoland! After directing Bugsy Malone in the Summer I enjoyed working with this talented, super fun unbelievably nice group of people I thought I would join the dark side and become a cast member. Monday […]
Urinetown: The Musical about the Privileges of Peeing. A conversation with composer Mark Hollmann
Adapted from an interview with Robert Wilder Blue for usOperaweb.com On the eve of its opening at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (where it would begin its successful national tour), Robert Wilder Blue spoke with Mr. Hollmann about his life before URINETOWN, THE MUSICAL. “I was born in Belleville, Illinois,” he confessed, “which is in […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Week 16
Hi there my name is Andy Jordan and it’s my turn to update you with the latest Blog. Before I do that I would like to tell you all a little bit about me. I’m the newest and oldest member of the cast in this years panto Sleeping Beauty and it’s my first ever […]
Our Pantomime for 2017 will be…
SMP are very pleased to announce that after much consideration we’ve chosen our pantomime for January 2017. We’re very excited to share it with you. For the first time in the groups history we will be performing ‘FROSTED – A Family Pantomime.’ The story tells the tale of two Princesses as one struggles to come to […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Week 15
This weeks blog comes from our Fairy Flora – Lynzey Cooper Hello boys and girls how are you all today? I am very excited to be playing Fairy Flora in SMP’s Sleeping Beauty, a role I have been dreaming about since I fell in love with the world of Panto many years ago. Fairy Flora […]
Urinetown Music Links
Here are links for each of the songs to give you an idea of what they look like; 1. Overture 2. Too Much Exposition 3. Urinetown 4. It’s A Privilege To Pee 5. Mr. Cladwell 6. Cop Song 7. Follow Your Heart 8. Look At The Sky 9. Don’t Be The Bunny 10. Act One […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Week 14
This week our blog comes from our choreographer Fay Kemal, over to you Fay… Fay here!! And so happy to be choreographing my 10th panto for smp. Having joined SMP in 2001 I have choreographed many summer shows and pantos, but panto is my fave!! The comedy and humour makes it such fun to create […]
The Writing of Urinetown
(source: the Magazines of the University of Chicago and the American Conservatory Theatre) Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann, both 1985 graduates of the University of Chicago didn’t worry much about their show’s crowd-pleasing potential when they wrote URINETOWN, THE MUSICAL. Instead, they wrote a story in which the downtrodden do not triumph, the handsome hero is […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Week 13
Hi, I’m Mike Benyon and I am musical director for SMP’s production of Sleeping Beauty. Doing panto is not a new thing for this old stager. In fact, having joined SMP in 1992 this is my 24th successive year being involved with panto, either as musical director or as a member of the band. So […]
Urinetown – Videos
Here’s some good videos from the UK production: What is Urinetown? Audience Reaction Urinetown rehearsals Backstage on the UK Production: Want to see the whole show? Here you go: Here’s a video of the Broadway run.
St Aldhelms – Christmas Tree Festival
Once again SMP have taken part in St. Aldhelms Church’s Festival of Trees. Local groups from the community are asked to decorate a Christmas tree which leaves the church filled by a plethora of wonderful trees. If you’re passing why not pop in and see the trees or join the congregation at one of their […]
SMP at Winter Wonderland & The Parade of Lights
This weekend was one of our favourite times of year at SMP HQ…it’s the sparkliest event of the season and the beginning of all that glorious Christmassy community spirit. Yep, you guessed it…Enfield’s annual “Parade of Light”. This year it was even bigger and better than usual with the added bonus of a new and […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Week 12
This weeks blog comes from our Merriweather – Marian Lynch. As one of the oldest members of SMP (when did that happen?!) I’m not really sure what a blog is, but I figure it’s a bit like a diary entry, right? I picked a corker of a week to get to tell you what we’ve […]
About the Playwrights
GREG KOTIS (book and lyrics) is a New York-based playwright, who specializes in dark, disturbing comedies with socially relevant themes. He is a veteran of the Neo-Futurists, creators of the long-running, on-going attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes entitled TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND. JOBEY AND KATHERINE, his play about fish, […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Week 11
This week our blog comes from our writer and dame, Nurse Nelly, Warren McWilliams. Take it away Warren: So here’s my blog post! This week we set about learning another one of our dances whilst those principles not involved went through our dialogue adding more jokes to the already gag laden script. We’ve got a […]
The Idea for URINETOWN, THE MUSICAL
(Excerpted from Greg Kotis’ introduction to URINETOWN: The Musical) The idea for URINETOWN, THE MUSICAL first came to me during what might generously be described as a poorly planned trip to Europe during the late winter/early spring of 1995. On our return flight, I decided to extend an overnight layover in Paris to spend two weeks bumming around […]
Sleeping Beauty Blog – Week 10
This week’s post comes from our Princess Aurora herself, Ellie! Hello one and all, and welcome to the 10th installment (10th!) of our blog for ‘Sleeping Beauty’! I have loved reading the weekly installments written by other SMP beauties so far, and now the blogging baton has been handed over to yours truly (eeek)! I […]