Sunday 26th September 2010 – 5pm and 8pm
New Players Theatre
The Arches,
Villiers Street,
London.
WC2N
Details:
Following last years sell out 'Just me & Them' concerts, SimG Productions brought together the best of the West End and Broadway to celebrate the work of acclaimed American songwriter Scott Alan once again.
'Simply' showcased brand new work (that features on Scott's highly anticipated third album), some familiar favourites, and Premiered the opening section from 'HOME: The Scott Alan Song Cycle' (created by Director Simon Greiff and Scott).
Two completely sold-out Concerts played at 5pm and 8pm, and a special CD signing was held directly after the second performance.
Special VIP seats were sold in aid of TheatreMAD (part of the fundraising family of The Make A Difference Trust), and all money raised went directly to this very worthy cause.
Theatremad (Registered UK Charity No. 1124014) madtrust.org.uk
Review:
“Alan is perhaps the new David Friedman — a composer with shows perpetually in development, but who writes great self-contained songs for them that singers love to sing, making him the king of cabaret writers.
Like Friedman, whose greatest exponent was the late, great Nancy LaMott, there’s a heavy emphasis on ballads in Alan’s work, and many of them sound curiously like Wicked out-takes.
Alan, too, has his own star exponent in Shoshana Bean, an alumnus of the Broadway Wicked; and the Wicked connection is amplified by the presence here of such local stars of the show like the wonderful Louise Dearman and Ashleigh Gray.
Alan certainly draws on the combined might of the West End and Broadway stages being represented in the West End at the moment: other guests included Broadway’s Sierra Boggess and Patina Miller (both currently in London in Love Never Dies and Sister Act respectively, and here taking a night off from those shows to deliver better songs than they get there), and West Enders Alex Gaumond (currently in Legally Blonde), dashing Hadley Fraser, and Stuart Matthew Price.
But it was also a real treat in Alan’s concert to see Grainne Renihan again, too: a wonderful take-over as Florence in the original production of Chess in the 80s, who subsequently also did several stints as Fantine in Les Miserables, I’ve not seen or heard of her for years. It was wonderful to have her back.”
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