Sarah Brightman is back on American soil at last, embarking on A Christmas Symphony, a new holiday concert tour, beginning November 26 at the Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As the Phantom of the Opera star prepared for her U.S. return and first in-person concert performance since COVID-19, we got to catch up via phone about the prospects of her returning to the stage, plans to visit outer space, and more.
And should we be on the look-out for a triumphant return to the musical theatre?
“Never say never. I think if I took on a role, the 8-show-a-week thing would probably throw me a little. I haven’t done it in many years. I would have to be very careful about what role I took and sort of edge myself back into it to get used to it again. It’s a very particular way of working.”
As for that perfect role, the Cats and Phantom veteran surprised us with a Sondheim classic.
“The obvious one would be [Desiree in] A Little Night Music. I know I could do that role very well now that I’ve gotten to this stage in my life, and you know it’s a beautiful song in there. It’s perfection.”
We also asked about previously-announced (but later abandoned) plans to visit the International Space Station, a notion that has become more realistic now that a handful of civilians have successfully traveled to space—and, most importantly, back. Despite this, Brightman has her reservations.
“I have really mixed feelings about the whole humans going to space thing. While there’s wonderful things and it’s very joyous for people, it costs a lot of money. I think there’s a huge amount of things that space is very useful for on earth. I’m not sure that sending human beings out there—especially to deep space, which is very harsh. I learned a huge amount of it when I was in space training. I’m not sure that we’re really that ready for it. We could send robots. It’s less expensive, and it’s less dangerous. And robots, satellites, can do all of the things we need from space. [But I feel] the emotional viewpoint and feeling that people get about humans going into space—we are explorers! It’s dangerous, and we’re kind of meant to be here. There’s a reason why we’re here.”
Less dangerous is Brightman’s holiday tour, which was announced earlier this year. A Christmas Symphony may be Brightman’s first time back in front of a live audience, but the concert tour was born out of a 2020 streaming concert produced in quarantine.
“We were in the middle of [quarantine] last Christmas, and I thought, ‘This is going to be horrible for everybody. What can I do for myself and all my musician friends and anybody that cares to listen to it?’ I had done a Christmas album before, so I had a big repertoire.”
That concert became Sarah Brightman: A Christmas Symphony, which streamed worldwide in 2020 and aired on PBS earlier this year. The concert is now available to stream for PBS Passport members.
A year later with many live performances resuming around the world, Brightman is bringing a version of that concert to 16 U.S. cities, including Newark, New Jersey; Staten Island, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; and more. Fans can expect Brightman to cover holiday favorites, both religious and secular.
“I’ve got some beautiful Christmas pieces that are very well known, like ‘Silent Night’ and ‘O Holy Night.’ There are also some surprising ones, like ‘Arrival,’ which is an ABBA piece that they wrote many years ago for New Year’s. Not many people know about it, so there are a few surprises in there.”
Brightman also shared that she won’t leave her Broadway fans hanging.
“Of course I’ve got a few bits from Phantom, because they have the fancy ball and all of that, so I thought that would fit in perfectly for our celebratory section.”
Brightman will be backed during the concert by a full orchestra and choir, a true achievement while COVID-19 protocols are still somewhat in place.
“We’ve managed to find a special seating situation for the choir where they’re not suffocating. They can sing and be heard, and yet it protects everybody. I thought it through very, very carefully so that everybody feels comfortable and everybody gets what they want, which is having a good time and feeling the spirit of Christmas.”
For a full itinerary and tickets to A Christmas Symphony, visit SarahBrightman.com.
The new musical TheDriftersGirl, starring Olivier nominee Beverley Knight, officially opens at London’s Garrick Theatre November 25 following previews that began November 4. The production arrives following a previous engagement at the Newcastle Theatre Royal in October.
Joining Knight are Olivier winner Adam J. Bernard (Dreamgirls), Tarinn Callender (Hamilton), Olivier winner Matt Henry (KinkyBoots), and Tosh Wanogho-Maud (The Book of Mormon) as The Drifters.
Jonathan Church (Singin’ in the Rain) directs the musical, which charts the story of the famed vocal group and the woman who made them. Knight plays manager Faye Treadwell, who, alongside her husband, fought for three decades to turn Atlantic Records’ vocal group into a global phenomenon.
Based on an idea by Tina Treadwell, TheDriftersGirl was co-created by its five stars and features a book by Ed Curtis.
The production also has set design by Anthony Ward, choreography by Karen Bruce, costume design by Fay Fullerton, orchestrations and musical supervision by Chris Egan, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Tom Marshall, video design by Andrzej Goulding, associate direction by Tyrone Huntley, associate choreography by Myles Brown, and casting by Stuart Burt and Jo Hawes.
The production features such classics as “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “Under the Boardwalk,” “Kissin in the Back Row of the Movies,” “Stand By Me,” “Come on Over to My Place,” and “Saturday Night at the Movies.”
Recording star Knight made her London stage debut in 2013 in the role of Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard. In 2014, she received an Oliviernomination for Memphis, and in 2015 she played Grizabella in Cats at the London Palladium.
Performances are currently scheduled through March 26, 2022.
TheDriftersGirl is produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian.
Disney has released a brand new clip of ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’, one of the musical numbers from Encanto written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The voice cast of the new animated film features Stephanie Beatriz, John Leguizamo, Diane Guerrero, Wilmer Valderrama, Maluma, and more.
After a coronavirus hiatus, The Broadway League has resumed sharing gross reports for Main Stem productions.
Unlike previous gross reports, the League is now publishing numbers as composite figures comprising all currently running shows, rather than broken out by individual title. Some figures from previous reports, including the average ticket price and the percentage of the maximum potential gross reached, are not included for the time being.
The League reported grosses for the final time before the shutdown March 9, 2020, opting not to send one covering the final few days of Broadway performances. As shows began to open or reopen over the past few months, the League did not resume its public distribution of box office figures, citing a number of factors leading to potential inconsistencies, including the staggered rollout of shows and performance schedule changes.
tick, tick…BOOM is an adaptation of the autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, who revolutionized theater as the creator of Rent. Watch Vanessa Hudgens and Andrew Garfield perform ‘Therapy’ in a new clip from the film The film also stars Joshua Henry, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jess, MJ Rodriguez, and more.
Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle collide when a grown-up Tiny Tim turns to Sherlock Holmes to solve the peculiar death of Ebenezer Scrooge in the new holiday mystery A Sherlock Carol from playwright Mark Shanahan. The show opens at Off-Broadway’s New World Stages November 22, for a holiday run through January 2, 2022. Previews began November 11.
Shanahan also directs the production, featuring a set design by Tony nominee Anna Louizos (In the Heights), costume design by Tony nominee Linda Cho (Anastasia), lighting desing by Rui Rita (Skeleton Crew), original music and sound design Tony nominee John Gromada (The Trip to Bountiful), and hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe.
A Sherlock Carol is produced by Raymond Bokhour, McVety, and Fred Lassen for Fat Goose Productions, Laura Z. Barket for Theatre Nerd Productions, and executive produced by Nathan Gehan and Jamison Scott for ShowTown Productions. ShowTown Theatricals is the general manager.
