In the 'House Seats'

Send us Fan Mail Ben Costello is a freelance conductor, musical director, adjudicator, singing coach and accompanist, working internationally. He is also Artistic Director of Thames Concerts Ltd , Founding Director of Kingston Chamber Singers , Chorus Master for the Leith Hill Musical Festiva l combined choirs concerts, Guest Conductor of the Voices of Hangzhou Youth Choir , a lecturer in musical...

Send us Fan Mail Alison is Associate Director on THE BOOK OF MORMON (London and International Tour). In 2021 Alison will direct the UK/International tour of DREAMGIRLS and will be Associate Director on the Broadway transfer of MEAN GIRLS. Director: CHICAGO (International Tour), SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (National Tour), SPAMALOT (Melbourne, Australia and Cologne, Germany), ENGLISH HERITAGE AWARDS (Palac...

Send us Fan Mail Richard  has enjoyed a great career in hair, make-up and wigs. He has worked on Finding Neverland,   Evita , La Cage Aux Folles , Frost Nixon , Waitress and Priscilla in New York. London theatre credits include: BIG the MUSICAL , Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat ,  Fiddler on the Roof , Nine to Five , Uncle Vanya , Guys and Dolls at the Royal Albert Hall, Pack of Lies...

Send us Fan Mail Neil has been in the arts since the age of 4 and has been lucky enough to follow the dream he had as a child. Having started dancing locally in Greenford in Middlesex he was lucky enough to be accepted by Arts Educational schools and then the Royal Ballet school. On leaving Royal Neil became a part of the Bluebells from Paris travelling the world and doing what he likes to think o...

Send us Fan Mail Derby-born actor Andy Coxon trained at the prestigious Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Once graduating Andy landed a role in Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita , marking his professional debut. In the same year he travelled Europe understudying and playing Brad and Riff Raff to packed audiences in the European tour of the classic cult hit The Rocky Horror Show . Later he went on...

Send us Fan Mail Nicola grew up in Manchester, England. She became a professional actor at 14 when she performed in The Little Matchgirl with Roger Daltrey (the Who). She started touring with musical theatre companies at 17, performing in Chess , The Sound of Music and Lloyd Webber’s production of Aspects of Love . Nicola’s big break came at 21 when she was picked to play the role of Lola in the W...

Send us Fan Mail Ionica is a British stage and screen Actress. She was born and adopted from Romania at the age of 2 and a half years old. Ionica trained at East 15 Acting School in 2008. Ionica is currently featuring in Documentary, 'The Acting Class', alongside Maxine Peake, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Samuel West & Christopher Eccleston – showing across cinemas now. Ionica has recently wr...

Send us Fan Mail Cassidy Janson is a British actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. In 2005 Janson appeared in Tick, Tick... Boom! at the Menier Chocolate Factory. She played Susan, alongside Neil Patrick Harris as Jonathan and Tee Jaye Susan as Michael. In 2006 she joined the original West End cast of Wicked as part of the ensemble, later moving to be standby for the role of Elphaba...

Send us Fan Mail Rachel Stanley is a British actress and singer. She has had an amazing career in musical theatre playing Mum in Legally Blonde (Leicester Curve); lead vocalist in The Song Book of Judy Garland (UK Tour); Betty Haynes in White Christmas (Dominion 2014 and seasons in Edinburgh, Manchester, Plymouth & Southampton); Grace Farell in Annie (New Zealand Tour & UK Tour); Gill in J...

Send us Fan Mail Kate hails originally from the North East. She qualified with BAHons in History from Durham University before moving to London to pursue her dream of becoming a performer, beginning with a postgraduate course in Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music . She was awarded the DipRAM for her study year, gained a teaching qualification ( LRAM ) and has since been made an Associat...

Send us Fan Mail Nick Winston is an international Director and Choreographer working in Theatre, Opera & Television. Nick's theatre credits includes, as Director & Choreographer: the first UK revival of MAME , starring Tracie Bennett (Hope Mill Theatre – 7 Whatsonstage nominations including Best Musical Revival and Best Choreography); the 30th anniversary production of FAME (West End,...

Send us Fan Mail At the time of recording, Tara had finished as director for Falsettos at the Other Palace theatre, which was the winner of the Whatsonstage Best Off West End Musical. She is currently associate director/choreographer for Come from Away in the West End. Tara's director credits include: The Producers (China); Little Shop of Horrors (UK Tour); Peter Pan and Cinderella (Poole); M...

Send us Fan Mail Bill Deamer is one of Britain's leading choreographers whose extensive training is grounded in ballet, jazz and tap. He is the first-choice go-to choreographer for period choreography. He started his career when, employed as lead dancer in a production of Cabaret in the West End (choreographed and directed by his mentor Dame Gillian Lynne OBE), he was offered an opportunity t...

Send us Fan Mail Norma has had a long and amazing career in theatre, film and TV. In theatre, Norma  played  Emily Whitman in Follies at the National Theatre directed by Dominic Cooke also Liesl at the print room in Babettes Feast directed by Bill Buckhurst , Abuela Claudia in In the Heights directed by Luke Lheppard. Her West End credits include, Les Miserbles , Nine , Pirates of Penzance , Matad...

Send us Fan Mail Stephan is a Welsh Italian Tenor who trained at The Royal Academy of Music London, graduating with a Masters Degree in Opera, under the tutelage of Ryland Davies. Prior to this, he gained his initial degree in Music from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance His operatic works to date include The Barber of Seville (Glyndebourne), The Magic Flute (Glyndebourne), La Damna...

Send us Fan Mail In this podcast Loliya talks to Craig about her initial training as an athlete, teaching science in various London secondary schools and then her passion about the importance of good nutrition and regular exercise to support health which led her to retrain as a nutritional therapist She also trained to become a personal trainer, remedial and soft tissue massage therapist, pilates...

Send us Fan Mail Ian was born in Blackpool and at the age of twelve was lead singer on the re-recording of the Queen song, Who Wants To Live Forever , for Brian May and EMI records. After dance training with television choreographer Phil Winston and travelling weekly from the North to London for singing lessons with the renowned Ian Adam, Ian was contracted as a performer in the West End at the ag...

Send us Fan Mail After training at Laine Theatre Arts in London, Ashley has gone on to have an amazing career in theatre, TV and film. He has appeared in numerous musicals in the West End including Fame , Billy Elliot , Wicked , Chicago and High School the Musical . He was dance captain in Monty Python Live (Mostly) at the O2 and principal dancer and vocalist in the original cast of Drunk for the...

Send us Fan Mail Rhys was born in Manchester and played Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre in the West End at the age of 12. He then went on to train at Centre Pointe in Manchester. In 2017, became the winner of the BBC Young Dancer Competition within the ballet section. That same year he also joined the English National Ballet. In 2019 he was an Emerging Dancer finalist and also the winn...

Send us Fan Mail Born in Whitechapel, raised in Essex, Lisa attended drama and ballet classes from an early age. Going onto train at the Italia Conti Academy before graduating and venturing into the big wide world! She has had a varied career from stage, screen, TV, cruise ships, and an abundance of fascinating 'day jobs!' Her musical theatre credits include Miranda in The Return to the...

Send us Fan Mail After her training at Laine Theatre Arts, Pip went onto to have a very successful career in musicals such as Mack and Mabel, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Thoroughly Modern Millie before becoming assistant choreographer for Parade at Donmar Warehouse, Shrek UK and Ireland Tour and Beautiful - The Carole King Musical and is currently associate choreographer for the...

Send us Fan Mail Honorary Doctor of Arts and two-time Olivier award winner Stephen Mear has been described by the Telegraph as “the old-style master of the modern chorus line”. Stephen’s prolific career has taken him in all directions from musical theatre on Broadway and the West End to opera at the ENO, Paris and the Met in New York. His varied and sought after talent extends to well known TV pro...

Send us Fan Mail An informative interview about theatre producing, performing arts training and current trends of adjudication. Jennifer trained in London from the age of five with Tony Morgan, Maude Wells and Letty Littlewood, three inspiring teachers. She competed in many dance festivals in London and the South East and as a teacher entered pupils in local festivals. She has been a Federation an...

Send us Fan Mail In this first episode of in the 'House Seats' Craig Bartley interviews West End lead and choreographer, Alan Burkitt. Alan has a huge wealth of professional credits to his name from playing Dick McGann in Street Scene ( Cologne Opera) , Bill Calhoun/Lucentio in Kiss Me Kate (West End, UK Tour) and has just finished playing Bobby Pepper in the UK tour of Curtains. He was...

Send us Fan Mail An introduction to our up and coming 30 minute chat show podcast about all aspects of the entertainment industry from onstage performing or backstage in theatre, television and film production. Tune in every Sunday and have a great time with our guests in the 'House Seats'.