Richard Hawley‘s musical Standing At The Sky’s Edge is about to return to London’s West Finish in 2024.
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Following a current profitable run on the capital’s Nationwide Theatre, from subsequent February the present, which options traditional songs by Hawley to painting “a love letter to Sheffield and ode to the long-lasting Park Hill Property”, will transfer to the Gillian Lynne Theatre. For extra data and pre-sale entry head right here.
It made its debut on the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 2019 and returned in 2022 earlier than it went on to make its London premiere in February this 12 months.
Talking in regards to the transfer to the West Finish, Hawley mentioned in a press launch: “In all honesty I by no means actually thought this story would go away the within of our minds however to see it blossom and develop from a heartfelt set of concepts exchanged in a Sheffield pub to promote out exhibits on the Crucible and Nationwide theatres each single evening has been a really highly effective expertise.
“The drive, focus and willpower to permit the voices and historical past of Park Hill to be heard eventually by everybody concerned has been equally mind-blowing. This may’ve been greater than sufficient for me to say the least…however the West Finish?…subsequent you’ll be telling me Sheffield Wednesday are going up this season!”
Confirmed: Standing on the Sky’s Edge to switch to the West Finish https://t.co/hKYuo8vRbz pic.twitter.com/YeTvt98PTB
— WhatsOnStage (@WhatsOnStage) April 3, 2023
Final evening (April 2), Standing At The Sky’s Edge picked up Greatest New Musical and Greatest Unique Rating and New Orchestrations’ at 2023 Olivier Awards on the Royal Albert Corridor.
Chatting with NME forward of the present’s debut in February, Hawley mentioned: “It’s fucking thrilling stuff. The nice check will likely be how effectively it travels. Like Henderson’s Relish and native beer, it won’t make it that far south! I hope it does, and it’s nice that The Nationwide Theatre have given it the prospect.
“There’s all the time been the drive for me to do it, and it isn’t cash or success, however to be sure that these individuals’s voices are heard. The folks that lived on Park Hill have been mainly forgotten. They have been left to rot after which pressured out.”
After at first discovering the concept of a musical of his songs to be “ludicrous”, Hawley then got here round and handed his songs over to “the true geniuses” of director creative director Robert Hastie and playwright Chris Bush.
“I wasn’t very treasured about something and I assumed it will be attention-grabbing to see what one other artistic crew would do with the songs,” he mentioned. “I used to be concerned, however Chris and others’ contribution was far larger than mine.”
He continued: “There are particular guidelines I laid down. I mentioned, ‘No fucking jazz palms and no fucking wafting about’. I additionally mentioned, ‘Should you pull a punch with the story and attempt to soften the story from what it truly is, I’ll stroll’. To their credit score, the artistic crew haven’t finished that. There hasn’t been any cowardice and the story is actually uncooked and true.
“I didn’t need to make it political band standing or finger-wagging. You get to the morality simply by telling the story.”
In the meantime, the singer-songwriter additionally just lately criticised the Tory authorities, describing in the present day’s politicians as “narcissists”.
