Rolling into “Merrily we Roll Along”

Show: Merrily we Roll Along

Venue: Institute of the Arts, Barcelona

Times: 25th November & 26th November 2016 at 17:00 & 20:00

Price: 5€ Adults, 3€ Children (under 18’s)

The Institute of the Arts Barcelona presents the 2nd year Musical Theatre show, Merrily we Roll Along, music & lyrics by Stephen Soundheim, book by George Furth, with director Luke Fredericks, musical director Alex Weatherhill and choreographer Guille Vidal-Ribas.

Based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, Merrily we Roll Along tells the story of Franklin Shepard. Once an acclaimed composer of Broadway musicals, Shepard has abandoned that life to become a producer of Hollywood movies and we see his life as flashbacks throughout the musical telling the story of friendships in the 60’s and 70’s.

Musical Director Alex Weatherhill says:

“Working with new people is always exciting and challenging and my projects with the students of IAB have been just that. The journey with them has been great fun and they consistently work hard to bring their best and beyond.”

For information go to https://www.iabarcelona.com/student-shows/

Luke Fredericks

Luke’s directing credits include BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL at Southwark Playhouse, CAROUSEL at Arcola Theatre (nominated for four 2014 Off West End Awards and nine 2014 Broadwayworld.com Awards), THE REVENGE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES! at Hoxton Hall (nominated for Best Musical Production 2013 Off West End Awards), JEKYLL AND HYDE at the Union Theatre (listed in The Stage highlights of 2012), Timberlake Wertenbaker’s ASH GIRL (Northbrook Theatre), A SERVANT TO TWO MASTERS (OnO Theatre – UK tour), as well as adapting and directing a promenade production of ALICE IN WONDERLAND for children.

Luke has been involved with the development of new writing, including ONE WAY TICKET at St James Studio and Double Click at Hope Theatre (finalist in MUSICAL BOX new writing festival).

Luke formed Morphic Graffiti in 2011 with Stewart Charlesworth, working as a Director/Designer team and Co-producing productions together. They received the Stage One Bursary for New Producers in 2012 and 2013. They have also created Morphic Education that runs alongside Morphic Graffiti, offering theatre based workshops and educational events.

Luke has also worked extensively as a professional performer, having trained as an Actor Musician at Rose Bruford College.

Alex Weatherhill

Musical Direction/Supervision, Orchestration and Direction Credits include: Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast and Snow White (Paul Holman Associates), Cinderella and Jack & the Beanstalk (WW Productions), Calamity Jane, Cabaret, Mack & Mabel and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (UK:FD), Oliver! and Sweet Charity (Scarborough Musicals), Summer Spectacular 2011 & 2012 (TP Productions), Les Miserables Jnr, The Producers and Sweeney Todd Jnr (Hatton School of Performing Arts), Sweet Charity and Spring Awakening (SLP College), Oliver! (Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham) Dick Wittington (Jamie Marcus Productions) The Secret Garden (Sideshow), Call Me Madam, Cooking with Elvis and Into the Woods (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Landor), And the World Goes Round (The Wyndhams), Fred & Gladys (Workshop), Mack & Mabel and Rent (Broadway Studio), Sweeney Todd and Annie Get Your Gun (Union Theatre)

Previous theatre performance credits include: Ruth in Pirates of Penzance (UK Tour), Buttercup in HMS Pinafore (UK Tour), Mary Sunshine in Chicago (The Adelphi & International Tour), The Fairy Queen in Iolanthe (Wilton’s Music Hall, London), Avrahm (Understudy & played Motel) in Fiddler on the Roof (UK Tour), Soloist in The Thursford Christmas Spectacular, Frederick in Pirates of Penzance (Golden Hinde), Josephine, Cousin Hebe and Buttercup in HMS Pinafore (Union Theatre). Production shows at various theatres, on tour in Cyprus and in a large tent in the middle of a Safari Park! Alex also has extensive experience as a cabaret artist and has performed all over Europe including celebrity parties, guest work on cruise ships and singing for HM The Queen. As a session singer he has toured the UK with various pop and rock acts as well as recording voice tuition CDs, concept recordings for new Musical Theatre pieces and even an art installation in Berlin! Alex’s solo album, ‘My Other Voice’, is available via iTunes.

Composer: The Diary of Anne Frank (Broadway Studio) along with numerous comedy and production numbers for The Spa, Bridlington.

Production show and cabaret writing credits include: At the Movies, Fables & Fairytales, Showtime (1 & 2), A Cowardly Night, Pass the Porter and When Ivor Met… (The Spa Bridlington Rep Season 2013-2016), Spotlight on: Faye Tozer (UK Tour for Spotlight Productions), Be Our Guest and Christmas Carousel (2012-2016) (Julie Hatton Productions), Swing it on Broadway (UK Tour).

Alex also works as a vocal coach and is currently an Associate of The Voice College (www.thevoicecollege.org) and is Arranger/Artistic Director for Coastal Voices, a contemporary choir based on the Yorkshire coast.

For further information you can follow Alex on Twitter (@alexweatherhill), via his page on Facebook, or check out: www.alexweatherhill.co.uk

Guille Vidal-Ribas

Born in Barcelona in 1988, he broke into performing arts attending his first acting class at the age of eight. His passion for music led him to dance soon afterwards. Since then, he has been continuously studying both arts, always moved by an inquisitive impulse to find the connections between both arts and their interspaces.

He is a specialist in street dances and recognized as one of the principal representatives of this discipline in Spain. He was firstly trained by national masters like Hector “Hope” Lechón or Juan Carlos Valls “Kanga”, and afterwards by national street dance pioneers and international masters like Poppin’Pete, Don Campbell, Locking Khan, Richie Rich, Anthony Thomas, Brian Green, Buddha Stretch, Hiro, P-Lock, Jimmy Soul, Gemini, Jazzy J, Mr. Wiggles, Shannon Wichway, Du Lock, Locker Mong, Kite and many others. He complemented his background by studying contemporary dance, modern jazz, butoh, contact-improvisation and creative movement, among other disciplines.

Similarly, his acting traineeship is plural as well: Stanislavski, Michael Chejov, Jacques Lecoq, Étienne Decroux, commedia dell’arte, clown and masks theatre influenced his evolution and work. Lately, he has been focused on exploring voice trainning and singing.

He started teaching in some of the most important street dance schools in the area of Barcelona (Varium, Escola Sant Cugat, Tribu Urbana, etc.), but he promptly started being invited to give workshops and masterclasses around Spain, Italy and Israel. His common subject areas are street dance, dance-theatre, scenic movement, movement improvisation, and acting for dancers. His pedagogy is holistic: among other things, it combines different movement techniques, acting, musicology, bodily and space awareness, and theoretical and practical approaches to performance and staging… looking forward to foster students’ creativity, consciousness and critical spirit to engender a reflection process about the relations between sound and movement, bodies and space/time, performers and audience, form and content… And, in the end, trying to understand the functional and poetical relation between arts and human experience of life. One of his most successful pedagogic offers has been the workshop “Dance, Funk & Seduction: a dramatic analysis of Locking as a social dance”.

As a performer, choreographer, coach or artistic director he has been involved in almost 30 shows —theatre, dance and dance-theatre, touring in Spain, France, Germany, Romania, Mexico and Chile—, and he works as a choreographer for TV programmes and commercials.

Graduated in Humanities, he also offers conferences about Hip Hop culture and street dances. :The last one, produced by the Mercat de les Flors of Barcelona, was entitled “Transmissions: a panoramic overview of Innovation in street dance history”.

Institute of the Arts Barcelona

Founded in 2013, the Institute of the Arts Barcelona is a dynamic institute uniquely positioned to offer international performing and recording arts higher education in Europe. Students from all over the world benefit from our top-level professional teaching staff and UK university validated education in a stunning location on the shores of the Mediterranean. Their rigorous, interdisciplinary and transformative programmes are specially designed to provide an intensive and well-rounded vocational education. They offer 1-year Foundation Certificates, 3 year BA (Hons) and 1 year MA Degrees in a variety of performing and recording arts disciplines.

Home

About the Degree

The BA (Hons) Degree in Musical Theatre is designed for individuals with passion, creativity, imagination who wish to undergo a highly vocational and professional training and education for a career in musical theatre. The musical theatre students have 3 years to develop as creative artists who work and thrive in multiple contexts and environments. As the programme progresses, students spend more time in rehearsals and the production of stage projects, as they get closer to graduating and entering the performing arts profession.