MYTHS AND HYMNS

The European Premiere of a song cycle by Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Adam Guettel.
Directed by Tom Cooper. Musical Supervision by Mark Collins. Musical Direction by Joe Hood. Designed by Mike Lees. Movement Direction by Mark Civil.
Cast: Craig Purnell. Caroline Sheen. Leon Craig. Ashleigh Gray. Hazel Holder. David Randall.
Presented by Oystercatcher in association with the Finborough Theatre.

Sundays, 22 and 29 April; Sunday, 6 May 2007
with additional performances added on Monday, 30 April and Monday, 7 May 2007

A top West End cast in the European premiere of Myths and Hymns, a song cycle by America’s hottest new composer Adam Guettel.

Originally produced by the Public Theater / New York Shakespeare Festival in 1998, Myths and Hymns interweaves stories from Greek mythology with lyrics from an 1886 Presbyterian hymnal that the composer unearthed in a second-hand bookshop, creating a modern-day song cycle which journeys from the spare classicism of 19th century New England puritanism, through romantic art song, to Latin, gospel and R&B.

Lyrically inventive, complex and meaningful, this modern-day song cycle explores some very personal yet universal preoccupations: ambition, death, the breakdown of relationships, and ideas about heaven, hell and gods old and new. Myths and Hymns paints an emotional, sometimes harsh, but beautiful landscape of faith and yearning. This is explosive, dynamic and challenging musical theatre.

Adam Guettel's latest work, The Light in the Piazza, won six 2006 Tony Awards for its Broadway production, including the award for Best Score. His first musical, Floyd Collins, had its critically-acclaimed UK Premiere at The Bridewell in 1999. The son of Mary Rodgers and grandson of Richard Rodgers, Guettel has been called ‘the new Sondheim’ by the New York Times.

Craig Purnell ’s many credits include Oklahoma! (National Theatre and West End), Martin Guerre and Oliver! (West End), The Secret Garden (RSC), Company, Sweeney Todd, and Macbeth (Derby Playhouse), Sunday in the Park with George (Leicester Haymarket), The Cutting Edge (Donmar Warehouse), and Songs for A New World and Adam Guettel’s Floyd Collins (The Bridewell). Caroline Sheen returns to the Finborough Theatre after appearing in Grant Olding's Three Sides which went on to play in New York. Her appearances include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Les Miserables and The Witches of Eastwick (West End), A Funny Thing Happened... (National Theatre), Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse) and Mark Ravenhill’s Dick Whittington (Barbican). Leon Craig played Montel/Jesus in Jerry Springer the Opera (West End/BBC2), and was semi-finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Voice of Musical Theatre last year . Ashleigh Gray appeared in Notes from New York (West End), UK tours of Taboo and Grease, and NHS the Musical (Plymouth Theatre Royal). Hazel Holder’s many credits include Sleeping Beauty (Young Vic/Barbican/Broadway), The Tempest (RSC), and the title role in Mercy Fine (Clean Break). Hazel is lead vocalist for Ronnie Scott's Rejects and also regularly appears with vocal ensembles The Shout and the Helen Chadwick Group. David Randall appeared in the UK tours of Salad Days, Fame and Fiddler on the Roof and directed the highly-acclaimed Notes from New York series, the West End platform showcasing contemporary musical theatre, at the Arts Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Apollo Theatre, Duchess Theatre and Trafalgar Studios.

Director Tom Cooper's previous work includes Brecht's rarely performed The Visions of Simone Machard at Hackney Empire and on tour, Dead Woman's Music by Michael Ayers at the Arcola Theatre, Judith by Howard Barker at the Pleasance Theatre, L'Antologia di Spoon River for the Rapallo Festival Italy, The Watershed Series of new work in development at the Union Theatre, and his own adaptation of The Trojan Women at the Edinburgh Festival. Assistant Directing includes Flavio for the Early Opera Company at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and on tour, and Emma for the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke.

Musical Supervisor Mark Collins trained in voice and composition at Cardiff University, and gained his MA in Composing for Film, Television and Theatre from the University of Bristol. A professional Musical Director, pianist and vocal coach, he is also a published composer of film scores and audio books under his company newSense Music Productions. In March 2004 he made his West End debut at the Donmar Warehouse playing for Notes From New York, the West End platform for contemporary US musical theatre, and appeared in all four subsequent productions at the Arts Theatre, Trafalgar Studios, and recently the Duchess Theatre. Other recent productions as Musical Director include I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (Olympus Theatre), The Witches Of Eastwick (Bristol Hippodrome), Parade (Redgrave Theatre), the UK Premiere of Side Show (QEH, Bristol) and Nikolai Foster's production of Oliver! (Courtyard, Hereford). Mark was also MD for Phantom of the Opera star Peter Karrie's last UK tour. For television, Mark was vocal coach, pianist and musical director/arranger on the Andrew Lloyd Webber/BBC show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? Mark was Musical Director for Singin' In The Rain back at the Courtyard, Hereford, and after a succesful run at the Finborough in London, Mark was MD and orchestrator for the US Premiere of Grant Olding's Three Sides at the 45th Street Theatre in New York. He was most recently MD/Arranger for City Of Angels at the English Theatre, Frankfurt. www.new-sense.co.uk

The Press on Myths and Hymns in its New York production
“Fearlessly blurs the line between art song and pop, between opera and musical comedy” New York Post.
“Gabriel Fauré meets Stevie Wonder, Caetano Veloso embraces Earth, Wind and Fire…” John Simon, New York Times.
“Guettel flexes his musical muscles and demonstrates a keen ability to develop melodies that are fresh, contemporary, interesting and inventive, and that also convey a strong sense of meaning. Covering a wide range of styles, they soar, they glide, they tease, they excite.” CurtainUp.

The Press on Tom Cooper’s previous productions
“Beautiful, intelligent, moving… expertly nuanced performances… the kind of gem of a discovery that makes the Fringe a worthwhile experience…” *****Five Stars Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times on The Trojan Women
“An extraordinary success…truly experimental, truly international, truly effective theatre”
Margherita Rubino, La Repubblica on L’Antologia di Spoon River

The Press on Myths and Hymns
“The opportunity to see Myths and Hymns, a 1998 song cycle first seen at New York’s Public Theatre as Saturn Returns, has to be seized.” Mark Shenton, The Stage

“A perfect way to spend a Sunday (or Monday) evening” David Munro, IndieLondon

“This is musical theatre that is challenging, compelling and compulsive”
Mark Shenton, The Stage

“A thoroughly delightful evening’s entertainment” David Munro, IndieLondon

“The fiercely committed cast of Tom Cooper’s production” Mark Shenton, The Stage

“One of the most rewarding experiences you can have.” Mark Shenton, The Stage

“[Adam Guettel] may yet revolutionise the musical theatre in the same way that his granddad [Richard Rodgers] once did.” Mark Shenton, The Stage

“In an age of the jukebox musical, originality is in desperately short supply both in the West End and on Broadway; but one of the most distinctive voices to emerge in the last few years is that of Adam Guettel” Mark Shenton, The Stage

“There is an astonishing intelligence and physicality to complement robust musical voices throughout” Mark Shenton, The Stage

“Beautifully performed by a cast of six” David Munro, IndieLondon

“Craig Purnell anchors the piece with a burning intensity”
Mark Shenton, The Stage

“Lovely Caroline Sheen brings a delicious comic grace to How Can I Lose You?”
Mark Shenton, The Stage

“David Randall here reveals a terrific voice and a musical dexterity that also has him playing flute and soprano saxophone.” Mark Shenton, The Stage

“In the close-up quarters of the Finborough - with the audience in just two or three rows on either side of a traverse stage - it acquires an extraordinary intimacy.”
Mark Shenton, The Stage

Performed by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited on behalf of
R & H Theatricals of New York