Songs from a Hotel Bedroom: It is 1949 in a stylish and sophisticated post-war New York. Cabaret singer Angélique (Frances Ruffelle) relives the memories of her brief but passionate love affair with songwriter Dan (Nigel Richards), reflecting upon how her life has changed through the highs and lows, their joys, ambitions, travels and separation. This exciting new piece of music theatre unfolds through the bittersweet love songs of Kurt Weill’s American repertoire (including September Song, Speak Low and I’m A Stranger Here Myself) and the sensuous mischief of tango dance. The show stars Frances Ruffelle and Nigel Richards. Frances is best known as the original Eponine in Les Miserables, for which she won a Tony Award, as well as for Chicago and Starlight Express. Nigel’s credits include Phantom of the Opera,  Martin Guerre and Spend, Spend, Spend. Also featuring dancers Tara Pilbrow and Amir Giles and a 7-piece live band led by Musical Director James Holmes. The production was conceived by choreographer Kate Flatt (Les Miserables; Doctor Faustus, Young Vic; Three Sisters, National Theatre -an associate artist of SEGUE and a Watford Palace Theatre Creative Associate) and is Directed and Written by Kate and Peter Rowe, Artistic Director of the New Wolsey Theatre. For all the latest production news join us on facebook. Performances Watford Palace Theatre | 14-16 October 2010 TICKETS New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich | 20-23 October 2010 TICKETS Linbury Theatre Royal Opera House | 4-6 November 2010 TICKETS Creative Team Written by Kate Flatt and Peter Rowe Director and Choreographer: Kate Flatt Dramaturg: Peter Rowe Music: Kurt Weill Musical Director and Arrangements: James Holmes Set and Costume Design: Chloe Lamford Lighting Design: Anna Watson Sound Design: Al Ashford Assistant Choreographer: Amir Giles Assitant MD/Repetiteur: Leon Charles Cast Angelique: Frances Ruffelle Dan: Nigel Richards Tango Dancers: Amir Giles & Tara Pilbrow Piano: James Holmes Drums: Clive Deamer Double Bass: Neil Charles Violin/Louis: Charlie Brown Saxophone/Clarinet/Flute: Dai Pritchard Steve Pretty: Trumpet Accordion: Romano Viazzani Production Team Executive Producer: Fiona Mason Production Manager: Matt Ledbury Sound Technician: James Maddison Costume Supervisor: Nicola Fitchett Touring Costume Assistant: Gretchen Luttmer Dialect Coach: Michaela Kennan French Coach: Nicole Tibbels Company Stage Manager: Jeff Rann DSM: Emma Hansford ASM: Naomi Brooks Assistant Producer: Genine Sumner Assistant to Kate Flatt: Sam Curtis Press enquiries: Judy Lipsey / Verity Walker - The Works PR judy @ theworkspr.com Tel: 020 7940 4686 Now accepting expressions of interest from mid-scale venues for furture touring 2011. For more information contact Fiona Mason on: 07957 571332 or email fiona @ segue.org.uk SEGUE gratefully acknowledges the support of Arts Council England, Watford Palace Theatre, The New Wolsey Theatre, Royal Opera House, Jacksons Lane. << BACK TO PRODUCTIONS << BACK TO ASSOCIATE ARTISTS: KATE FLATT << BACK TO WHAT'S ON << HOME     Musical Numbers The arrangements for the score for Songs from a Hotel Bedroom are drawn from Kurt Weill’s collaboration with some of the greatest American lyricists of the Broadway golden era. Other songs include Je Ne T'aime Pas (1934, Maurice Magre). The dance arrangements are of the Tango Habanera Youkali (1935) and Tango Angèle from Der Zar Lässt Sich Photographieren (1927, Georg Kaiser). From Lady In The Dark (1941, Ira Gershwin) This Is New One Life To Live From The Firebrand Of Florence (1945, Ira Gershwin) Sing Me Not A Ballad You’re Far Too Near Me A Rhyme For Angela Love Is My Enemy From One Touch Of Venus (1943, Ogden Nash) Vive La Différence Foolish Heart Speak Low I’m A Stranger Here Myself Westwind From Johnny Johnson (1936, Paul Green, Edward Heyman) To Love You And To Lose You From Knickerbocker Holiday (1938, Maxwell Anderson) September Song It Never Was You From Love Life (1948, Alan J Lerner) Here I’ll Stay Reviews What's on Stage **** Venue: Watford Palace Theatre Date Reviewed: 14 October 2010 - by Anne Morley-Priestman The story is a new one, yet it’s as old as telling tales itself. Boy meets girl in the aftermath of conflict. They are separated, come together in another place at another time, are separated yet again, meet again… Songs From a Hotel Bedroom is music theatre in its widest sense, with the stage numbers of Kurt Weill punctuating the action and with the two main characters – chanteuse Angélique and songwriter Dan – having tango dancers as alter-egos shadowing their passion. Weill’s lyricists were a starry bunch – Ira Gershwin, Ogden Nash and Maxwell Anderson among them. Peter Rowe’s linking dialogue fits th new yet old story very well and director/choreographer Kate Flatt welds the two couples into something more disturbing than a mere decorative echoing. Chloe Lamford’s sets move seamlessly between a succession of slightly sordid hotel bedrooms to a recording studio and a New York nightclub while the seven-strong band is both a backdrop to the forestage action and an integral part of its drama. Frances Ruffelle is moving as the French girl trying to pick up her life after the traumas of Occupation and Libération. She makes much of probably Weill’s best-known composition from his Broadway years – “September Song”. Tara Pilbrow is her dancing reflection and perhaps also an illumination of her troubled soul. Nigel Richards plays Dan with the right sense of burning ambition, something which consumes as well as illuminates. Amir Giles suggests the potential for menace and selfishness as well as the controlled skill underlining both these characters. The Stage - Songs from a Hotel Bedroom Published Friday 15 October 2010 at 13:59 by John Thaxter Kate Flatt’s stylish staging, set in various New York hotels and rehearsal rooms in the late forties, perfectly matches the Segue company’s creative aim to promote music-led cross-art performances. It brings Kurt Weill’s melodic Broadway gems back to vibrant theatrical life, set against a tender tale of mature love won and tragically lost, plus a youthful tango pairing to explore the sensuous undertow. Highlights include a cabaret September Song and fresh, superb renderings of This is New and One Life to Live that Gertie Lawrence once made her own. Weill himself collaborated with the cream of Broadway talent and it has to be said that the bittersweet lyrics of Ira Gershwin, Ogden Nash and Maxwell Anderson (among others) are the driving force both for the harmonic line and the emotions here shared by nightclub chanteuse Angelique and her lover Dan, an ambitious tunesmith. Portrayed by chic song belter Frances Ruffelle and lyric tenor Nigel Richards - both with impressive musical theatre credits - the stage chemistry is strong and one longs for their characters to end up happily ever after. But at the first public performance their vocal talents seemed at cross-purposes - his warm, open-throated delivery fills the theatre in solo moments, while her soaring voice dominated all their duets. Perhaps the body-mic balance needs adjustment and at times one is overly aware of the amplification. Each time a moment of bedroom passion comes into play, the action passes to the slender young dancers Amir Giles and Tara Pilbrow in carefully choreographed tango sequences. But the evening’s best moments involve MD James Holmes as onstage pianist, with a sextet of seasoned musicians and an air of informal joy in the music, happily shared with the singers and with us. East Anglian Daily Times: Songs from a Hotel Bedroom  - a Segue Production by Kate Flatt and Peter Rowe. Reviewed at Watford Palace Theatre 16th October. Production at New Wolsey Theatre 20th-23rd October - Suzanne Hawkes I was immensely impressed with this little gem of a show when it premiered as a work in progress during the  2009 Pulse Festival, so I was looking forward to seeing how it had developed. Songs from a Hotel Bedroom is a collaboration between ex ballet professional turned writer Kate Flatt, New Wolsey Director Peter Rowe and musician James Holmes, weaving together the music of 30 ‘s songwriter Kurt Weill, (September Song, It Never was You), the expressive moves of the Tango and the story of two artists caught in a passionate affair that neither can control. This sensual combination is brought together with sophistication, style and sexual chemistry by Frances Ruffelle and Nigel Richards as the lovers, Amir Giles and Tara Pilbrow as the tango dancers and a seven piece band led by James himself. The set is simple – the band stretch across the back of the stage, a bed takes up the space in front. The story starts with a letter and as the drama of this on/off relationship of passion and pain begins to unfold, so the dancers shadow the emotional struggle  between  singer Angelique and struggling song writer Dan. Frances Ruffelle makes the most of her cabaret style voice to put across the raw emotion of someone forever unsure of where she stands in a relationship full of goodbyes. Nigel Richards has just enough presence to make the relationship believable. The dancers are exquisite and the musicians superb. This is not a musical, more a drama with music and dance in the style of Sondheim but far more accessible. Each scene combines the power of Weill’s songs with the steamy moves of the Tango to underline the drama being played out between the lovers against the backdrop of post war America   Don’t be expecting anything too shocking - the bedroom scenes are tasteful and stylish rather than explicit –the passion is described in the dance, the emotion explored in the songs. My only criticism were with the voile curtains and large movable wooden flats used to  facilitate scene changes . Although some action still continues behind them, I thought them an unnecessary irritation which interrupted the flow of the piece and cut the audience off at important emotional highs. However, this is still a sensuous feast of a production, which has improved in the lengthening without loosing any of the intensity. A must for anyone who loves intelligent and innovative theatre. Mark Shenton's Twitter feed: @ShentonStage SONGS FROM A HOTEL BEDROOM is a bold, stylistically interesting piece of artful musical theatre, but it never feels effortful. 3:10 PM Oct 15th via TweetDeck Frances Ruffelle, who this summer did a stunning solo cabaret show in Edinburgh, now plays a different sort of cabaret chanteuse here. 3:08 PM Oct 15th via TweetDeck Smart, elegant & sophisticated, SONGS FROM A HOTEL BEDROOM threads a dreamlike canvas of movement through the songs via 2 dancers. 3:07 PM Oct 15th via TweetDeck Just back from Watford to see Frances Ruffelle & Nigel Richards in SONGS FROM A HOTEL BEDROOM, a stylish, wistful Weill song cycle. 3:05 PM Oct 15th via TweetDeck Matthew Linley Blog: On the way into the Watford Palace Theatre you can’t move for publicity for Our House – the Madness Musical. Its a reminder that Songs from a Hotel Bedroom is part of the recent wave of ‘mash-up’ musicals that wrap a story around existing material. The difference here, though, is the music! No Madness, no proclaimers, certainly no Boy George and not even a Freddie Mercury in site. There isn’t a hint of Elton John and Ben Elton is (thankfully) conspicious in his absence. Instead we get the bitter sweet but ever so rich sound world of Kurt Weil’s American period where he collaborated with some of the greatest American lyricists of the Broadway Golden era (Ira Gershwin, Ogden Nash, Alan J Lerner et al). Like most musicals of this type the story is light and somewhat forced. I never really found myself empathasing with Angelique (a singer) and Dan (a song writer) whose doomed love affair forms the basis of the plot. Summer with Monica this is not – but who cares when the music is this good!