New musical For Tonight to make London cabaret debut at Spotlight On New Musicals

New musical For Tonight will make its London cabaret debut at the Union Theatre in January.

The piece will feature as part of Paper House Productions’ Spotlight On New Musicals on 23rd January 2022.

As well as For Tonight, the show will feature emerging musical theatre writers and musicals including Summer Survival, Bird Brigade, Is He Musical?, Plan Bea, and the music of Sam Thomas. It is musically directed by Josh Cottell with Luke Adam on guitar, and hosted by West End Star, Luke Bayer.

The For Tonight cast will include: Joey Cornish, Kyle Birth, Maya Kristal Tenebaum, Sophie Bassett-Hughes, Sophie Lee-Stevens and Zac Frieze.

Other cast members performing on the night include Aitch Wylie, Ben Armstrong, Bibi Jay, Cassius Hackforth, Ceri-Anne Thomas, Conor Headley, Emily Shelton, Joely Colleen Emms, Madelin Roberts, Shane Whitley, Sophie Houldsworth, Stephanie Howlett, Stephanie McKenzie and Tom Holt.

For Tonight is a new, original, musical inspired by the writer’s third great grandfather’s handwritten journal. The story begins in 1832, in a small town in North Wales where a Romani family travels through town, finding shelter on the farm of the Parry family.

Soon after their arrival, the Parry parents die from an unknown disease and the Romani travelers are forced to go into hiding after being blamed for bringing “filth and death” to Trelawnyd.

Through a riveting score, the atmospheric soundscape blends traditional Welsh choral, indie-pop, folk, and Romani-inspired melodies and rhythms. At its core, For Tonight is an exploration of the power and meaning of home through the lens of two unheard cultures in musical theatre: Welsh and Romani.

For Tonight has music and lyrics by Shenelle Salcido and Spencer Williams, orchestrations by Shenelle Salcido and Joseph Purdue, with additional arrangements by Drew Wutke, Welsh music ensemble direction by Iestyn Griffiths and Romani script consultancy by Raine Geoghegan.

You can listen to a recently released concept album, produced by Blair Russell, on all digital platforms (Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon etc) now.

Tickets for Spotlight On New Musicals are on sale on The Union Theatre’s website.

Writer Spencer Williams said: “We are so excited to collaborate with Paper House Productions and Sam Caldwell to bring For Tonight to London for the first time. It’s been a dream of ours to bring this UK-based story to audiences and what better way to introduce the material with new and upcoming writers and performers.

“We hope that this is the beginning of our journey in London as we hope to have a development workshop and concert in summer of 2022.”