Newfound Hope Songs concert to feature West End stars in support of NHS Charities Together
Adam Blanshay Productions has announced a new fundraising initiative involving West End stars.
With theatres currently in lockdown, many stars of the West End stage are getting creative at home with concerts, workshops, classes and clips for theatregoers, for their local communities, and in appreciation of key workers in the NHS and front-line services.
Honouring this creativity, Adam Blanshay Productions have announced Newfound Hope Songs with the goal of uniting some of theatreland’s musical theatre performers and commissioning them to write and collaborate on new songs that move us, uplift us, inspire us, and entertain.
They will premiere their Newfound Hope Songs alongside other musical-theatre classics from hit productions past and present at a very special gala concert,
Accompanied by a live orchestra, these brand new songs will be orchestrated and conducted by the project’s co-conceiver and musical supervisor, international composer Matthew Brind.
A date and venue for the concert will be announced in due course once theatres open.
Stars already committed include Shan Ako (Les Miserables, The X Factor) John Dagleish (Olivier Award-winner for Sunny Afternoon), Kerry Ellis (We Will Rock You, Wicked, Oliver!), David Hunter (Kinky Boots, Once, Waitress), Cassidy Janson (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Leading Ladies, & Juliet), Rachel John (Hamilton, Memphis, The Bodyguard) Lucie Jones (Waitress, Eurovision Song Contest, Les Miserables), Josh Piterman (The Phantom of the Opera, Hairspray, The Ten Tenors), Joshua St. Clair (City of Angels, Kinky Boots, Wicked), and Jodie Steele (SIX, Heathers, Rock of Ages).
You can sign up at www.adamblanshay.com/nhsongs for more information and priority booking.
All proceeds from this gala concert will be split evenly between the participating artists and the NHS Charities Together which unites more than 230 NHS charities across the UK, providing vital funds to hospitals, mental health trusts, community health trusts and ambulance trusts in support of major capital projects, pioneering research, medical equipment and much more.
Producer, Adam Blanshay said: “The live-entertainment world has been forced into standstill unlike any one has ever witnessed before. Despite this uncertainty and fear, we have been moved by many in the theatre community pulling together and taking to social media, offering their talent to help support the minds and souls of others and expressing their gratitude for those on the front line.
“With Newfound Hope Songs we hope honour this good will, unite musical theatre talent, and inspire song-writing creativity during this time of reflection. In support of NHS Charities Together and participating performers, we are committed to staging this new work at a charity gala when theatres are able to reopen their doors, in what promises to be an uplifting and inspirational evening of fun, music, laughter and love.
“My hope is that after the concert, these songs will live on to be sung far and wide by theatre fans alike, continuing to instil hope in people, and enabling people to look back at something positive that came out of the lockdown period.”
Ellie Orton, the CEO of NHS Charities Together added: “The message of hope in this initiative is so important at the moment, we need that hope and to have events like this to look forward to. It’s fantastic that at the same time it will raise funds to support NHS staff, volunteers and patients and deliver its own bit of hope to them.”