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Finally ! and not before time we hear you say we launch Season 2 of StageDoorCast.  Well we have been waiting for things to perk up and today we talk Carousel at Regents Park Open Air Theatre,  South Pacific at Chichester Festival Theatre as well as a discussion about when does re-imagining a show actually create a completely new piece of work. BIG WARNING !!! THIS EPISODE CONTAINS SPOILERS. If you are waiting to see either of the above maybe wait until you have seen them and then join the conversation. Mail us : [email protected] or join our Facebook Group and send us messages that way.  Please tell your friends about us and send ideas for future shows.

It's our Christmas Show!  And the official end of Season 1. No show reviews this time but a discussion about how we can restart our lives after the Pandemic and how our beloved Musical Theatre comes back to us.  Richard shares some of his Christmas activities and Cliff recalls a cinema visit a lifetime ago. Plus we chat about what to look forward to over the Christmas period. Season 2 will start as soon as we can see a sign that Theatre can get up and running again. When that will be is anyone's guess but let's hope for early Spring. From us all at StageDoorCast have a very happy and restful holiday break.  Please stay safe. Why not spend some time listening to our back catalogue?  It will keep you out of mischief! Please tell your friends about us and leave a review on Apple podcasts, it would help us greatly grow the show. Ideas and comments always happily received at  [email protected]

We're half way through "Lockdown Two The Sequel", so we turn our attention to what is available as streamed content and review three recent offerings and we have suggestions for more. We think about the possibilities that may come if an effective vaccine is available and look forward to a time when real theatre is available to us all again. Cliff is brave enough to mention the C word as our next show will be early in December and we talk about the sad loss of Bobby Ball and Des O Conner who both graced the Traditional Panto stage in the past.

Richard and Cliff are thinking about tiers this week and talking about allocation of much needed funds to artistic organisations. They look back at the long life of Herbert Kretzmer acclaimed songwriter, and best known perhaps as the lyricist for Les Miserables although his artistic output is far greater than simply that, and discuss the exciting news about the Les Mis Concert being staged in London over the Christmas period, although sadly even at the time of recording tickets are sold out.  There is news of a new appointment, and Richard reviews live streams from the Crazy Coqs. We also preview a couple of forthcoming shows there which you can also book as live streams.  As always please send news and views to us: [email protected] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Kretzmer https://www.brasseriezedel.com/crazy-coqs/

We are back with a bang and we are delighted to welcome as our special guest Susie Winkworth. Susie is a professional Cellist and Arranger whose tweet streams over the past couple of weeks @winkmusicuk  have garnered more than 75 thousand shares and retweets and highlight perfectly the dilemma facing the creative sector and it's mostly freelance staff of world class performers and technicians.  Susie joins us to discuss the current situation and tell us about an initiative on 6th October "Let Music Live" which is worthy of all our support. You can find more information about this on Instagram and Twitter @letmusicliveuk Also check out Sonia Friedman's response on this at: https://www.soniafriedman.com/news-press/sonia-friedman-comments-on-the-chancellors-announcement-on-thursday-24th-september-2020 The Cinderella Lockdown supercut is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3VLhrlw5cA Magic with the Musicals is here: https://planetradio.co.uk/magic-with-the-musicals/player/316084/ Richard also manages to bring us a review and we talk about the next few months and how Theatre and Music is going to come back. Do check out Susie on Twitter and please share with us your stories and experiences of being in a creative role during lockdown. As always email us : [email protected] We will be back in two weeks with more news and views. See you then!

We are still in lockdown, well mostly, so we present another special and yes eagle eyed listeners will notice that Episode 26 appears to have gone missing in action but in truth we started production on that a few weeks ago and couldn't get logistics sorted so Episode 27 it is! We review all of the current news theatrical and beyond with regard to the current crisis, discuss how we are going to get back to normality and we are delighted to welcome as our Special Guest Alistair Woodgate of Green Room Productions to talk about the impact lockdown has had on amateur theatre and the prospects going forwards.

So while you are socially distancing and responsibly going out for your daily exercise may we present just about thirty minutes for your listening pleasure. We talk about the challenges that are facing the theatre world both now and in the future as hopefuly we emerge from the Corona crisis, We reflect on the problems for the amateur theatre business in the week when most spring seasons would be starting and we think about how the future might look in a few months. We also talk about the wide range of theatrical offerings now available online including the Les Mis concert and pick up on some news items from the week. The Stage Link: https://www.thestage.co.uk/long-reads/the-50-best-stage-shows-to-stream-right-now-musicals We will return with our "One Year Anniversary Show" in a few weeks! Watch this space!

We're in lockdown so from our respective locations we bring you a quick news update.  And we need your help. We want to do a special show next time and we need a good subject being as news and reviews are currently non existent. Send your ideas and suggestions to us at [email protected] And stay safe ! Cliff and Rich

As you can imagine things are now a bit different here at StageDoorCast HQ but we are doing our best to bring you a show with news, views and something hopefully to take your mind off the troubles that we are all currently facing. So with appropriate Social Distancing we carry on with a couple of reviews, some news and opinion and thoughts on the future. We will return with a planned recording on April Fools day and we hope you all keep safe and well until then. Don't forget "Wash Your Hands" Best wishes Cliff and Richard https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Normally when I write these show notes I try and find a silly joke for the title but this really is a serious reflection on the state of UK Musical Theatre. Richard brings us several reviews, we talk about the sad demise of what was meant to meant to be a bright new shining light and our talking point is the end of the Epic Musical! As always we are really interested to hear your views, email us at: [email protected] And a small request, if you listen to us via Apple Podcasts it would really help if you would consider leaving a small review as it helps others find our podcast, thank you. Our next recording is on 18th March slightly later than our normal fortnightly service owing to work issues, apologies. The link to The Stage article about the decline in 2019 is here https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2020/west-end-theatregoing-dips-in-2019-due-to-dark-theatres-and-renovations/

Despite the possibility of Richard's Coffee machine intruding onto our recording, we return fearless as ever with a true miscellany of news and view and a couple of reviews for your listening pleasure. We travel to Wembley Park for "The Wedding Singer" and Dunstable for "Buddy The Musical", now in it's 30th year. We cover casting news for "Hairspray", "The Last Five Years" and much more and bring news of Ball and Boe and the chance to catch them in the Cinema if you can't get along to the O2. We also preview the 'Whats On Stage Awards" Our talking point is Juke Box Musicals and where they stand in Musical Theatre generally, listen to us and send in your views to [email protected] Finally we have a recommendation for a new show, "Fires Our Shoes Have Made", a challenging subject and story but very highly recommended which can be seen on March 15th as part of the Camden Peoples Theatre 25th Anniversary Celebrations. A booking link can be found here: https://www.cptheatre.co.uk/production/fires-our-shoes-have-made/

It's been a funny old fortnight but we struggle on for your listening pleasure.  Cliff discusses 'Cats" the Movie which he has finally been to see, is it puurfect! or pawfull? Richard brings us a veritable feast of reviews including "Rags" "Freaky Friday" and a cabaret night from Andy Coxon, and we discuss lots of news including the many mishaps that have befallen "Les Mis" even before it's official opening and similar problems for "Waitress" involving extreme measures, and much much more.  We preview West End Live, look at some lists of best shows for last year, which may surprise you but we will explain and try to shed some light. Another movie adaptation is on the cards and Sheridan Smith returns with a Stage Version of a recent TV Hit. We also discuss funding of original new musicals prompted by this article in the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jan/22/british-musicals-at-risk-without-subsidies-like-other-theatre Let us know your views on this. Do you agree with our conclusions? Send mail to: [email protected]