Inside The West End Podcast

In our 30th episode we chat to George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, aka Stiles & Drewe. Stiles and Drewe are a multi award-winning musical theatre writing partnership. Writing credits include Honk! (National Theatre, UK Tour and Worldwide), Mary Poppins (West End, Broadway, International and currently on UK Tour), Cameron Mackintosh's new version of Half A Sixpence (Chicester Festival Theatre and West End), The Wind in The Willows (UK Tour and opening at The London Palladium 2017), Betty Blue Eyes (West End and UK Tour), Just So (Tricycle Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and International), Peter Pan - A Musical Adventure (West Yorkshire Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Royal Festival Hall and International), Soho Cinders (Soho Theatre and in concert at Queen's Theatre), The Three Little Pigs (West End, UK Tour and International Tour), Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Singapore Repertory Theatre), and The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Singapore Repertory Theatre). Future projects include a stage version of Robert Harling's film Soapdish, and a new musical with director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell. Awards include the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical for Honk!, three of the top prizes at the Musical of the Year Awards for Peter Pan and The Three Musketeers, the TMA Best Musical Award (Moll Flanders), The Straits Times Award for Best Musical (A Twist of Fate) and the first ever Vivian Ellis Prize (Just So). Mary Poppins has won 45 major theatre awards around the globe including Tony, Olivier, Helpmann and London Evening Standard Awards. Laurence Olivier nominations and Mary Poppins and Betty Blue Eyes. Stiles and Drewe's passion for new musical theatre writing is recognised via the annual Stiles and Drewe Prize for Best New Song, now in its 9th year, and their new Mentorship Award supported by Musical Theatre International (Europe). They are also founding board members of Mercury Musical Developments (MMD), Associate Artists at The Watermill Theatre and patrons of the London Musical Theatre Orchestra. We give you this podcast completely free. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to help us make future episodes then: 1. Visit: insidethewestend.com 2. Click on the donate button at the top of the home page. 3. Make a contribution and help us keep the show going. 4. DO YOUR AMAZON SHOP VIA OUR WEBSITE! Head to insidethewestend.com click on any of the Amazon adverts, it will redirect you to Amazon as normal, your shopping will cost you exactly the same as normal but Amazon will give us a small kick back on any of your purchases as a thank you. 5. SUBSCRIBE to our podcast and they will automatically appear on your device ready for you to listen to. Please tell your friends about our show and share it on social media so that we can continue to inspire others, just like you! The more listeners we have the easier it is to secure guests, so keep sharing every week! -Follow us on Twitter @InsideWestEnd -Like our page on Facebook "Inside the West End Podcast" - Follow us on Instagram @insidethewestendpodcast

Prepare to be inspired! This week we speak to the man who turned a 15 minute skit, originally made to entertain a queue of people waiting to buy a book, into an Olivier nominated, critically acclaimed and world touring production! We are of course chatting to Co-creator of 'Potted Potter', 'Potted Panto' and 'Potted Sherlock, Dan Clarkson. This Christmas the Olivier nominated 'Potted Panto' returns to the West End and we hear all about how the hilarious 'Potted' world all came about! We give you this podcast completely free. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to help us make future episodes then: 1. Visit: insidethewestend.com 2. Click on the donate button at the top of the home page. 3. Make a contribution and help us keep the show going. 4. DO YOUR AMAZON SHOP VIA OUR WEBSITE! Head to insidethewestend.com click on any of the Amazon adverts, it will redirect you to Amazon as normal, your shopping will cost you exactly the same as normal but Amazon will give us a small kick back on any of your purchases as a thank you. 5. SUBSCRIBE to our podcast and they will automatically appear on your device ready for you to listen to. Please tell your friends about our show and share it on social media so that we can continue to inspire others, just like you! The more listeners we have the easier it is to secure guests, so keep sharing every week! -Follow us on Twitter @InsideWestEnd -Like our page on Facebook "Inside the West End Podcast" - Follow us on Instagram @insidethewestendpodcast

This week we chat to Maggie Patterson, Principle of Pineapple Performing Arts School and Ballet Teacher at Pineapple Dance Studios. Maggie gives us a brilliant insight into life inside one of the most iconic Arts institutions in the industry, as well as her incredibly inspiring route to setting up her performing arts school there. We give you this podcast completely free. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to help us make future episodes then: 1. Visit: insidethewestend.com 2. Click on the donate button at the top of the home page. 3. Make a contribution and help us keep the show going. 4. DO YOUR AMAZON SHOP VIA OUR WEBSITE! Head to insidethewestend.com click on any of the Amazon adverts, it will redirect you to Amazon as normal, your shopping will cost you exactly the same as normal but Amazon will give us a small kick back on any of your purchases as a thank you. 5. SUBSCRIBE to our podcast and they will automatically appear on your device ready for you to listen to. Please tell your friends about our show and share it on social media so that we can continue to inspire others, just like you! The more listeners we have the easier it is to secure guests, so keep sharing every week! -Follow us on Twitter @InsideWestEnd -Like our page on Facebook "Inside the West End Podcast"

In this episode we chat to actor David Fynn, the leading man from Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest hit West End musical, 'School of Rock'! David's acting career has been incredibly varied, from performing at theatres such as 'The National Theatre' and 'The Donmar Warehouse', to appearing in hit television shows such as 'The Inbetweeners', 'Sherlock', 'Game of Thrones', 'Doctor Who' and most notably the hit US NBC sit-com 'Undateable'. Having been based in Los Angeles for the last three years, David is now back in London to open 'School of Rock' following the show's huge success on Broadway. So, during rehearsals, Rob headed down to the show's new West End home, The New London Theatre, and was kindly invited into David's dressing room for the chat! We give you this podcast completely free. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to help us make future episodes then: 1. Visit: insidethewestend.com 2. Click on the donate button at the top of the home page. 3. Make a contribution and help us keep the show going. 4. DO YOUR AMAZON SHOP VIA OUR WEBSITE! Head to insidethewestend.com click on any of the Amazon adverts, it will redirect you to Amazon as normal, your shopping will cost you exactly the same as normal but Amazon will give us a small kick back on any of your purchases as a thank you. 5. SUBSCRIBE to our podcast and they will automatically appear on your device ready for you to listen to. Please tell your friends about our show and share it on social media so that we can continue to inspire others, just like you! The more listeners we have the easier it is to secure guests, so keep sharing every week! -Follow us on Twitter @InsideWestEnd -Like our page on Facebook "Inside the West End Podcast"

This week we speak to top theatre critic and arts journalist Mark Shenton! Mark is a theatre critic, commentator and interviewer. He writes regularly for The Stage (including a daily blog), where he is an Associate Editor and also joint lead theatre critic. He also reviews for London Theatre Guide and is London correspondent for Playbill.com, for whom he writes daily news stories. He has conducted public platform interviews at the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and Stratford East Theatre Royal. He is also currently chairman of the drama section of the Critic's Circle. So basically, in terms of arts journalists, Mark is as prolific as it gets! This episode was made because of you! A number of people messaged us on Twitter requesting an interview with a theatre critic, so here it is. If you want to hear from any one else in the industry then tweet us @insidewestend ! We give you this podcast completely free. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to help us make future episodes then: 1. Visit: insidethewestend.com 2. Click on the donate button at the top of the home page. 3. Make a contribution and help us keep the show going. 4. DO YOUR AMAZON SHOP VIA OUR WEBSITE! Head to insidethewestend.com click on any of the Amazon adverts, it will redirect you to Amazon as normal, your shopping will cost you exactly the same as normal but Amazon will give us a small kick back on any of your purchases as a thank you. 5. SUBSCRIBE to our podcast and they will automatically appear on your device ready for you to listen to. Please tell your friends about our show and share it on social media so that we can continue to inspire others, just like you! The more listeners we have the easier it is to secure guests, so keep sharing every week! -Follow us on Twitter @InsideWestEnd -Like our page on Facebook "Inside the West End Podcast"

This week we chat to the 'Wig Mistress' on the West End musical 'Motown', Katie Marson. We tweeted our followers asking what you would like to hear on upcoming episodes and we were inundated by people requesting more chats with the people working behind the scenes on West End shows. This episode was made because of you! If you want to hear from any one else in the industry then tweet us @insidewestend ! We give you this podcast completely free. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to help us make future episodes then: 1. Visit: insidethewestend.com 2. Click on the donate button at the top of the home page. 3. Make a contribution and help us keep the show going. 4. DO YOUR AMAZON SHOP VIA OUR WEBSITE! Head to insidethewestend.com click on any of the Amazon adverts, it will redirect you to Amazon as normal, your shopping will cost you exactly the same as normal but Amazon will give us a small kick back on any of your purchases as a thank you. 5. SUBSCRIBE to our podcast and they will automatically appear on your device ready for you to listen to. Please tell your friends about our show and share it on social media so that we can continue to inspire others, just like you! The more listeners we have the easier it is to secure guests, so keep sharing every week! -Follow us on Twitter @InsideWestEnd -Like our page on Facebook "Inside the West End Podcast"

This week we speak to one of the most influential people in musical theatre, Nigel Wright. Nigel has been Andrew Lloyd Webber's eyes and ears on pretty much all of his work since the early 90's. From orchestrating his shows to producing all of his cast recordings and movie soundtracks, Nigel's musical influence is impressively vast! We would go so far as to say that there is not a single listener who wouldn't have heard his work at some point! We give you this podcast completely free. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to help us make future episodes then: 1. Visit: insidethewestend.com 2. Click on the donate button at the top of the home page 3. Make a contribution and help us keep the show going 4. DO YOUR AMAZON SHOP VIA OUR WEBSITE! Head to insidethewestend.com click on any of the Amazon adverts, it will redirect you to Amazon as normal, your shopping will cost you exactly the same as normal but Amazon will give us a small kick back on any of your purchases as a thank you. 5. SUBSCRIBE to our podcast and they will automatically appear on your device ready for you to listen to. Please tell your friends about our show and share it on social media so that we can continue to inspire others, just like you! The more listeners we have the easier it is to secure guests, so keep sharing every week! -Follow us on Twitter @InsideWestEnd -Like our page on Facebook "Inside the West End Podcast"

This week we chat to the legend that is Gary Wilmot! Gary started his career performing comedy routines and stand up in the working men's clubs of the UK. After an appearance on the TV talent show 'New Faces', Gary shortly became a house hold name on UK television, comedy and subsequently West End Theatre. With numerous roles and productions under his belt, Gary really is a true veteran of the industry. We give you this podcast completely free. If you've enjoyed it and you'd like to help us make future episodes then: 1. Visit: insidethewestend.com 2. Click on the donate button at the top of the home page 3. Make a contribution and help us keep the show going 4.SUBSCRIBE to our podcast and they will automatically appear on your device ready for you to listen to. Please tell your friends about our show and share it on social media so that we can continue to inspire others, just like you! -Follow us on Twitter @InsideWestEnd -Like our page on Facebook "Inside the West End Podcast"