Four 'made in Northampton' musicals to hit the stage at Royal & Derngate next year

A series of four ‘made in Northampton’ musicals will premiere at the Royal & Derngate in 2021.

As the culmination of a three-year project which has seen the Guildhall Road theatre supporting 150 artists, the venue will premiere three original musicals onstage and one online.

Improvised theatre company, Improbable, will take to the stage with ‘An Improbable Musical’ in March.

‘Gin Craze!’ then follows in the Royal auditorium in June and Jonny Wright and Tim Gilvin’s ‘Scot Free’ will be presented in concert performances in the Autumn.

The theatre is also supporting the release of digital musical ‘On Hostile Ground’.

Royal & Derngate artistic director James Dacre said: “Over five years up to 2017 Royal & Derngate welcomed an audience of more than 200,000 to 50 visiting musicals.

“Only one of them was a new work.

“Almost all of these 50 shows had played in our larger Derngate auditorium with little midscale musical theatre available to play in our Royal auditorium.

“So we set out to change this. Since then, we have collaborated with six consortium partners and over a hundred inspiring artists to champion new musical theatre voices.

“Together we will have premiered at least six entirely original musicals by 2021.

“At the end of such a devastating year for our sector, I’m thrilled that as our theatre begins to emerge from the pandemic, we’ll do so alongside this inspiring range of artists who have reminded us of the importance of remaining ambitious, relevant and determined to create original work.”

‘An Improbable Musical’ will run from March 19 to March 27 and ‘Gin Craze!’ will hit the Royal stage from June 19 to July 3.

Tickets will go on general sale for An Improbable Musical, Gin Craze! and Scot Free tomorrow (December 18) from the Derngate’s website.

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