International Guest Artists Announced for Finding The Light – An Evening With Musical Theatre Stars
The star-studded line-up is complete following the announcement of the international guest artists joining the production of Finding The Light – An Evening With Musical Theatre Stars.
Finding The Light – An Evening With Musical Theatre Stars is the culmination of a coordinated international fundraising drive with the Kolisi Foundation.
Accompanied by the full Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, and hosted by Cape Town’s very own Marc Lottering, Finding The Light – An Evening With Musical Theatre Stars promises a visual and auditory kaleidoscope in celebration of our humanity and our collective search for the light. This musical theatre showpiece will run at Artscape Opera House from 17th to 21st April 2024, with the Gala Night on Thursday 18th April 2024.
The FTL Foundation is proud to announce their debut on-stage offering as they assemble London’s West End and South African musical theatre Stars to take to the Artscape Opera House for a 2-hour Musical Theatre Event that will leave you breathless, while supporting a constellation of charities tackling some of the toughest challenges in South African communities.
For the first time, South African audiences will have the chance to savour performances by Broadway and West End luminaries Kim Criswell (Olivier-award nominated for Annie Get Your Gun; “Lucy” opposite Sting in 3 Penny Opera; Cats); Michael D. Xavier (Joe in Sunset Boulevard opposite Hollywood film star Glenn Close; Joe Bradley in Roman Holiday The Musical; ITV’s Grantchester); David Habbin, (West Side Story, Les Misérables, Amici Forever, and co-founder of the Finding the Light Foundation) and Broadway Star Nikki Renée Daniels (Company; The Book of Mormon; Les Misérables; Hamilton).
These four artists are seasoned masters of their craft across stage, screen and recording studio.
They join South Africa’s beloved music stars, who are no strangers to international stages themselves, Jonathan Roxmouth (Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Cats), Lynelle Kenned (West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Orpheus in Africa), Tshepo Ncokoane (Janice Honeyman’s Peter Pan Pantomine, Kinky Boots, We Will Rock You – The Musical World Tour) and Lucy Tops (Kinky Boots, Funny Girl, The Romantix).
Jessica Ross – London-based Executive Producer of the show and the co-founder of the Finding The Light Foundation, says:
“We are honoured to have some of South Africa’s finest musical theatre talent joining us on stage for Finding the Light. Inspired by the concept that ‘singing connects us’, our wonderful guest artists and audiences come together for a fabulous evening of entertainment, whilst investing in the incredible work of the Kolisi Foundation. We will be announcing the exciting international artist line-up soon”
Daniel Galloway, who is producing the event alongside London-based Jessica Ross, says:
“Some of South Africa’s most treasured leading ladies and gentlemen have been secured for Finding the Light.”
“We are delighted to announce that Jonathan Roxmouth, Lynelle Kenned, Tshepo Ncokoane and Lucy Tops will be part of the line-up, accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. These artists need no introduction to local musical fans, and we can’t wait for first time theatre-goers to experience the powerhouse, captivating voices of these mega-talented performers.”
Original visual elements and musical scoring link a programme of exceptional vocal performances and bring the best of the world’s musical theatre stages to Cape Town.
100% of proceeds go to charities working to transform the lives of South Africa’s underprivileged youth, including addressing the immensely limiting impact of violence and trauma.
The evening will be staged by the UK’s Paul Robinson (Singing In The Rain – Olivier Nominated), with Musical Supervision by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder (West Side Story, King Kong), Musical Direction by Dawid Boverhoff (Kinky Boots, Funny Girl, Sound of Music), Producers Daniel Galloway (The Rocky Horror Show, Cabaret, Funny Girl, West Side Story, King Kong and Kinky Boots) alongside Jessica Ross and Creative Director David Habbin (West Side Story, Les Misérables, Amici Forever, and co-founder of the Finding the Light Foundation) – to bring audiences in Cape Town a wonderful evening out, among the stars.
Kim Criswell’s career has taken her from Broadway to the West End to the international concert stage, resulting in a truly unique and exceptional career path with a specialty in the classic American theatre songbook.
She has performed at numerous opera houses, including La Scala in Milan and Opéra Comique in Paris, not to mention multiple appearances at venues such as London’s Wigmore, Royal Albert, Barbican, Cadogan Halls, the Purcell Rooms and even Buckingham Palace.
Ms Criswell has sung with many of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, from the Berlin Philharmonic and BCMG orchestras conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, to the Lepzig Gewandhaus and Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, virtually all of the major UK orchestras to name a few; also many of Europe’s radio orchestras. She has appeared in the BBC Proms 4 times.
Her long and illustrious list of theatre credits include an Olivier-award nomination for “Annie” in Annie Get Your Gun at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre. Ms Criswell also won Washington DC’s Helen Hayes Award for Side by Side by Sondheim. Most recently in the US she starred in Call Me Madam at Goodspeed Opera House and co-starred with Joseph Fiennes and Charles Edwards in Happy Days in the Art World in NYC, while recent UK roles include Big Mama in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof at Royal Exchange and Carrie’s mother in Carrie at Southwark Playhouse.
Ms Criswell Broadway credits include “Lucy” opposite Sting in 3 Penny Opera, and the original production of Nine. She was “Grizabella” in Cats in the original LA production, and appeared as “Lalume” in Kismet/Opera Pacific, Michigan Opera, recently reprised for Vienna Volksoper.
She has also recorded more than forty albums, including four solo albums.
A distinguished star of stage and screen, Michael D. Xavier recently played the lead role of Joe Bradley in the European premiere of Roman Holiday The Musical and the lead role of Henry Higgins in the U.K tour of My Fair Lady. In 2017 he starred on Broadway playing the lead role of Joe in Sunset Boulevard opposite Hollywood film star Glenn Close shortly followed by a leading role in Prince of Broadway directed by the late, legendary Hal Prince and Susan Stroman.
Over the last few years he has been seen in ITV’s Grantchester; Gentleman Jack (BBC/HBO), as secret agent Chistopher Miles in The Blacklist (NBC) and as Lieutenant Hamilton Knox in Outlander (Starz). He’s also been filming ITV’s Grace with John Simm and The Chelsea Detective (ITV) with Adrian Scarborough.
Mr Xavier recently finished playing the leading role of Jeremy Zenner in futuristic feature film Utopia and stars in the feature film Hammarskjöld as Hellemans and The Isle Tide Hotel, an exciting feature-length interactive film in which Michael stars as the lead, Josh.
He received two concurrent Olivier Award nominations in 2011 for his performances in Into The Woods at The Open Air Theatre and Love Story at The Duchess Theatre & Chichester Festival Theatre.
His numerous other theatre credits include: Sam in Sleepless (Wembley Park Theatre), Joe in Sunset Boulevard (ENO/Coliseum), Suffolk and George Of Clarence in Shakespeare’s trilogy The War of the Roses directed by Trevor Nunn (Rose Theatre), Charlie/Vittorio Vidal/Oscar in Sweet Charity (Cadogan Hall), John Wilkes Booth in Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory), Sid Sorokin in The Pajama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre – Broadway World Award nomination), Captain Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park – Broadway World Award nomination), Raoul in The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), Sky in Mamma Mia! (International Tour Original Cast), Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Miss Great Plains in Pageant (Vaudeville Theatre and King’s Head Theatre), Nankipoo in The Mikado (UK Tour) and Chris in Miss Saigon (Original UK Tour) among others.
Mr Xavier’s many film appearances include Paris, Wine & Romance, Never Let Go, The Muppets Most Wanted! and Gnomeland while his radio credits include recordings for BBC Radio 2 such as Tony in West Side Story and Artie Green in Sunset Boulevard.
Recordings include: The Phantom of the Opera’s The Phantom (Music Of The Night) and Company’s Bobby (Being Alive) in Prince Of Broadway (Original Broadway Cast Recording), Oliver in Love Story (Original Cast Recording), Laurie in Little Women (Pelion Productions), Thank You For The Music (West End International), Soldier in Toys (MiltonMorrisey Productions), Unwritten Song (Michael Bruce), Chance In A Lifetime (Tim Prottey-Jones) and Therese Racquin and Lift (Craig Adams).
David Habbin’s diverse career includes performing in the London cast of Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre, playing Combeferre and Marius; Young Scrooge in the musical, A Christmas Carol at Nottingham Theatre Royal and Tony in the West End revival of the original West Side Story production, directed by the show’s co-creator Arthur Laurents. Other recent stage productions include Carrie, the Musical, Closer to Heaven and Funny Business.
Mr Habbin trained operatically at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, following which he joined the company of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, performing roles in operas such as Die Fledermaus, Don Pasquale, Falstaff, Madama Butterfly and La Traviata.
He was one of the five original members of Sony BMG ‘classical crossover’ group, Amici forever. Their debut CD album ‘The Opera Band’, achieved gold status in the UK, double platinum in Australia, triple platinum in New Zealand and was named as the number 2 Classical Crossover album for 2004 in the United States. They recorded and performed the BBC’s theme music for the 2004 Olympics and performed on tour in some of the most prestigious concert halls around the globe. Their follow up album ‘Defined’ was released in 2005 with combined album sales of 2 million worldwide.
Mr Habbin has also performed extensively in concert including as lead soloist for the Raymond Gubbay White Christmas shows in the Royal Albert Hall, the Birmingham Symphony Hall and Glasgow Concert Hall and with John Wilson and the RTÉ Orchestra playing Tommy Albright in Brigadoon at the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
Nikki Renée Daniels has performed extensively across stage and screen. Her debut solo CD, Home is available on iTunes.
She played Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton at the CIBC Theater in Chicago and Ms Daniels’ Broadway credits include Company (Jenny), The Book of Mormon (Nabulungi), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Clara), Les Miserables (Fantine), Anything Goes, Promises, Promises, Aida, Nine, Little Shop of Horrors, Lestat, and The Look of Love. She has performed as a soloist with numerous symphony orchestras across the country and in Canada, and at Carnegie Hall.
On screen, Ms Daniels has appeared in The Other .Woman, Billions, Chappelle’s Show, Madam Secretary, The Equalizer, and The Sound of Music: Live.
With Finding The Light – An Evening With Musical Theatre Stars, audiences can look forward to enjoying songs from shows such as “Phantom of the Opera“, “Les Miserables“, “West Side Story“, “Company” and many more, with the exquisite on-stage accompaniment by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
Siya and Rachel Kolisi founded the Kolisi Foundation with a vision to use their influence to change the stories of inequality in South Africa, to see thriving communities. The Foundation works alongside others to make a difference, by “remembering the one, one by one” to impact the nation.
Finding the Light Foundation helps unite and mobilise South Africans and Africans in the UK and in South Africa in support of those addressing frontline challenges in South Africa.
The two organisations, in their own right, were both founded with the common desire of making an enduring difference in South Africa.
Show Information
Finding The Light – An Evening With Musical Theatre Stars
Venue:
Artscape Opera House, Cape Town
Dates & Times:
17 to 21 April 2024
Wednesday – Friday at 20h00
Saturday at 15h00 and 20h00
Sunday at 14h00
Tickets:
Tickets from R190 – R420
Bookings:
Can be made through Webtickets
*VIP experience packages are available and include welcome sparkling wine and prime seating
No babies on laps, no under 5s
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Connect with Artscape on social media:
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Connect with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra on social media:
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Connect with Kolisi Foundation on social media:
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