Curtains musical starring Jason Manford to be streamed online for charity
© Richard Davenport
The hit production of Kander and Ebb's Curtains will be streamed online for charity, it has been announced.
The show opened on tour last autumn with a spell in the West End before returning to the open road at the start of the year. In March the production was sadly shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Jason Manford plays lead detective Frank Cioffi in the whodunnit showbusiness piece, which follows what happens after a murder occurs during a production destined for Broadway.
Update – the show will be streamed again from 7pm BST on Wednesday 22nd April 2020 until 11.59pm BST on Thursday 23rd April 2020
You can stream the show here
The cast also includes Ore Oduba as Aaron Fox, Carley Stenson as Georgia Hendriks, Rebecca Lock as Carmen, Samuel Holmes as Christopher Belling, Leah West as Niki Harris, Alan Burkitt as Bobby, Emma Caffrey as Bambi, Adam Rhys-Charles as Daryl Grady, Martin Callaghan as Oscar Shapiro, Minal Patel as Johnny Harmon and Mark Sangster as Sidney. The ensemble is made up of Nia Jermin, Kathryn Barnes, Pamela Blair, Charlie Johnson, Kate Ivory Jordan, Robin Kent, Thomas Lee-Kid, Ben Mundy, J R Ballantyne, Gleanne Purcell-Brown and Samuel John-Humphreys.
The show has a book by Rupert Holmes with original book and concept by Peter Stone. It is directed by Paul Foster, with choreography from Alistair David, musical supervision from Sarah Travis, set from David Woodhead, costume from Gabriella Slade, lighting from Tim Mitchell and sound from Tom Marshall.
The online stream will take place from 7.15pm on 14 April, with a cost of £7.50. All profits will go to Fund For Freelancers, a charity set up by Paul Taylor-Mills, Helen Clarkson, Sasha Regan and Sita McIntosh to support creatives out of work.
Taylor-Mills said today: "A few weeks ago I woke up and like many, felt so helpless as I heard stories of those within the theatre community struggle. I threw caution to the wind and set up a fund with a primary ambition to get funds to as many people as possible as quickly as possible. So far, we have allocated over £50,000 to those who are in need.
"Thanks to DLAP Entertainment you can now watch their production of Curtains and know that all of the profits will be going to the Funds For Freelancers cause. I'm so grateful to them for doing this and that I'll get to see this show! I'm always overwhelmed by the resilience of the theatre community and truly humbled that the streaming of this show will help so many people at a time that they need it most."
The producers are asking for audiences to send in inspiring video messages to play before the stream – for anyone wanting to get involved you can submit them at submissions@curtainsmusical.com.
