Lock and Key is almost ready for an audience!

Our amazing team has been hard at work prepping this show - it's looking fabulous and the press is taking note! (Thanks in no small part to our PR wizard Susie.)

Among other exciting news, we were selected for The Stage's Picks of the Week (a brilliant surprise to kick off the week), and had a great time chatting with Miro Magazine about the show and what it's been like being involved with VAULT Festival.  (Spoiler alert: we love this festival and working with the VAULT team has been a dream.)

One of our two incredible leading ladies also did a live radio interview with Sunday Show Tunes, so if you'd like to hear Evelyn Hoskins talk about Lock & Key, just tune it at 1:12:35.

Momentum is building, so we recommend that you book your tickets as soon as possible to make sure you don't miss out!  You can get your seats here: https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/lock-and-key/

(Also, if you want to support our show on GoFundMe, it's not too late!  Every pound we raise helps us make the show better, and we're so grateful for every contribution helping us make this production a reality: https://www.gofundme.com/lock-and-key-a-new-musical.)

Now onto the final preparation as we get ready for opening night.

In the meantime, we'll be adding a bit of fluorescent flair to our posters to take advantage of the atmospheric blue light in the entrance of VAULT...

Hopefully we will see you there very soon!

We are very excited to share the details of our talented cast for Lock & Key!

Tiffany Graves - Samantha 

Tiffany was most recently seen at Shakespeare’s Globe in Apocalypse Meow and as Madeleine True in The Wild Party (The Other Palace). Other roles include Velma Kelly in Chicago (Adelphi & Cambridge Theatre), Lois in Kiss Me Kate (Opera North), Helene and alternate Charity in Sweet Charity (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Killer Queen (We Will Rock You) Marlene Dietrich (Piaf), & Sukie Rougemont (The Witches of Eastwick), as well as Sunset Boulevard, A Chorus Line, Tonight’s the Night, Godspell & Cats.  Tiffany has performed at Grange Park Opera in La Traviata & Anything Goes, Follies (Royal Festival Hall)and in many concerts: Chess & Night of 1000 Voices (Royal Albert Hall), West End Heroes  (Dominion Theatre), NT: 50 Years on Stage (National Theatre), Wonderful Town with the Halle Orchestra (The Lowry), & Hey, Old Friends! -Stephen Sondheim 85th Birthday Gala (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).  www.TiffanySings.com

Evelyn Hoskins - Jess  

Theatre Credits include:  Mrs Henderson Presents (Toronto), Peter and the Starcatcher (Royal&Derngate), Carrie (Southwark Playhouse), Hero's Welcome (UK Tour, Off-Broadway) This Is My Family (Sheffield Crucible, UK Tour), The Boy Who Fell Into A Book (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Peter Pan (US Tour), The Secret Garden (Birmingham Rep), Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith, West End).  Television includes:  The Sound of Music Live (ITV), Casualty, Misfits (E4), Holby City, Doctors (BBC).  Other work includes:  Bonnie & Clyde (The Other Palace), Christmas with the Stars (Royal Albert Hall), Peter Pan (Adelphi), Cool Rider (Lyric, West End), The Light Princess, Microwave, Falklands (National Theatre Studio). 

 

We've had some fantastic coverage from Whatsonstage and Broadwayworld.com, and it's wonderful to be able to share this news.

To book tickets to the show, please visit:  https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/lock-and-key/

If you'd like to support our crowdfunding campaign and help us bring this show to life, you can do so here: https://www.gofundme.com/lock-and-key-a-new-musical

 

Thanks for supporting our work!

Wouldn't it be incredible to see an innovative gothic/thriller musical for two women - about the twisted relationship we can have to the workplace?

We think so, too!

We are in the FINAL STAGES of prep for bringing our new show to VAULT Festival, but we need one final push of fundraising to help us bring the show to life.

If you can spare even just £5 to help us, this would make a massive difference. Every little bit takes us one step closer to making this show a reality.

We don't have long now to raise the funds before the performances are upon us... So if you'd like to support the future of musical theatre, the time to join the community of folks rallying behind this project and new musical theatre is NOW!

Donate via the link: https://www.gofundme.com/lock-and-key-a-new-musical

Or to learn a bit more about our project, watch the video below!

 

We are thrilled to announce we'll be bringing a new musical to VAULT Festival in March 2018.

It’s late. Jess should really be going – after all, she’s missing her own birthday party. But her demanding boss Samantha has insisted she stay to review the marketing proofs of the publishing firm’s disgustingly cheery children’s title, ‘Giggles The Bear’. And left the keys to her mysterious, red filing cabinet… 

Alone in the eerie office, Jess can’t resist the temptation of peering into Samantha’s secret files. After making a grisly discovery, Jess must choose what she is willing to sacrifice to keep her job. 

Brimming with twisted dark humour, LOCK AND KEY is a workplace thriller for audiences all too aware of the painful demands of modern career success - and the cost of being a woman determined to succeed.

Tickets: https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/lock-and-key/

Wondering what we've been up to? You may have spotted a few photos from our recent writing retreat on social media!

We've just finished gearing up for the final bit of preparations before our week-long workshop of Vanya's.

Since this project was shortlisted for the Kevin Space Foundation Awards, we've been hard at work developing the show and had an amazing experience sharing the first look with an audience at the Criterion Theatre last year as part of the New Writing Showcases.

The Old Vic Workrooms have kindly offered us space for this workshop, and we're thrilled to get back into the rehearsal room.

The brilliant Adam Lenson will be returning to direct.  We're really looking forward to our next step of creating this show!


Image: Hamish Irvine via CC License

If you're visiting our blog, you've probably noticed that we're kicking off 2017 with a fresh look for our website.  

Comments?  Feedback?  We'd love to hear it in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by!

This December, we returned to the Pheasantry for our third annual Christmas Cracker Cabaret! It was a wonderful night, and in honour of Christmas (and the second night of Hanukkah), we're really pleased to share some of these photos with you.  (Big thanks to Rebecca O'Brien for these wonderful images.)

In our third year we had some familiar faces, but mixed things up with new arrangements.  We were thrilled to have the fantastically talented Rhiannon Drake, Calum, Melville, and Emma Ralston returning to sing, and were pleased to welcome new guests Kevin McGuire, Gabriel Fleary, and songwriting duo Kit Buchan and Jim Barne. Our guest musicians included Andrew Barlow on Piano, Kayleigh Cheer on drums, and Kat Hattersley on cello. Along with a fantastic audience, they made the night really special, and kicked off the Christmas season in style!

See below for a sneak peek of the show - a very Merry Christmas to you!!!














 

We are delighted to announce that our sheet music is now on sale at the Barlow & Smith website!  If you're looking for some Christmas tunes, or just to sing along with our album Christmas in the City, you can now buy your very own copy.

Songs are available for sale individually, or if you're interested in collecting our entire catalogue (and making a savings!) you can pick up the Barlow & Smith Holiday Songbook.  

Available as a digital download, our first songbook features 11 new holiday songs for a range of styles and voices. Most of the songs are Christmas themed, however we've also included songs with Hanukkah and secular themes. In short, something for everyone!

Need a different key?  If you're interested in the music but want to get a song transposed, we should be able to provide this for a small additional fee.  Please email barlowandsmith@gmail.com if you're interested in more details.

Click over to our Sheet Music Page to see the full offerings, and listen to clips!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Bella and Alli

We had an amazing time last weekend creating a new short musical as part of St James RE:act... but this time in the beautiful setting of Aldeburgh for HighTide festival!

(For a bit more background about the project - check out the BroadwayWorld.com article!) 

Part of the fun of RE:act, as we learned the first time around, is getting to meet new collaborators, and this time didn't let us down!  We were well-looked after by the amazing team behind HighTide and RE:act co-creators Alastair Knights,  Matthew Keeler and Lauren McGee (who also brought her wonderful calm energy to directing our piece - a huge asset on short timelines). We counted ourselves lucky to be able to write for the wonderful talents of Natalie Law and Mark Anderson.

For this RE:act, we were assigned to respond to Rob Drummond's IN FIDELITY.  We went up the week before the showcase to see the show, and had 24 hours to write our musical response!  IN FIDELITY was a fantastic show - although calling it a show might be somewhat deceptive, since the performance piece pushes the boundaries of traditional theatre by putting two audience members on a first date in front of the paying crowd! 

The brave couple who went on this adventure had some fascinating life experiences to share, and we had great fun pushing Mr Drummond's concept to its extreme in devising our response, titled THE NEXT STEP. (Performance shot below showing our beautiful space in the music garage, surrounded by gorgeous paintings!)

We had an fabulous weekend seeing some of the other shows at HighTide, got invited by HighTide's lovely Artistic Director Steven Atkinson to join the artist's lunch (see the grassy photo above), and had an lovely time working with the rest of the RE:act team.  The other writers, musical theatre team Kit Buchan and Jim Barne and playwrights Naomi Westerman and Nicola Wren, created beautiful, imaginative responses to the other shows, with the rest of the acting company, including Laurie Kynaston (a friendly face from our collaboration last year on 'One Night in Chelsea') and the wonderful Izzy Laughland. 

We've included some of our favourite photos to share this adventure, and definitely hope to return next year to enjoy amazing theatre by the sea!


 

Both members of Barlow & Smith were kept busy with individual projects in the summer of 2016, but we had a fabulous experience reviving our 'Dream Queen' material with Janie Dee!  

When Janie said she might perform one of our songs at the Queen's 90th Birthday celebration at Theatre Royal Haymarket, we honestly couldn't believe it. In fact, we were so shocked, we didn't announce it until a few days before the event because we couldn't comprehend it was actually happening!  

When Janie entered the stage dressed in full Elizabethan regalia to sing 'Private Delight', we had goosebumps. It was a huge thrill to attend the event in the first place (featuring an eye-watering list of stars, including Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Derek Jacobi, Wayne Sleep, Emma Thompson, and Rob Brydon to name a few!). To see our song performed so brilliantly by Janie in this company was a highlight of our work to date.  (Below - excited before the show!)

Shortly after this amazing experience, Janie revived the 'Dream Queen' cabaret at the Aldeburgh Festival in Suffolk. It was fantastic to see this work take on another life with some familiar faces in the band and new guests. 

The summer had a few other firsts - we collaborated with Janie on another cabaret project at the St James Studio, creating an original song 'Never Knowingly Undersold' for the AGM of the John Lewis Theatre Society (and had a great deal of fun making up rhymes based on their slogan). We also created our first-ever commission for ukulele. That's right, ukulele. :-) 

After this summer, we're even more excited to be jumping back in with both feet writing this Autumn, and look forward to sharing more plans soon. Watch this space!