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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 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!

It's hard to believe that just over a week ago, we premiered 'The Game' at the St. James Studio as part of St. James RE:act - a writing challenge that gave us only 24 hours to create a brand new piece of musical theatre!

We were fortunate to be inspired by Mona Golabek's brilliant performance in 'The Pianist of Willesden Lane' (if you can see it, go!), which we had the opportunity to watch with the rest of the creative company.  We were particularly struck by the parallels between kindertansport during WWII and the UK's recently announced plan to accept up to 20,000 refugee children into the UK in response to the current crisis.

We created 'The Game' as a response to this current political situation and humanitarian crisis. We had an amazing experience working with our visionary director Poppy Rowley, and our talented and hardworking cast - Felix Mosse, Rebecca Ridout, and Sinéad Wall.  Writing for them was an absolute pleasure.  (As was getting to see the wide range of responses from the other great teams involved with this event.)

We were interested to see how much 'The Game' resonated with the audience, and feel we have only touched the surface of this powerful topic.  We're currently working with some of the brilliant folks who have offered us advice and support to explore possibilities for developing 'The Game' into a full-length show.  We will be sharing news as these plans take shape.

In the meantime, here's a few photos from the event, courtesy of photographer Benjamin Graham - thanks to everyone who came out to support us and the amazing team at the St. James Theatre (Alastair Knights, Matthew Keeler, and Lauren McGee) who made this possible!

  

We're very excited to announce we've been selected to participate in the next RE:act event happening at the St James Theatre.  We'll have 24 hours to write a short musical in response to the themes of their mainstage show, 'The Pianist of Willesden Lane'.  The prompt couldn't be more perfect, given that we met in a piano shop on Willesden Lane!

The show is on Monday 1 February at 8pm, and will feature four different groups who have created performances.  Tickets are £10 (£7.50 for under 26's).

We're really looking forward to collaborating with this great group of artists.  If you want to come along to cheer us on and see what we come up with, you can book through our events page or via the link below:

https://www.stjamestheatre.co.uk/studio/react-the-pianist-of-willesden-lane

Hope to see you there!


 

We honestly couldn't have asked for a better gift this holiday season than all the wonderful support we received for our 'Christmas in the City' album launch.  

But now, it's time to put away the Christmas music and move on to new things...

So, in celebration of the new year, we're kicking things off with some music that has NOTHING to do with the holiday season!  We've pulled out a few recordings from our gig at 'Sunday in the Arts', and you can now find these featured on the video page of our website.  (If you follow us on social media, a few of these tunes may be familiar!)

We've got lots of exciting plans brewing for 2016, and we can't wait to share more as things develop.

In the meantime, you can watch the wonderful Emma Ralston bringing a bit of comic flair with 'A Little Bit of Drama', Maria Coyne killing it on her high notes in 'Stay', or for the folks who have already abandoned their new year's resolutions and succumbed to the lure of old habits, here's Gary Wood's beautiful rendition of 'Hello, Old Friend'.

Thanks for watching, and Happy New Year!!!

If you've been following us on social media, you may have seen the videos we've been posting live performances from our cabaret at the Pheasantry, as part of our #12DaysofBarlowandSmith countdown to Christmas!  We've been featuring some songs from the album alongside some brand new work - like this brand new number "My Christmas Coffee Cup".



There's only four days left, so look us up on Twitter or Facebook if you want to see all of our #12DaysofBarlowandSmith tracks!  You can also check them all out on our video page.  Merry Christmas!!!

This Thursday 17 December 2015, you can catch some Barlow & Smith songs performed as part of 'One Night In Chelsea', a charity event designed to benefit Chelsea Old Church and support their fundraising efforts for a new organ.  The church has a storied history, and the evening will focus on the events of WWII, where the church was reduced to rubble during the blitz, and rebuilt afterwards through the tireless efforts of the community.

We're so thrilled to have the opportunity to support the incredible Janie Dee once again, who will be joined onstage by Laurie Kynaston, directed by Alastair Knights.  Writer Katie Lam has created a lovely story for the show, and co-written a wonderful new song with composer musical director Alex Parker, which will feature alongside some of our tunes, as well as familiar songs by other composers.  For more details about the evening, click through to The Stage.

You can find the booking link here or through our events page.  Tickets are £25, with all proceeds going to the church.  

We're delighted to be able to give you a look behind the scenes in the studio for Christmas in the City, and share a little bit about the recording process.  We had an absolute blast in the Cowshed Studio with our incredible team, and are grateful to Eulanda Shead Photography for putting together this fantastic film.



Additionally, we're so pleased to be able to start sharing with you some of our tracks from our recent cabaret at the Pheasantry!  We were lucky to receive a warm review from the Musical Theatre Review (click here if you fancy a read), and now even if you couldn't make it to the show, through the magic of the internet, we are bringing the show to you!

The first song we're sharing is our brand new Hanukkah song 'The Festival of Lights', just in time for the last night of celebrations!  And starting tomorrow, we'll be kicking off '12 Days of Barlow & Smith', sharing an original song each day leading up to Christmas.  Keep an eye on our social media or video page to see them all.



(Thanks to Chipped Productions for the recordings and especially the quick turnaround - what a champ!)