Win A Copy Of Teatro

26-10-2007 14:31

Curtain Rises For Teatro And The Timeless Anthems Of Musical Theatre Which Have Captivated The Ages

Take outstanding vocal talent of four good looking young men and a unique collection of timeless classics from musical theatre and you have all the ingredients for the success of Teatro, already billed as Theatreland’s first supergroup, whose debut album simply entitled Teatro is launched by Sony BMG on 19th November.

As a vocal group, Teatro captures the current zeitgeist which has elevated musical theatre to new heights of popularity with prime time TV shows like Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria attracting huge audiences and seen seven and a half million musical theatre tickets sold in the UK last year.

The band evolved through a process of four hugely talented and like-minded singers – three British and one American – deciding that Teatro’s moment was at hand and fusing their talents, coming together through a happy mixture of invitation, recommendation and friendships. Each had already achieved outstanding success in the West End or on Broadway - Simon Bailey for instance played the lead in Les Miserables and turned down the opportunity of appearing in Phantom Of The Opera to join the group which the singers believe will do for theatre music what Il Divo has done for opera.

Simon was joined by Stephen Rahman-Hughes who played the lead in the seminal production of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams which brought the glamour of Bollywood to the West End, Jeremiah James from upstate New York who turned down the role of Sinatra for the call of Teatro, and by Royal Acadamy Of Music graduate and classically trained singer Andrew Alexander.

Teatro, the album will feature the great anthems from a century of musicals which have captivated successive generations including numbers such as Music of the Night (Phantom of the Opera), Maria (from West Side Story) Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina (Evita), Somewhere Over The Rainbow (La Cage Aux Folles) and Love Changes Everything (Aspects Of Love). Testimony to the album and the musical heritage on which it uniquely draws is the fact the shows from which the songs originate have between them won an astonishing collection of 23 Oscars, 11 Golden Globes, 39 Tony Awards and three Grammy’s.

Not only will the album showcase the outstanding voices of the four singers, it will also feature the backing of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with a new and unique series of arrangements for the universally loved favourites from the West End and Broadway.

The creative team responsible for the album includes Nick Patrick, the producer responsible for global hits for Tina Turner, Marvin Gaye, Russell Watson, Tony Bennett and Catherine Jenkins and Hollywood Arranger Jorge Calandrelli, winner of seven Grammy’s who has arranged for Sting, Streisand, McCartney and Michael Buble among others.

Nick Raphael for Sony BMG said: “The music of Teatro celebrates the work of some of the world’s greatest ever popular composers and a century of great musical heritage at a time when the genre has reached record levels of popularity. We believe the group will captivate a mainstream and mass audience and has the potential to be a huge commercial success.”