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EXCLUSIVE FULL-DAY WORKSHOP WITH
KERRY ELLIS
WEST END ICON
Date: Saturday 14th August 2021
Time: 11am - 4pm (5 hour Workshop)
Doors open 10:45am
Location: The Arts Depot (Creation Space),
5 Nether St, London N12 0GA
Closest tube stations: Between West Finchley, Finchley Central and Woodside Park stations on the Northern Line (High Barnet branch).
How to get there: https://www.artsdepot.co.uk/getting-here
What to bring: Bottle of water & a pen or pencil. You will need to print & bring Lyric sheets or Sheet Music to the Workshop
How to book: Purchase your ticket at the bottom of the webpage
CLIPS FROM OUR FIRST WORKSHOP WITH KERRY in 2019
We were thrilled at our first opportunity to work with Kerry back in 2019. Kerry is the queen of the West End but is so down to earth as she shares all of her wealth of musical theatre experience. This is a snippet of Kerry working on 'At the End of the Day' from Les Miserables, in which she starred in, in the West End production. We explored character, how to approach the music, how to work as an ensemble as well as enjoying some inside information that she learned from her West End Directors.
Towards the end of the Workshop, Kerry performed a few numbers for us, almost like our own private concert! One of which is 'This is Me' from The Greatest Showman. As Kerry was so impressed with how worked with her throughout the day, she asked if we could be her backing singers as she sang.
It was an amazing experience & the perfect way to spend our weekend...
We are extremely excited to announce that we are working with the amazingly talented
West End icon Kerry Ellis
to run a unique full-day Workshop exclusively with West End Musical Choir,
set in The Arts Depot!
Kerry originated the role of Meat, in Queen’s We Will Rock You and was the first British Elphaba in the West End smash, Wicked, for which Kerry won the 2008 Whatsonstage.com Award for ‘Best Takeover in a Role’. She then immediately transferred to Broadway and played Elphaba at the Gershwin Theater for 6 months, where she won the Broadway.com Audience Award for Favourite Female Breakthrough Performance, before returning to London for 6 months in 2009.
Her many other leading role credits include Nancy in Oliver! at Drury lane, Eliza Doolittle My Fair Lady, Ellen in Miss Saigon, Fantine in Les Miserables & Grizabella in Cat’s at the London Palladium.
Kerry’s first major CD release was the amazing Wicked in Rock, a collaboration with long time friend and
Queen guitarist, Brian May. This led to her being signed to Universal as a solo recording artist and her debut album Anthems was released in 2010 on Decca Records.
We're thrilled to be working with her in our own exclusive full-day Workshop here in London!
Date: Saturday 14th August 2021
Time: 11am - 4pm
Venue:
The Arts Depot (Creation Space), 5 Nether St, London N12 0GA
*venue subject to change*
EXCLUSIVE TO WEMC / LIMITED PLACES
Format of the Workshop:
Vocal Technique for these genres of musical theatre
Storytelling and engagement
Performance style
Phrasing
Emotional intention and text working together
Tone
Working on two Vocal Scores
Kerry would like to work on two different types of songs with us.
One which is brand new to us and one which she's selected from our Choir repertoire.
Finished by a special intimate sing a long with Kerry and photo opportunity with Kerry on our red carpet.
Vocal Score 1 - 'Somebody to Love' from We Will Rock You the musical
Kerry originated the role of Meat in We Will Rock You the musical where she then began collaborating with now long time friend and Queen guitarist, Brian May. This led to her being signed to Universal as a solo recording artist and her debut album Anthems was released in 2010 on Decca Records.
We Will Rock You (often abbreviated as WWRY) is a jukebox musical based on the songs of British rock band Queen with a book by Ben Elton. The musical tells the story of a group of Bohemians who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought and fashion, and live music in a distant future where everyone dresses, thinks and acts the same. Musical instruments and composers are forbidden, and rock music is all but unknown.
WEMC will provide a Lyric Sheet & rough sheet music.
We will teach the selected material at this the Workshop.
Vocal Score 2 - 'From Now On' from The Greatest Showman
Kerry has selected 'From Now On' from our Choir repertoire to take to the next level for upcoming performances.
As it's in our Choir repertoire, we will provide sheet music, the lyric sheet and harmony tracks for you to become really familiar with ahead of this Workshop. It's really important to know this song before arriving for the day (feel free to be 'off book'), as it means Kerry can work in real depth with us!
As a leading lady of the West End, Kerry knows how important is it to not only sing to your best ability, but also PERFORM every song to it's fullest potential. In the world of musical theatre, acting & presenting a song is just as important as how it sounds to the audience!
What role do songs play in a musical?
Songs have a dramatic function that are an integral part of the storytelling: They help to develop character and/or move the action of the plot forward. In musicals, it is a general rule that characters break into song when the emotional stakes have become so high that ordinary speech fails them. Through their songs, the characters can reveal their innermost thoughts, fears, hopes & dreams, grapple with difficult decisions & come to important realisations about themselves. Musical theatre lyrics use many poetic devises, including rhythm, rhyme, repetition, figurative language, symbolism & metaphor.