Preview: Wouldn’t You Like To See Something Wonderful?

Published on: 10 Nov, 2012
Updated on: 10 Nov, 2012

If you are a fan of musicals this is the show for you. For one night only, Alex Parker presents Something Wonderful; an evening concert celebrating the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, on tomorrow Sunday, November 11 at Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre.

The concert will feature songs from musicals including Oklahoma, The Sound of Music, The King and I, State Fair, Carousel and South Pacific, performed by a West End cast, with a full concert orchestra on stage and a specially selected supporting vocal ensemble.

Soloists include Rosalie Craig (Ragtime, Finding Neverland), Hadley Fraser (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, The Pirate Queen), Fra Fee (Les Miserables Movie, Dirty Dancing), Zöe Doano (The Sound of Music, Grease, Les MIserables) and Laura Tebbutt (The Wizard of Oz, Les Miserables).

Originally from Guildford, Alex has been involved in many different theatre projects, both in his home-town and London’s West End. He was last at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in August with his spectacular musical production of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

In 2009, Alex co-founded the Surrey-based theatre company PH Productions, who enjoyed critical success performing musicals such as A Little Night Music (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), and Sweeney Todd, Passion and Marguerite (Mill Studio), as well as staging several large-scale symphonic musical theatre concerts.

Alex has worked on projects as a musical director, conductor and accompanist. He recently conducted the debut album Encore for singer Martin Dickinson at the legendary Abbey Road Studios and was fortunate enough to have been mentored by Cameron Mackintosh’s Head of Music, Stephen Metcalfe and Olivier Award-Winning Composer George Stiles.

Now he returns to Guildford with a West End principal cast and a 33-piece orchestra, to celebrate the glorious musical theatre partnership of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Alex explains: “It is pure joy for me to be able conduct this music. The material is so iconic and yet not dated, and it is only the greatest musical theatre pieces that can stand alone in concert form. The partnership is legendary and their legacy helped kick-start the career of so many other great musical theatre composers – most notably one of my heroes, Stephen Sondheim.

“I’m delighted that so many incredibly talented performers agreed to be a part of this concert. I think the opportunity to sing this music with an orchestra really enticed the cast- we know the music in all it’s orchestral glory and so it will be fantastic to hear Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s music on this scale.