BLUES IN THE NIGHT

Until 7 Sep

A man is a two-face, a worrisome thing who’ll leave you to sing, the blues in the night.

The Olivier and Tony Award nominated musical sees its first major London revival in 30 years. Directed by Susie McKenna and starring Olivier Award-winner Sharon D Clarke (Caroline or Change, Ghost, Amen Corner), Debbie Kurup (Sweet Charity, The Girl From the North Country) Olivier Award-winner Clive Rowe (Guys and Dolls, Carousel) and Gemma Sutton (Follies, The Rink), Blues in the Night is a scorching compilation of 26 hot and torchy blues numbers that frame the lives and loves of four residents of a downtown hotel. Featuring soul-filled songs by blues and jazz icons Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen and many more, this will be a sizzling night to remember.

Performed by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited

★★★★

‘Sharon D Clarke brings the house down. The band sound glorious and the newly refurbished Kiln has never looked bigger or better’

Evening Standard

★★★★

‘Magnificent Sharon D Clarke’s voice penetrates the core of the earth’

Metro

★★★★

‘‘You won’t hear anything much finer on the London stage this month’

Daily Telegraph

★★★★

‘The song that brings the house down is Bessie Smith’s “Wasted Life Blues”, which Clarke delivers with a soaring, sad power that gives you the shivers’

Financial Times

★★★★★

‘Gorgeously evocative, a real treat for the eyes and the ears’

Love London Love Culture

★★★★

‘Clive Rowe’s performance is full of cheeky charm, and he seriously dazzles when he hits the high notes’

Gay Times

★★★★

‘Susie McKenna’s production will leave you clicking your fingers, dancing and craving some cold, sloe gin’

WhatsOnStage

‘When these women sing, they are singing for every woman who ever had her heart broken, and every woman who ever will’

StageDoor (Lyn Gardner)

★★★★

Ham and High

★★★★

Theatre Weekly

★★★★

‘Exquisitely performed. The cast and the in-house quintet are superlative’

Sunday Times

★★★★

‘Debbie Kurup combines the elegance of Lena Horne with the ravaged pathos of Billie Holiday’

The Guardian

★★★★

‘Gemma Sutton is vocally flawless and transforms from ingenue to blues queen’

Daily Mail

★★★★

‘Bessie Smith wouldn’t have wanted it any other way’ 

Time Out

★★★★

‘A hot date for any blues fan’

Mail on Sunday

★★★★

‘Sharon D Clarke dazzles in Susie McKenna’s infectiously enjoyable revival’

The Stage

★★★★★

‘Slick, smart and just stunning. This special evening should not be missed.’

Broadway World

★★★★★

Musical Theatre Review

★★★★★

A Younger Theatre

★★★★

The Arts Desk

★★★★

Jewish Chronicle

Cast

SHARON D CLARKE

The Lady

Sharon D Clarke returns to Kiln Theatre to play The Lady – she previously appeared in The Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes. Her theatre work includes: Death of a Salesman (Young Vic), Caroline, or Change (Chichester Festival Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Playhouse Theatre), The Life (Southwark Playhouse), Sleeping Beauty,  Vagina Monologues, Sleeping Beauty, Mother Goose, Puss in Boots & Cinderella (Hackney Empire), Pigs and Dogs (Royal Court Theatre), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, An Oak Tree, Everyman, Amen Corner, Guys and Dolls (National Theatre), Romeo & Julie (Rose Theatre Kingston), Porgy & Bess (Regent’s Park Open Air), Ghost, Hairspray, Vagina Monologues, Chicago, We Will Rock You, Disney’s The Lion King, Fame, Rent and Mama I Want to Sing (West End). Her television work includes Holby City – as series regular Lola Griffin, Informer, Doctor Who, The Forge, Unforgotten, Death in Paradise, New Tricks, Psychobitches and The Shadow Line; and for film, Untitled Girls Film, Rocketman, Tau, Sugarhouse, Secret Society, Beautiful People, Broken Glass and Tumble Down.

Debbie Kurup

The Woman

Debbie Kurup returns to Kiln Theatre to play The Woman – she previously appeared in Poison. Her theatre work includes Sweet Charity (Donmar Warehouse), Girl From The North Country (The Old Vic/ Noël Coward Theatre), The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre), Anything Goes (Sheffield Theatres/UK Tour), The Bodyguard (Olivier Award nomination for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical – Adelphi Theatre), Chicago (Cambridge Theatre/ Adelphi Theatre), Sister Act (London Palladium), West Side Story (Prince of Wales Theatre), Tonight’s The Night (Victoria Palace), Rent (Prince of Wales Theatre/UK tour), Fame (UK tour) and Guys and Dolls (Sheffield Theatres). Her film work includes The Two Wolves, Hollow, Making of a Musical – West Side Story and 28 Weeks Later.

Aston New

The Hustler

Aston New plays The Hustler. His Theatre work includes Dreamgirls (Savoy Theatre); Five Guys Named Moe (Cameron Mackintosh & Underbelly Productions); Nativity Blues (Eastern Angles Theatre); Saturday Night Fever (UK Tour/The English Theatre Frankfurt); Hairspray (Asia Tour/Brownowski Productions); Ragtime (The Landor/John W Carter Productions). For television Humans, The Bible, Model, Boardwalk Empire, Mosas Jones.

Joseph Poulton

The Barman

Joseph Poulton plays The Barman. His theatre work includes Man of La Mancha (London Coliseum); The Grand Old Dame of York (York Theatre Royal); Porgy & Bess (London Coliseum); Carousel (London Coliseum); Gregory in Kiss Me Kate (UK Tour); Solo Gazelle/Ensemble in The Lion King (Lyceum); Mr Mistoffelees in Cats (London Palladium and UK Tour); Mouse Mark in The Wind in the Willows (West Yorkshire Playhouse). His television work includes All Star Musicals. For Film, Mamma Mia; Here We Go Again. He was also a former soloist for Ballet Black (Royal Opera House); Ballet Central (UK Tour). A Guest Artist at Metropolitan Black Police association Gala at Royal festival Hall.

Clive Rowe

The Man

Clive Rowe plays The Man. His theatre work includes The Wind in The Willows (UK tour), Guys and Dolls (Royal Albert Hall), Me and My Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre), Jack and the Beanstalk (Wimbledon Theatre), The Light Princess (National Theatre), The Hothouse (Trafalgar Studios), The Ladykillers (West End and UK tour), Kiss Me Kate (Chichester Festival Theatre/The Old Vic), No Naughty Bits (Hampstead Theatre), The Wiz (Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse), Company (Donmar Warehouse), The Fantastics (Duchess Theatre); Twelfth Night, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Trolius and Cressida (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Chicago (Adelphi Theatre), As You Like It (Wyndham’s Theatre), Simply Heavenly (Young Vic/Trafalgar Studio); and for the National Theatre, The Light Princess, Carousel, Fuente Ovejuna, Caroline or Change, The Villains’ Opera, Money, Candide, Peter Pan, Guys and Dolls, Trackers (Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for Guys and Dolls and Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in Carousel). Rowe has returned to the Hackney Empire on numerous occasions to play The Dame in their Christmas pantomime for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for Mother Goose. For television, his work includes Will, So Awkward, Evermoor, The Kennedys, The Fun Police, All the Small Things, Doctor Who, Networked, Bloodrights, Say it with Music, American Voices, Paper Mask, After the War, Snakes and Ladders and Entertaining Angels Aware; and for film, Beauty and the Beast, Manderlay and Crime Strike.

Gemma Sutton

The Girl

Gemma Sutton plays The Girl. Her theatre work includes Follies (National Theatre), Sweet Charity (The Watermill Theatre), The Rink (Offie Award for Female Performance in a Musical – Southwark Playhouse), A Christmas Carol the Musical (LMTO), Strictly Ballroom (West Yorkshire Playhouse/ Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto), The Go Between (Apollo Theatre), Gypsy (Chichester Festival Theatre/Savoy Theatre), Carousel (Arcola Theatre), Chicago (Leicester Curve)Drunk (Leicester Curve/The Bridewell), Hairspray (UK tour), Me and My Girl (Kilworth House), Legally Blonde – The Musical (Savoy Theatre), Gone with the Wind, Imagine This (New London Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Lady Be Good, The Boy Friend (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Children Will Listen (Theatre Royal Drury Lane). For television, her work includes West Side Stories, Gypsy: Live at the Savoy Theatre and Cilla.

Creative Team

SUSIE MCKENNA

Director

Susie McKenna directs. She is currently Creative Executive Producer at Hackney Empire with the remit to develop new musical theatre for the venue – having left her role as Creative Director in January 2017. Her credits for Hackney Empire include Cinderella, Rudy’s Rare Records, , Beau Jest, Sit and Shiver, Kat and Tameka Show, La Variété, Sing Out, Alter Ego, Once on this Island and Ha Ha Hackney. Other credits include Oranges and Elephants (Hoxton Hall), A Midsummer Night’s Madness (National Black Theatre of Harlem, Hackney Empire Edinburgh Festival), A Christmas Carol (Arts Theatre London) and The Silver Sword (Coventry Belgrade Theatre, UK tour). Acting credits for theatre include Cats (Ambassadors Theatre), Ragtime (Piccadilly Theatre), Chicago (Cambridge Theatre), The Witches of Eastwick (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Hair, The Rocky Horror Show, Jesus Christ Superstar and In The Midnight Hour (UK tour). For film her credits include Jack and Sarah.

SHELDON EPPS

Concept and Original Direction

Mark Dickman

Musical Director

Frank Thompson

Choreographer

Robert Jones

Designer

Neil Austin

Lighting Designer

Lotte Collett

Costume Designer

Avgoustos Psillas

Sound Designer

Gala Performance

5 September 2019, 7pm

To celebrate a year to the day since our beautiful new building came into being, we are hosting a Gala Performance of Blues in the Night on 5 September 2019, 7pm.

Every ticket includes a glass of sparkling wine or a delicious Blues in the Night cocktail upon arrival, plus a signed programme. Keep an eye out for some VIP guests in the audience too. All proceeds from the evening are in aid of Kiln Theatre.

Dates and Tickets

TICKETS

18 – 23 July & Wednesday matinees
£10, £15, £21, £27.50

25 July – 7 September (excluding Wednesday matinees)
£12.50, £20, £26, £32.50

Evenings: 7.30pm
Wednesday & Saturday matinees (from 27 July): 2.30pm

CONCESSIONS

Equity, Students and Unemployed
£2 off Band A and B on Mon – Thu Performances

Brent & Camden Residents
£2 off Bands A, B and C on all performances

Seniors
£2 off Band A and B on Mon – Wed Matinee Performances

Access Concessions
£2 off all price bands on Mon – Thu Performances

Young Kiln (under 26)
£10 tickets across the run, bands B, C and D. To book your tickets sign up as Young Kiln or log in to your account and use promocode YOUNGKILN at checkout.

ACCESS

Audio Described: 8 August 2019
Captioned: 22 August 2019

Pre-show touch-tour before the Audio Described performance on 8 August at 6pm

POST-SHOW DISCUSSION

20 August 2019 – 7.30pm | Kiln Theatre associate Director Taio Lawson hosts post show discussion with Blues in the Night cast.