Laurence Mark Wythe

Laurence Mark Wythe
Born Laurence Mark Wythe
(1974-02-08) 8 February 1974
Ashford, Kent, England
Website http://www.laurencemarkwythe.com

Laurence Mark Wythe (born 8 February 1974, Ashford, Kent, England) is an award winning English composer, lyricist and writer for West End, international and Off-Broadway musicals. He is principally known for the off-Broadway musical Tomorrow Morning (2011)[1] and Through the Door. Tomorrow Morning won the Jeff Award in Chicago for Best Musical (midsize) in 2009. The musical opened at the Landor Theatre in South London in October 2010, and off-Broadway at the Theatre at Saint Peters on Lexington Avenue in New York on 31 March 2011.

Tomorrow Morning has now been seen on four continents in several languages. He is currently working on Through the Door (book by Judy Freed) which was seen in the West End at Trafalgar Studios in 2009 starring Julie Atherton and Paul Keating and later had a New York City reading in 2011 starring Broadway star Kerry Butler. The show will open in Seoul, Korea on 13 March 2015. In 2013 he wrote music for television channel Nickelodeon. His latest project is the musical Midnight with bookwriter Timothy Knapmann, which is planned to open in London in 2015.

Personal life

Wythe is married and has two children, Sophie and Charlotte who are both professional child performers. Sophie is a child actress, who appeared in The Sound of Music at the London Palladium, playing the role of Marta von Trapp.[2] She also appeared for a year in Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and was Young Fiona in Shrek – The Musical in the West End in 2011. His younger daughter Charlotte Pourret Wythe made her West End debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in late 2015 until the completion of the show's eleven year run at the Victoria Palace Theatre on April9, 2016. Both girls appeared together in the world premiere of the musical The House of Mirrors and Heart at the Arcola Theatre London in 2015.

Awards

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical Outer Critics Circle Awards (Nominee)
Best New Musical Off-Broadway Alliance Awards 2011 (Nominee)
Best Musical BestofOffBroadway.com Tina Awards 2011 (Nominee)
Best Ensemble BestofOffBroadway.com Tina Awards 2011 (Nominee)
Best Actress in a Musical BestofOffBroadway.com Tina Awards 2011 (Nominee)
Best Musical (midsize) 2009 Jeff Awards, Chicago (Winner)
Best Artistic Specialization 2009 Jeff Awards Chicago (Winner).
Best Musical UK Theatre Radio's Best Musical 2006(Nominee).

Career

Wythe began his career as an actor in musical theatre appearing in stage productions including Peter Pan at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End, and The Secret Garden at Manchester Library Theatre. He later became a musical director before concentrating on writing and composing.[3] He has also spent time teaching/lecturing in musical theatre in the UK and US.

Tomorrow Morning ran off Broadway in 2011.[4] Prior to this it played at the Greenhouse Theatre in Chicago for a limited six-week run in 2008, receiving strong notices from all the major Chicago critics including Chris Jones[5] at the Chicago Tribune, who called the a "Must See Work" and gave it 3-and-a-half stars; and Hedy Weiss at the Chicago Sun-Times.[6] The show won a Jeff Award for Best Musical (mid-size production) and for Best Artistic Specialization (Mike Tutaj – Film & Video Design).

His other musicals are Through the Door and The Lost Christmas, the former in concert in the West End in 2009, and both of which were seen in a showcase format in the West End in 2008. The Lost Christmas starred Suranne Jones and Jayne Wisener.[3] The Lost Christmas was produced at the Waterloo East Theatre in London in 2011 and also has been produced by Hazlitt Arts Centre in Kent in the United Kingdom.

In 2010, West End performer Stuart Matthew Price recorded Wythe's song "Goodnight Kiss" for his debut album All Things in Time for SimG Records. Other songs of his have been performed in concerts and cabarets, most notably "Action Man" from The Lost Christmas, which was performed in the West End at "Christmas in New York", "The Recurring Dream" and also "David's House" which has been most notably performed by Samantha Barks.

In 2012 a production of Roll on the Day plays at the Etcetera Theatre in London, directed by Vik Sivalingam, design by Marie Kearney. The book is by Roberto Trippini, music and lyrics by Lawrence Mark Wythe. It has been suggested that Wythe is perhaps the most talented British composer and lyricist of his generation,[7] and that he is an exciting new voice in British musical theatre which has for some time not produced hit musicals from unknown creatives, i.e. beyond those created by already established names.[8]

Critical reception

In 2010, Lyn Gardner in The Guardian said that much of the score for Tomorrow Morning was "sublime, and sublimely delivered". She gave the show three and a half stars. Time Out London gave the show four stars and made it Critics Choice. Michael Coveny in The Independent had less glowing praise for the show itself, but pointed out Wythe's skill as a composer and lyricist, and his potential for the future. Paul Vale in The Stage called the show "thoughtful and intelligent". Mark Shenton, in the Sunday Express described the show as "coolly adult, neatly propelled by an earnest song cycle".

Critic Mark Shenton has previously supported the show, and described Wythe as potentially the most talented British musical theatre writer of his generation.

Tomorrow Morning

Tomorrow Morning has now been seen on four continents and has been translated into several languages. The show originated in London in 2006 directed by Nick Winston and starring Emma Williams and Stephen Ashfield. The production in New York in 2011 garnered several award nominations for Best Musical and starred Autumn Hurlbert and Matthew Hydzik.

Through the Door

Through the Door (book by Judy Freed) began life in 2008 when the show was showcased by Perfect Pitch Musicals in London at the Trafalgar Studios in the West End. The show was seen again the following year in a full scale main-house presentation of the show starring Julie Atherton and Paul Keating. In 2011 Wythe and Freed took the show to New York for a workshop with Broadway star Kerry Butler and development workshops in Detroit, Michigan. Since 2014 the show has been in development with Korean producers and the show will open on 13 March 2015 at Uniplex Grand Theater in Seoul.

References

  1. ↑ LMW. "Tomorrow Morning Off Broadway". Tomorrowmorningthemusical.com. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  2. ↑ Archived 21 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. 1 2 Laurence Mark Wythe. "LMW – Creating Musical Theatre". Laurencemarkwythe.com. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "The York Theatre Company – Where Musicals Come to Life!". Yorktheatre.org. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  5. ↑ Archived 29 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "Reviews". Kelliclevenger.com. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  7. ↑ Yesterday in Chicago with Tomorrow Morning…. (10 November 2008). "The Stage / Shenton's View / Yesterday in Chicago with Tomorrow Morning". Blogs.thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  8. ↑ http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=2&tag=Laurence%20Mark%20Whthe&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=2
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