The WhatsOnStage Awards Take Place Today!

Today’s the day!

The 2014 WhatsOnStage Awards will be, uh, awarded this evening at a ceremony at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London’s West End. The Light Princess is nominated in six categories so we are hopeful for more recognition for the musical!

Earlier this week, it was announced that Rosalie Craig was added to the line-up for the awards concert. Naturally, she’ll be performing a song from The Light Princess though we don’t know which one yet.

Unfortunately, the concert and ceremony will not be streamed this year but you can follow along on Twitter, Facebook and a live blog by Catherine Love. Video highlights, hopefully including Rosalie’s performance, will be posted on WhatsOnStage’s YouTube channel starting on Monday as well.

Good luck to all those nominated and may The Light Princess float again!

Rosalie Craig To Perform At WhatsOnStage Awards Concert

Before the day is consumed by whatever news is slated to be announced today, just a quick note to make sure everyone knows that Rosalie Craig, the star of The Light Princess, has been added to the slate of performers for this coming weekend’s WhatsOnStage Awards Concert. She will be performing a song from the musical, though which one has not been specified yet. This might be a rare opportunity to see her sing music from the show while on the ground instead of in the air!

Tickets for the concert and ceremony, which takes place Sunday, February 23rd at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, are still available.

WhatsUpWith WhatsOnStage?

One week from today, on Sunday, February 23rd, the 2014 WhatsonStage Awards Ceremony and Concert will be taking place at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London’s West End.

Hosted by Mel Giedroyc from Great British Bake Off and comedian and actor Rufus Hound, the evening will include performances by Cynthia Erivo, the cast of the Sondheim revue Putting It Together, Lauren Samuels and Louise Dearman from the forthcoming musical Water Babies, Michael Xavier and Charlotte Wakefield from last summer’s The Sound of Music revival, and Declan Bennett and Zrinka Cvitešić from Once.

More importantly though, the winners of the 2014 WhatsOnStage Awards will be announced. As we know, The Light Princess was shortlisted in six categories: Best Actress in a Musical, Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Best Set Design, Best Choreographer, London Newcomer of the Year, and Best New Musical. Voting concluded at the end of January and we’re waiting with bated breath to find out if Rosalie Craig, Amy Booth-Steel, Rae Smith, Steven Hoggett or Tori herself receive the collective nod of the theatre-going public.

Tickets for the ceremony are still available for those wanting to attend.

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, rumors that Tori Amos was writing on a musical started to surface and, eventually, it was confirmed that she was working on The Light Princess for The National Theatre in London. And right now, several years later, the final performance of The Light Princess is taking place at The Lyttleton at The National’s complex on the South Bank.

So, as this chapter in The Light Princess winds down, we just wanted to say thank you to Tori and Samuel Adamson for creating the musical! Thank you to the cast and creatives — Rosalie Craig, Nick Hendrix, Clive Lowe, Kane Oliver Parry, Amy Booth-Steel, Lisa Pitt-Pulford, Hal Fowler, Ben Thompson, Marianne Elliot, Rae Smith, Martin Lowe, Steven Hoggett, Toby Olié, Matthew Robins, and everyone else — for bringing their vision to life! Thank you all of the people working on musical who shared their days with us on Twitter, Facebook and other corners of the Internet! And thank you to all the fans — whether Tori fans, theatre fans or both — for supporting the musical and making it a success!

It’s been a great ride seeing this work come to life and while we don’t know what is in store for The Light Princess, we can’t wait to see where it floats off to next!

WhatsOnStage Awards Voting Closes Today

Voting for the WhatsOnStage Awards closes tonight at Midnight GMT (that’s 7pm here on the east coast of North America, 4pm out on the west coast).

If you haven’t already cast your ballot of support for The Light Princess in any of the six categories it was nominated in — Best Actress in a Musical, Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Best Set Design, Best Choreographer, London Newcomer of the Year, and Best New Musical — now is the time!

Please help get this production the recognition it deserves!

Listen: Marianne Elliot And Rae Smith Discuss The Light Princess

On January 9th, The Light Princess’ director Marianne Elliot and designer Rae Smith took place in a platform at The National Theatre to discuss their work on the musical with Rachel Cooke. Audio from that conversation is now available on The National’s Soundcloud page:

A Little Light Princess Update: Cheap Tickets & The Book

As the penultimate performances of The Light Princess begin this weekend, Time Out London is offering half-price tickets to several of the remaining performances of the musical. The only catch is that these tickets have to purchased by Midnight GMT on January 18th (i.e., late Friday night/early Saturday morning). Tickets are available for performances from Monday, January 20th through to Saturday, February 1st. Step to it! Chop chop!

Also, one other bit of musical news we keep forgetting to mention: Faber and Faber has published the text of The Light Princess, including both lyrics and book. The paperback is available directly from the publisher as well as The National Theatre’s bookstore and all the usual retailers and e-tailers of fine publications. Of course, if you find yourself at the venue either before or after the musical’s run ends, you can find the book there too — as well as an assortment of Light Princess merchandise.

Ladies And Gentlemen, Your Light Princess Update

If it had not been extended, tonight would have been the final performance of The Light Princess but the National Theatre continued the show’s run so there is still time to catch the production if you’re able to get to London over the next few weeks. Performances resume next Friday, January 17th, continue through to the 22nd, pick up again on Tuesday the 28th and run straight through to the final performance, a Sunday matinee on February 2nd. Tickets are still available for all performances!

Prior to today’s performance, there was a platform featuring director Marianne Elliott and designer Rae Smith discussing their work on The Light Princess with Rachel Cooke. Hopefully some of you were able to attend and that some footage from the platform shows up on The National’s YouTube channel sooner or later as well as we’re sure it would have been an interesting conversation to hear.

There is one other Light Princess-related platform coming up at The National: director Samuel Adamson will be one of three participants in In Context: Adapting Children’s Novels for the Stage. Adamson, Helen Edmundson, and Carl Miller will be part of a panel discussion moderated by Sebastian Born about the process of transforming the written word to the stage. This platform takes place on Thursday, January 16th at at 2:00 PM.

Also from the Adamson department, Boycotting Trends’ Alex Ramon posted his third and final interview with Samuel Adamson about The Light Princess. This lengthy and in-depth piece examines the response to the production and the staggering amount of sweat and love poured into making the musical float. It’s required-reading for anyone interested in the musical and while there is no executive summary possible, the key thing that will make everyone happy is the news that there will be a recording of the complete score! Unfortunately there’s no additional details but hey! We’ll take what we can get! And seriously, go read the entire interview — it’s great!

As the year comes to an end, the musical and its creators inevitably popped up in some year-end lists. Most notably, The Stage 100, TheStage.co.uk’s annual list of the most influential people in theatre, included both Tori and Marianne Elliot, in the writers and composers and directors categories respectively — although The Guardian’s Lyn Gardner takes issue with Tori’s inclusion. The Daily Mail’s Georgina Brown singled out Rosalie Craig for best performance of the year.

Speaking of which, it’s not too late to vote for Rosalie Craig for Best Actress in a Musical in the 2014 WhatsOnStage Awards! And don’t forget that there are five other categories that The Light Princess has been nominated in: Amy Booth-Steel for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Rae Smith for Best Set Designer, Steven Hoggett for Best Choreographer, Tori Amos for London Newcomer, and The Light Princess for Best New Musical. Voting closes on January 31st and the winners will be announced on February 23rd!

Get Into Under The Pink With After The Pink

It seems like just yesterday, we were all talking about Little Earthquakes turning 20 years old but, after the riding Gold Dust’s orchestral dragon in 2012 and floating with The Light Princess in 2013, it’s 2014 and that means Under the Pink is nearing its third decade out in the world.

That anniversary doesn’t come until the end of this month though, as The 405 observes, “Cornflake Girl” was released as a single 20 years ago this week in the UK. Still, any old-timer fans who remember waiting at a record store until midnight to buy the record on cassette or wailing and gnashing their teeth while trying to get through to Ticketmaster on the phone to get tickets for the tour have a few weeks to still feel young and carefree — assuming Little Earthquakes being old enough to drink hasn’t already dashed those emotions!

However, the folks who brought you the 50 Years of Tori Birthday Bash are not waiting until the end of January to get this party started. Rather, they’ve launched 20 Years After the Pink, an ambitious online event that celebrates Under the Pink through an on-going dialogue about artists inspiring artists and art affecting its audience and raising funds for RAINN.

At the core of After the Pink is Marta Woodhull who had the great fortune to be in Taos during the production of Under the Pink. During that time, she created her own art — drawings, photography, writings — inspired by the creative process around her which she is now sharing them with the Tori Amos community, allowing us to explore how we have changed and been changed by this album, by looking back to its beginnings.

Come join the fun on their website where you can learn much more about the extravaganza, view Marta’s drawings and photos, read about the making of Under the Pink and learn about their juried art show. Holy cow! So much stuff!

You can also follow along as After The Pink marches towards the album’s anniversary on all the usual social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Watch The Trailer For The Light Princess

Perhaps a little later than might have been expected, The National Theatre has released a trailer for The Light Princess. It was premiered on Time Out London’s blog today and features scenes from through the production accompanied by the song “Better Than Good.” You’ve all heard what the musical sounds like, courtesy of the four songs that have been released. Now enjoy this great taste of what the musical looks like!