In the 'House Seats'

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Derek rose to fame as a presenter of the legendary BBC children's show Play School in the 1970s. He was raised in London, the actor and musician and went on to perform in both theatre, film, TV and radio.

His West End credits include: Sing a Rude Song, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Black Mikado, The Travelling Music Show, The Secret Life of Cartoons, Run for your Wife, Dry Rot, Aladdin, Snow White, Babes in the Wood, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Noises Off, Twelth Night, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Exonerated. He recently appeared in The Mousetrap at the St Martin's Theatre, Exit the King at the National Theatre and on tour in Driving Miss Daisy.

Television appearances include: Unforgotten, Midsomer Murders, Small Axe, Casualty, Holby City, Doctors, The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, Silent Witness and Coronation Street.

Regarding composing work, Derek wrote all the music for Heads and Tales, Bod, Two by Two, Mythical Magical Creatures as well as many TV jingles. He wrote the music and lyrics for a production of The Three Musketeers at the Royal Exchange.

In 2014, he was awarded a gold award for his music in TV from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. His voice can be heard on many cartoon and TV adverts.

At the time of recording this podcast, Derek was appearing in The Third Man at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

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Ria was born and raised in Swansea and was brought up surrounded by the rich heritage of Welsh music. Her mother was an Opera Singer and her father a successful cabaret entertainer, so it was inevitable at an early age that Ria Jones was destined for stardom. 

At 19 she became the youngest actress ever to play the role of Eva Peron in 'Evita', followed shortly by her West End debut in the musical 'Chess' in which she played both Svetlana and Florence. She went on to perform famed roles such as Grizabella in 'CATS', Fantine in 'Les Miserables, The Narrator in 'Joseph And His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat' Liz Imbrie in 'High Society' Reno Sweeney in 'Anything Goes', alongside Marti Pellow in 'The Witches of Eastwick' among many other notable roles and more recently in Victoria Wood's most iconic role as Mrs Overall in 'Acorn Antiques' which she recently reprised when requested by Victoria Wood to appear in the 'Angina Monologues' at The Haymarket Theatre, London.

Ria has performed as a soloist on three Royal Variety Shows and has also sung by royal request at Buckingham Palace. She has performed as a soloist to audiences in many of the worlds' finest venues, including in numerous West End Theatres, The Millennium Centre, The Palladium, The Theatre Royal Drury Lane, The Jubilee Theatre at Raffles Hotel Singapore and regularly at The Royal Albert Hall. Ria was also honoured to be picked to perform alongside Bryn Terfel, Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey for the opening of the Welsh Assembly at Cardiff Bay.

Ria's TV appearances include her own one-off special for BBC Wales entitled 'One Night Only with Ria Jones', Three televised Royal Variety Performances for the BBC, 'Wales in the West End' for HTV, a recently televised drama written by Victoria Wood, 'When Eric Met Ernie' and most recently an episode for the new series of Torchwood.

She has performed frequently with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at The Royal Albert Hall, and has personal accolades from Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. She has shared the stage with Tom Jones, Tony Bennett, Montserrat Caballe, Philip Schofield, Catherine Zeta-Jones Take That, Lulu, Ronnie Corbett, Angela Rippon, Aled Jones, Brian Adams, Jason Donovan, Elaine Paige, Joe Pasquale, Marti Pellow, Michael Ball....to name but a few.

Ria has also released an album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 'Abbaphonic' and her first solo album 'Have You Met Miss Jones?'

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Luke is a musical director, pianist and conductor based in London and has just completed the summer season at the Chichester Festival Theatre as the assistant musical director for the hugely successful, five star reviewed musical, Crazy For You.

He was assistant musical director of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical UK Tour and previously was music assistant to Alex Lacamoire, Ben Cohn, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul for the premiere production of Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre.

He is a proud alumnus of the esteemed musical direction and coaching course at the Royal Academy of Music and is also a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music.

Luke can be followed on Twitter @lukebholman and on Instagram @luke.bholman

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When Chichester Festival Theatre opened in 1962, it was Britain’s first modern thrust stage theatre. The brainchild of a local optician, Leslie Evershed-Martin, it was effectively ‘crowdfunded’ by local individuals and businesses: a theatre built by the community for the community, an ethos which still stands today. Between 1962-65, under its first artistic director Laurence Olivier, CFT provided the nucleus for the newly established National Theatre company.

This year, 2022, CFT celebrates its 60th anniversary and over the past six decades, myriad productions originated at Chichester have transferred to the West End or toured nationally and internationally, from musicals to significant new plays and classic revivals. The latest which has just finished was the 5 star reviewed, Crazy For You which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022 as well. 

Craig talks to three members of the management team about their roles at the theatre and what life is like working for such a prestigious establishment.

For more information about the Theatre visit their website cft.org.uk/about-us/our-story

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Since graduating from Guildhall, Graham has worked on a wide range of shows both in the UK and on tour overseas. He recently worked on Jesus Christ Superstar at Regents Park Open Air Theatre in 2021 and has just completed his position as company stage manager for Crazy for You at Chichester Festival Theatre this summer 2022.

Graham is also an accomplished photographer turning his hand at photographing performances and people in the theatre both for publicity purposes and also for fun. His photography website is www.grahammichael.co.uk

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Matthew was brought up in the west coast of Scotland and trained at the Dance School of Scotland before starting his professional trading at Arts Ed in London.

He left after one year as he was offered a part in a musical in Germany and from there his career took off.

Matthew's theatre credits include: Singin’ in the Rain, 42nd Street (Chichester Festival); Chicago (Cambridge); The Car Man (London/UK tour); Edward Scissorhands (London/UK/US/Japan/Korea); Jack and the Beanstalk (Barbican); Mary Poppins (Prince Edward); Anything Goes (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); On Your Toes (Royal Festival Hall/Leicester Haymarket); Beauty and the Beast (UK tour); A Night of 1000 Voices (Royal Albert Hall); Tabaluga and Lili (Germany); Jazz Art UK’s Messin’ Round Midnight (Edinburgh Festival); Matilda (Cambridge Theatre) Guys and Dolls (Sheffield Crucible) and he played Skimbleshanks in the Kilworth House production of Cats .

He was also part of the 'Bonnie & Clyde in concert' staring Jeremy Jordan and Frances Mayi McCann which was filmed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane during its performances on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 January 2022.

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This recording was done at Chichester Festival Theatre where Kate is currently playing the role of Patsy and is also understudy for Carly Anderson who plays Polly, the lead female character,  in Crazy For You. This brand new production, which celebrates the work’s 30th anniversary, is directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.

After growing up in Stoke on Trent, Kate went on to train at Arts Ed, Kate before launching her professional performing career. She played Stephanie in ‘Saturday Night Fever’ for Bill Kenwright, and performed in ‘Follies’ at The National Theatre,  and 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe' on the UK Tour. She was also in the Netflix series 'The Crown'.

Kate is also a qualified fitness instructor.

You can follow her on instagram @kateparr_

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After running a dance school for 27 years and a franchise theatre school for 12. Deborah made a break and invested in a business coach, studied marketing, retention, business strategies in relation to the dance world, customer services, finances, planning, social media, team nurturing, leadership, systems, processes, the list goes on. She read over 30 business books, went on business retreats, attended summits, webinars you name it.

Soon she was implementing her newly learned skills and it started to pay off. She experienced wonderful growth in her businesses and turned her schools around. That is where she thought her story would end…

… but I saw friends and fellow dance bosses sharing the same struggles that she had experienced. Knowing she had the answers she found it difficult to sit back and watch them struggle. She started to share at every opportunity. Little bits of valuable information that she had learned. People started commenting “why didn’t I know this already”. Soon after she was approached not once but three times in a week from dance school principals asking to pay for my help. That is when Dance Business Lab was born and 1-1 coaching began.

Hear part of her journey with Craig on this podcast or visit her website at dancebusinesslab.com

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This weeks podcast was recorded live at this year's Move It which is the world's biggest dance event where Craig was promoting Starquest Performers College, and takes place at London's Excel.

Craig interviews Move It Event Creative Director, Tia Hassen and Lucy Newton of Cogo Travel.

MOVE IT is the World’s biggest and best dance event, celebrating all forms of dance and the performing arts across three amazing days. No matter what level you are, MOVE IT has something for every dancer, teacher, spectator and professional, at this electric celebration of all things dance and performing arts! www.moveitdance.co.uk

COGO offers a wide range of group breaks, performing arts trips and educational conferences in Disneyland® Paris, as well as tailor-made group tours and city breaks in Europe and beyond. cogotravel.co.uk

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Craig is at it again! Adjudicating at this year's Thanet Dance Festival which is based in Birchington in Kent.