In the 'House Seats'
This podcast brings you interviews with people working in the entertainment industry discussing about all aspects of onstage performing or backstage production. Ideas as a prospective performer through to what an adjudicator, choreographer or casting director might look for when you are delivering your performance piece.
Hosted by Craig Bartley who is a performer and choreographer, who has appeared in West End and Broadway productions ranging from 42nd Street (Original cast at Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Me & My Girl (Adelphi Theatre), La Cage Aux Follies (Palladium Theatre), Mack And Mabel in concert (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) and Man of La Mancha (Peacock Theatre) of which he recorded the cast albums for both ‘Mack And Mabel’ and ‘Man of La Mancha’. He also spent more than two and a half years playing the part of ‘Doody’ in the hit musical ‘Grease’ where he received the Golden Quiff Award for best performance, which was presented by the late Victoria Wood.
He also appeared in two Royal Variety Performances at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane for the BBC and ITV and 'A Royal Performance' at the Adelphi Theatre.
Craig’s experience has enabled him to travel the globe extensively whilst being involved in performing, choreographing, directing and producing for the inaugural production set up for most of the World’s leading cruise lines. As well as performing, Craig has taught specialist classes at Mountview, Millenium, Urdang, Elmhurst and Red Roofs Theatre School. He was also the full-time Course Director and co-Principal of his own successful Starquest Performers College.
He still runs and teaches at Starquest Performing Arts encouraging children from two and a half to 18 to act, sing and dance.
He hopes this podcast will help and inspire existing and especially newly graduated creatives just what challenges lie in store and what the highs and lows are for people within the performing arts industry. If you like this podcast then please leave us a 5 star review on iTunes podcasts.
In the 'House Seats'
Ep 58: Kim Criswell, professional West End, Broadway and international leading lady.
Kim's career has taken her from Broadway to the West End to the international concert stage, resulting in a most unusual career path unmatched by any other singer. She continues to specialize in musical theatre, bringing the classic American songbook to leading music venues across the world, both in symphony settings and recital. She has sung at La Scala in Milan, La Fenice in Venice, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Théâtre du Châtelet and the Opéra Comique in Paris, Concertgebauw in Amsterdam, Carnegie (Weill) Recital Hall in New York, the Musikverein, Konzerthaus and Volksoper in Vienna, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, the Snape Maltings Concert Hall in Aldeburgh, and the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, not to mention multiple appearances in London at the Wigmore Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Rooms, Cadogan Hall, and the Linbury Studios at the Royal Opera House, and elsewhere, from Reykjavik, Helsinki, Leipzig and Kaiserslautern, to Athens, Essen, Gothenburg and Bremen, to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Hong Kong, Malta, Montpellier, and Moscow, giving her a unique platform among interpreters of the musical theatre repertoire.
She has had the pleasure of singing with many of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, ranging from the Berlin Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, with whom she has recorded Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town in a version that then was repeated as a BBC Proms concert, and as the New Year’s Eve Gala in Berlin, to the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia and London Sinfonietta, the Liverpool Philharmonic, the Northern Sinfonia, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orchestre de Picardie, the Orchestra della Toscana, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Toronto and Winnipeg Symphonies, and many, many more.
Kim has formed several lasting musical partnerships over the years, leading to both concert and recording opportunities. Conductor/music historian John McGlinn brought her to EMI Classics, which led to several recordings and a personal recording contract, as well as many symphony concerts across America and Europe. With conductor John Wilson, she has explored the world of film music across the UK in concert, including the very popular MGM and Rodgers and Hammerstein Proms concerts, and several solo evenings. Her ongoing recital partnership with conductor/pianist Wayne Marshall has taken the pair to many of the great concert venues in Europe, both as recitalists and in full symphony settings. Other conductors she has appeared with include Kristjan Jarvi, , Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Yutaka Sado, Keith Lockhart, Ulf Schirmer, John Axelrod, Kevin Farrell, Carl Davis and Richard Hickox, to name a few.
Critically acclaimed for playing “Annie Oakley” in Annie Get Your Gun at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre, for which she earned a Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, and for her role as “The Old Lady” in Robert Carsen’s productions of Candide at La Scala and the Théâtre du Châtelet, she has also won a Helen Hayes Award for her work in Side by Side by Sondheim. She also starred as “Sally Adams” in Call Me Madam at the Goodspeed Opera House, singing the role of “The Old Lady” in Candide at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, and co-starring with Joseph Fiennes and Charles Edwards in Happy Days in the Art World at NYU’s Skirball Center in New York.
Kim’s Broadway credits include starring as “Lucy”, opposite Sting, in the 3 Penny Opera directed by John Dexter, and appearing in the original Broadway cast of 1982 Best Musical Tony winner Nine, first as Francesca, then taking over