Lend Me A Tenor The Musical @ Southern Utah University (June 2013)

PETER SHAM & BRAD CARROLL’S

LEND ME A TENOR THE MUSICAL,

OPENS AT GERMANY’S OPER LEIPZIG

Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah: Following its critically acclaimed run on London’s West End, Lend Me A Tenor The Musical, the uproarious musical comedy by Southern Utah University’s director of theatre, Peter Sham (book and lyrics) and SUU Artist-in-Residence  Brad Carroll (music), continues to conquer Europe. The hilarious musical recently made its German debut at Oper Leipzig in early March and continues in repertory into early June 2013.

Lend Me A Tenor The Musical, which received its world premiere at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in summer 2007, is a riotous, unpredictable explosion of mistaken identities and unexpected romance, based on the award-winning West End and Broadway hit comedy, Lend Me a Tenor, by Ken Ludwig. The musical opened in Europe originally at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in 2010 before arriving at the Gielgud Theatre in June 2011.  

With the announcement of this production, Peter Sham is overjoyed that their musical is continuing to entertain European audiences. “It’s the first time anything I have written has been translated. I hope it’s as funny in German as it is in English. We’ve recently been able to see photos of the production and, design-wise, it looks hilarious! Brad and I wish them the very best.”

Set in 1934, the hilarious musical comedy revolves around the world’s greatest tenor Tito Merelli who has come to Cleveland, Ohio, to save its Grand Opera Company by singing Verdi’s Otello. When he is unexpectedly incapacitated, Max, the opera director’s meek assistant, is given the daunting task of finding a last-minute replacement. Chaos ensues - including a scheming soprano, a tenor-struck ingénue, a jealous wife, shrimp gone bad and the Cleveland Police department.

This new German production features the subtitle of Otello Must Not Burst (the German title of Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor) and is part of Oper Zeipzig’s Musical Comedy division. The production is directed by Volker Vogel and features musical direction by Roland Seiffarth and choreography by Giorgio Madia.

Peter Sham is associate chair/director of theatre for Southern Utah University’s Department of Theatre Arts & Dance. In addition to Lend me a Tenor the Musical, Peter is the author of the musicals, Toyland, It’s a Dog’s Life: Man’s Best Musical; and the plays, Shakespeare’s Moby Dick, a classical adaptation of Herman Melville's American masterpiece, and A Christmas Carol On the Air among others. A veteran regional actor for over 30 years, he has performed at such places as The Asolo Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and has been a principal member of the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival for over 11 seasons. Peter is a graduate of the University of Delaware’s nationally acclaimed Professional Theatre Training Program. He is the 2012 winner of the Southern Utah University’s Board of Trustees Award for Excellence and the recipient of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s Excellence in Education Award for 2013.

Brad Carroll is a recognized regional director, music director and composer whose work has taken him all over the US as well as to Europe, Japan and the UK. He is co-creating a musical stage adaptation of the animated feature Christmas is Here Again, commissioned by Renegade Animation in Los Angeles. He recently made his first foray into film, scoring the independent short, X-Treme Weekend. As a Writer, Director and Musical Arranger for Walt Disney Entertainment, Brad was involved in the creation of three new shows for the multi-billion dollar TokyoDisneySea theme park that opened in Japan in 2001. His musical arrangements/orchestrations have been performed by such prestigious organizations as the San Francisco Symphony and the Boston Pops. His long association with the Utah Shakespeare Festival includes directing the Festival’s immensely popular production of Les Misérables and continues in summer 2013 with his direction of Anything Goes. For Southern Utah University’s Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, he directed Into the Woods, Little Women the Broadway Musical and the recent highly successful production of CHICAGO the Musical.