At the tender age of five, Jonathan's first visit to the Bristol Hippodrome
was all it took to ignite an immediate obsession for the theatre. By his
mid-teens, he had written five pantomimes, all of which were produced locally
in his native Wiltshire, but musical theatre was to become his focus and
passion.
The Arts Council of England financially supported a complete concept recording
of Jonathan's first musical, the lavish fantasy Professor
Utopia, and extracts were staged at the London Palladium as part
of the Vivian Ellis Gala. Julia
McKenzie presented Professor Utopia with the Mercury Development
Prize, and Jonathan was invited to join Mercury Musical Developments.
This was followed by the recording of a
Suite for Piano & Orchestra, a condensed symphonic version of the
Professor Utopia score.
In collaboration with librettist Sebastian
Michael, Jonathan wrote the musical, Alvaro’s
Balcony. With a 1920s-inspired score and tear-jerking story, the
musical was first workshopped in 2007, immediately followed by a rehearsed
reading starring Susannah York, Norman Bowman, Edward Petherbridge, Beverley
Klein and Andrew C Wadsworth at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End.
This first full production opened at the Landor Theatre in 2008, and now
a new studio cast recording is currently in the works.
For Happy Feet Stories, Jonathan provided the scores for audio books of
The Selfish Giant and EarthDances,
and the publication by Netherlands-based Dennis Music of his production
library CD, Children's Drama,
including the orchestral piece Parade of the Inanimate Objects, has
led to his music being used for television in Germany, Austria, Taiwan and
South Africa. |
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