KATE MARLAIS + ALEX YOUNG

Musical Theatre Composition, Book + Lyrics

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Recording the concept album of HERE (July 2014). Video by Carl Conway at Crookdlense.

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Thrilled about our musical 'HERE' winning the 2015 S & S Award for best international unproduced musical, in conjunction with Leicester Curve Theatre. Whoop. Great gala evening at St James' Theatre.

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Have a listen if you wanna... HAUS POTSDAM (from ‘HERE’) will be featured in the Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Award 2015. The competition is held at the Garrick Theatre this Sunday 17th May.

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Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Award

We are thrilled that our song 'HAUS POTSDAM' (from 'HERE') is in the finals for Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Award 2015!

Twelve songs were selected from over a hundred entries, from up and coming writers of new, British musical theatre. The award is part of the Stephen Sondheim Student Performer Of The Year competition.

The competition will take place this Sunday - 17th May 2015 - at the Garrick Theatre. Judges include Stiles and Drewe, and director Jamie Lloyd.

Ewan Black, a student at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, will perform our song.

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Things that have passed…

Take a look at our album! It is too exciting. Manufactured by the excellent Disc Factory. Album artwork by David Andrews. Lyric sheet artwork by Kate Marlais.

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"HERE" - a musical. Concept album.

Words and music - Kate Marlais and Alex Young.


Orchestrations/Arrangements/Musical Direction - Oli Jackson.

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Vocalists:

The Artist - Tomm Coles


The Dancer - Kristin Lidstrom


The Debutant - Holly-Anna Hawkes


The Engineer - Andre Refig


The Farmer - Suzanna Kempner


The Soldier/Doctor - Adam Barlow

Band:

Piano - Michael Riley


Violin - Shelley Britton


Cello - James Greenfield


Guitar - John Gregson


Cornet/Trumpet - Danielle Audley-Wiltshier


Percussion - Matt West


Piano/Accordion - Oli Jackson

'An original story, set in Cumbria in the last years of World War Two. We drew upon real events in the life of German artist, Kurt Schwitters - famous for his Merz collages and art installations - who, after exiling himself from Nazi Germany, spent his final years living and working on Cylinder Farm in Ambleside, Cumbria.'

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GOSH. Kate and Alex Compose have a website! G'wan, knock yerselves out. Check back for updates. +++Full album coming SOON!+++ Peace+love, friends x

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A few shots from our week recording at Resident Studios. Team “Here” looking slick.

Photos: Andy Field

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Thank you to everyone who donated and shared our campaign. We are overwhelmed by all the encouragement and support we've received. Rewards, CD mentions, kisses, hugs etc... all coming your way. If you are to be sent a copy of the CD as part of your 'reward', please message us your address. We are two very happy girls. Recording starts in just over 2 weeks. We've fantastic singers and musicians, and a brilliant team. Can't wait to share the album with you when it's ready! Follow our progress on Twitter @KateAlexCompose and here on our Tumblr web page. We'll be posting videos, photos and general enthusings from our rehearsal and recording process. Watch this HERE space... Kate and Alex xx

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Hello!

We made a little video of us post-rehearsal, taking tea in Oli’s garden (Oli is our wonderful MD and orchestrator).

Rehearsals for the concept album recording have begun, and orchestrations are sounding amazing!

More updates on our progress soon…

http://youtu.be/MPyWnA2Mqos

You can still donate to our album recording Kickstarter funding campaign by clicking this link :-) :

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1786987816/here-a-new-musical-support-our-concept-album-recor

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Please watch our funding video! Thank you for all your generosity so far! We are chuffed chuffed chuffed.

Kate + Alex

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"Here" - a new musical. Support our concept album recording!

"Here" is a new folk/classical musical. An original story based upon the Cumbrian years German artist Kurt Schwitters at the end of WW2

++NEWSFLASH++

Friends! We have smashed through the half-way point for our concept album funding campaign in just 12 days!! Read all about it here, and please help us spread the word and keep the donations coming in!

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We have been writing folk/classical musical, "Here", for over two years, and now feel that we are in a position where we are ready to take some singers and instrumentalists into the recording studio and create a concept album of the score.

And we need your help to fund this project. The responses to our work so far, from leading writers, composers, and directors in the industry, have all been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. And we feel that the next step is to secure funding and backing for the project. 

To create our concept album, we will need around £5000 to pay for the recording studio, rehearsal space, and for our performers' and musicians'  time and talent. We will send the completed concept album, along with our script, to producers and creatives, so we can begin to take our project to the next stage - perhaps that is an industry showing of our work so far, or a workshop to further develop the piece.

We are so passionate about "Here", and are both hugely committed to creating a new musical theatre sound, our own sound, and, moreover, a very British sound.

If you can help us take this step forward, making a leap on to the new musical theatre writing scene, we would be so SO grateful!

All our love

Kate and Alex 

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Stiles and Drewe Best New Song 2014 Award

We are so chuffed to be shortlisted for this award, with the song "Temporary" from our musical 'Here'. Check the song out here: http://soundcloud.com/katemarlais-2/temporary/s-xdh23

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Hello!

This is a little video of our research trip to Ambleside, Cumbria, the last home of German artist Kurt Schwitters.

Our musical, "Here", is set upon Cylinder Farm, where Schwitters stayed and worked on his "Merzbarn" installation, until his death in 1948. Having exiled himself from Germany during the Second World War, Schwitters continued to create art after settling in Ambleside. Through the medium of collage, he believed in finding order from chaos, finding beauty and sense in disparate elements, and observed these ideas in life itself. 

We came across a photograph of those he lived with on the farm.

"Here" is an imagining of who these people were, what their stories might have been, and whether such a group of similarly disparate people could find harmony in living together.

So, we went to Ambleside, and were dumbstruck by the natural beauty. No wonder Schwitters wanted to stay here. It's a magical place, the nature constantly changing - vivid colours, bright light and clean air quickly turn heavy and ominous.

We were lucky enough to stay on Cylinder Farm, the very place we've been writing about for two years. It's enchanting, left pretty much as it was back then. The spirit of the place has remained untouched.

Thank you to Ian Hunter and Celia Larner of Littoral Arts Trust for having us, and for keeping Schwitters' final wish alive - to support young artists in creating and developing their work. And thank you for all the wonderful stories.

Music: 'Here' from "Here", a musical. 

Words and Music: Kate Marlais and Alex Young.

Copyright 2012/13.

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I know that I am an important factor in the development of art and shall forever remain so. I say this with great emphasis, so that one can not say, at a later date: ‘The poor fellow had no inkling of how important he was’. Nor I am no fool, nor am I timid. I know full well that the time will come for me and all other important personalities of the abstract movement, when we will influence an entire generation. However, I fear that I shall not experience this.

KS, ‘I and my purpose’ in Merz, no. 21, 1931

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Nature. The colours here are beautiful. They seem to be carefully put together images. It's just like a collage. Hmm reminds me of something...

(KS, 'Anything with a Stone', 1941/44, mixed media)

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Inside the Merzbarn.

A stone’s throw from our make-shift bed in The Shippon, is the Merzbarn.

It’s hard to imagine that one of the fore-runners of modernist art worked in this tiny, damp space. But when the rain pours over the door, and the sun shines through the small, high windows, even the now-empty barn is a piece of art in itself.

Crumbling walls, now home to cobwebs, clinging to the remnants, the bones, of Schwitters’ imaginings for the Merzbarn.

Another piece of ‘found’ art he created, a “snake stick”- a stick that looked a bit like a snake - once hung above the entrance, but was stolen by some local scallywags years ago. The legend of the snake stick still lives on. Kids love it. We love it. Snake stick for president.

The window where Wantee would sell tea and cakes to passing walkers and climbers. Now a cakey-candley shrine.

We lit a candle for Schwitters and Wantee. Tempted to do a seance. No, no, mum told me not to do seances. Sigh. Bye Schwitters. Bye Wantee.