Producer Blair Russell (Slave Play, the immersive Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd) has announced a new concept album of the original new bilingual musical For Tonight, with a cast of West End musical theatre actors and a full Welsh ensemble, which will be released on all digital platforms (Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon etc) in Summer 2021. Music book and lyrics are by Shenelle Salcido & Spencer Williams, with additional book by Whitney Rhodes.
For Tonight is a new, original musical inspired by writer Spencer Williams’s three times great grandfather’s handwritten journal. The story begins in 1832, in a small town in northern Wales where a Roma family travels through, finding shelter on the farm of the Parry family.
Soon after their arrival, the Parry parents die from an unknown disease and the Roma are forced to go into hiding, after being blamed for bringing ‘filth and death’ to Trelawnyd. The story then follows the three Parry children, Thomas, Haydon and Nettie, in the aftermath of their parents’ death. While the elder brother, Thomas, struggles with the guilt of events surrounding the Roma’s departure, Haydon, runs off to Liverpool in search of a new life, leaving Nettie behind to deal with the overbearing Thomas.
In Liverpool, Haydon falls in love with Mirela, a Roma woman, who poses a threat to his already strained family relationships. Haydon quickly learns, however, that bias runs on both sides and that Mirela’s family will not accept a gadje (an outsider). Haydon and Mirela are forced to keep their love a secret. When events back home call Haydon to return, he and Thomas must finally face their past, and all three siblings face their biggest fears.
Through a riveting score, the atmospheric soundscape blends traditional Welsh choral, indie-pop, folk, and Romani-inspired melodies and rhythms. At its core, FOR TONIGHT is an exploration of the power and meaning of home.
The British cast is led by Simon Gordon (Girl From the North Country, Bat Out Of Hell) as Haydon Parry, Amy Di Bartolomeo (We Will Rock You, Bat Out Of Hell) as Mirela Kascht, Dale Evans (Kinky Boots, Showboat) as Thomas Parry, Erin Caldwell (Unravelling, Twist and Turn) as Henrietta (Nettie) Parry, Jade Davies (Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera) as Molly Llewellyn, Luke McCall (Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera) as Winn Lewis, Jake Halsey-Jones (Hamilton, Spring Awakening) as Durriken Kascht, Soophia Foroughi (The Prince of Egypt, Broken Wings) as Syeira Kascht, Glain Rhys (graduated from The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2019) as Anne Parry and John Ieuwan Jones (Welsh National Opera, Grange Park Opera) as Joseph Parry, with Owen Jac as Young Thomas, Isaac Kreisky as Young Haydon and Alexis Wilson as Young Henrietta. Also in the cast are Jordan Allan, Eva Chelsea, Joey Cornish, Sam Ebenezer, Sion Emlyn, Michelle Beth Herman, Hannah Qureshi, Samantha Thomas and Mared Williams.
The concept album for For Tonight has music and lyrics by Shenelle Salcido and Spencer Williams, orchestrations by Shenelle Salcido, additional arrangements by Joseph Purdue and Drew Wutke, audio production and mixing by Joseph Purdue, music ensemble direction by Iestyn Griffiths and Romani script consultancy by Raine Geoghegan. The concept album is produced by Blair Russell.
