Dame Vera Lynn extends her personal message of love and best wishes to the theatre industry in a new and exclusive free online film. We’ll Meet Again will premiere on Friday 24 April at 12:00 BST on Official London Theatre’s YouTube Channel. The video shall then remain on OLT’s platform to be viewed at any time.
Alfie Boe joins the previously announced cast of West End stars featured in this special collaboration produced by Dominic Ferris, with creative direction by Martin Milnes and visual direction by Tom Large.
The video features socially-distanced West End stars united in reassurance that West End and UK theatres shall once more rise and thrive – some sunny day.
We’ll Meet Again stars Alfie Boe, BLAKE, Gyles Brandreth, Sharon D. Clarke, Jonah Collier, Bill Deamer, Louise Dearman, Kerry Ellis, Shaun Escoffery, Ferris & Milnes, Maria Friedman, Bradley Jaden, Cassidy Janson, Joe Pasquale, Hannah Waddingham, Layton Williams and Michael Xavier.
The sixteen-strong choir provided by Capital Voices, features John Addison, Katie Birtill, Mary Carewe, David Combes, Yona Dunsford, Lance Ellington, Kate Graham, Matt Little, CJ Neale, Andrew Playfoot, Lucy Potterton, Annie Skates (who also created vocal arrangements), Patrick Smyth, James Spilling, Laura Tebbutt and Stephen Weller.
Musician Léon Charles, grandson of “We’ll Meet Again” composer Hughie Charles, is delighted the song has once again proved an inspiration: “‘We’ll Meet Again’ is about the wonderful optimism in the face of uncertainty that those who were close, but for now, apart, will be together again, ‘some sunny day’. I’m thrilled that my grandfather’s music, with Ross Parker’s lyrics, is being performed in the spirit in which it was intended.”
Pianist and producer Dominic Ferris oversaw the creative collaboration, enlisting the help of producer Anthony Cherry, who rallied his Friday Night Is Music Night team to the cause. Dominic said: “This project started life as a simple idea, uniting this country’s wonderful theatrical talent to boost morale among theatregoers and professionals alike. Compiling a multi-layered recording comprising dozens of audio and video files inevitably brings with it some technical challenges, but it has been a rewarding process to see all these elements come together. I’d like to extend my thanks to Anthony Cherry, Susan Fleet, my fellow creatives and all the artistes involved.”
Creative Director Martin Milnes said “It has been important to convey that the theatre is timeless. Therefore, this film is dedicated to the audiences and professionals of yesterday, today … and tomorrow. Our current theatre owes so much to everything which has gone before. And the theatre of tomorrow will be shaped by what we make of it today.”
“We’ll Meet Again” was developed with The Stay Inn, an online digital entertainment space hosting theatre, comedy and live stream concerts.
