Wilton’s Music Hall announces their new season for January – April 2022, showcasing the very best of theatre and music, collaborating with distinguished companies and talent whilst also championing rising stars.
The new season sees the multi-award-winning Mark Bruce Company return to Wilton’s Music Hall with a stunning multi-performance of cinematic dance theatre; Phantoms – A Triple Bill (24th February – 5th March) presents thought-provoking choreography and powerful performance in the form of Green Apples, Bruce’s highly popular commanding work choreographed to music by The White Stripes, Folk Tales – a mysterious, fiery and celebrational collection of pieces set to the evocative music of Martin Simpson and Phantoms, a stunning dance theatre tale of love, tragedy and revenge presented in the company’s trademark cinematic vision with an originally composed score.
Celebrating the very finest Victorian operatic duo, it’s all aboard as Regan De Wynter Williams Productions, the award-winning company that brought The Pirates of Penzance return to Wilton’s present Gilbert and Sullivan’s first blockbuster (16th March – 9th April), a joyful, rollicking production with unforgettable tunes, colourful characters and a beautifully constructed libretto weaving the tale of love, honour and duty.
From 15th – 19th February, a chilling true story arrives at Wilton’s – in the summer of 1827, Maria Marten awaits her lover in a red barn. A year later her body is found under the floor of the barn and a national manhunt begins to find the killer, sending shockwaves through the country. The Ballad of Maria Marten, a spine-tingling retelling of a real-life murder mystery rediscovers her story and brings it to vivid, urgent life in a thrilling, important reimagining written by Beth Flintoff and directed by Hal Chambers.
Headlining this season’s musical offering is the Hackney Colliery Band, one of the most exciting live bands in the UK with their infectiously joyous sound and electric performances, who will take to the Wilton’s stage (8th – 12th March) with new show Explorations, creating exuberant sounds and singalongs with their genre-bending combination of brass, reeds, percussions and electronics. Joining them on the line-up is award-winning five-star Glaswegian chanteuse Christine Bovill who – following on from her successes of PIAF and PARIS at Wilton’s – returns with a brand-new show Tonight You Belong To Me (25th – 29th January), celebrating the very best songs and stories from the Jazz Age all performed in her heart-melting, smoky, evocative voice.
The new season also sees the return of the glorious One Track Minds, an evening of music and storytelling that sees an esteemed panel of guests tell the thought-provoking tale of the song that changed their lives (21st January, 9th and 10th February), whilst it’s time for a right old knees up as Carradine’s Cockney Sing-a-Long make a triumphant return to their home stage of Wilton’s for another uproarious evening of traditional East End song (20th and 22nd January, 8th February), led by the marvellous Tom Carradine.
Magic is truly in the air this season at Wilton’s, as Paul Aitchinson presents his hilarious and original comedy show Could It Be Magic?, (1st – 5th February) combining feel-good comedy with jaw-dropping magical feats whilst everyone’s favourite time-travelling magicians Morgan & West offer up their mind-boggling new family extravaganza Unbelievable Science (13th April), jam-packed with captivating chemistry, phenomenal physics and bonkers biology .
14th January sees versatile and acclaimed ensemble United Strings of Europe mark the launch of their latest album Renewal with Send Back the Echo – Exploring Beethoven, Deafness and Alienation, a programme that explores themes of loss and alienation through new works and arrangements for string orchestra, looking at the isolation faced by the deaf community and people of colour within music and the arts.
A venue with walls steeped in history, Wilton’s lends itself well to shining a light on historic icons and the 2022 season is no different; 11th and 12th April sees a true celebration of music hall and poetry with Dead Poets Live presents T.S. Eliot & Marie Lloyd, telling the very funny and moving story of the unlikely relationship between the work of two unhappy people and great artists in a vivid and meaningful way. Poet in the City also return to Wilton’s on 7th February with Love Cuts with John Hegley, a presenting of love lyrics, poems, and drawings drawn from the life of the author, his grandmother, his dog and the lives of Orpheus, Saint Valentine and Mrs. Cooper of Cheadle Hulme.
