Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) has announced that Tim will be joining the stellar line-up of Western Australian artists at Home, a huge, free, one-off outdoor theatre spectacular, reflecting on what the Western Australian landscape and concept of ‘home’ means to its artists.
Home is a narrative driven concert, celebrating the beauty of the Western Australian landscape, culture and community.
Directed by Nigel Jamieson in collaboration with Noongar elder and artist Dr Richard Walley, the performance will feature an outstanding roll call of Western Australia’s most acclaimed and imaginative artists and creatives including Grace Barbé • John Butler • The Drones • Robert Drewe • Wayne Freer • Guy Ghouse • Gina Williams • Iain Grandage • Kavisha Mazzella • Lucky Oceans • The Panics • Pigram Brothers • Kim Scott • Shaun Tan • The Triffids • Voyces • The Waifs • Dave Warner • Western Australian Youth Orchestra • Tim Winton and more …
Lotterywest Festival Opening Home 7.30pm on 13th February, 2016. (90 minutes, no interval) Langley Park, East Perth Tickets: FREE EVENT
Tim:“I can’t wait to come home for Home. It is incredibly exciting and moving to be involved in a home-grown event on this awesome scale, to be working with the likes of Nigel Jamieson, my old friend Iain Grandage, and the great Richard Walley, and to have the privilege of sharing a stage with such an extraordinary line-up of West Australian performers and artists.”
For more information and updates including, location and travel guidance, head to the event page on the PIAF website here.
Hopefully you’ve already spotted that Tim and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) have been working with MND Australia on The Fading Symphony, a campaign to raise awareness and funds: for research into finding a cure, to support people living with MND and for global projects fighting ALS/MND. (If you’ve not yet seen the video then you might like to pop over here to watch it before reading on).
Motor neurone disease (MND), sometimes also referred to as ALS, is a progressive terminal neurological disease with no known cure or effective treatment. Each day in Australia two people die from and two people are diagnosed with MND, which can strike men or women, young or old, from any country, race or demographic. People living with the disease progressively lose the use of their limbs and the ability to speak, swallow and breathe whilst their mind and senses usually remain intact.
The Fading Symphony sees Tim and the SSO, at the Sydney Recital Hall, performing a moving rendition of Neil Finn’s Crowded House hit Don’t Dream It’s Over. As they play, they poignantly illustrate the progression of the debilitating symptoms; highlighting the physical impacts metaphorically through deteriorating performances by the artists. As Tim and the orchestra fall silent a donation is requested, following which the orchestra comes back to life and plays on, flourishing to an uplifting crescendo.
Tim: “I love playing with the SSO, I have aways loved this song, and I loved this idea the minute it was presented to me. Music has the capacity to make us emotionally connect to stories like nothing else. Except, perhaps, silence.”
Please donate $5 (or £s or €s!) at thefadingsymphony.com/donate to help the fight against MND and watch Tim and the orchestra heal and play on! (more…)
Tim recently reunited with the fabulous Sydney Symphony Orchestra, at the Sydney Recital Hall, for a haunting performance of Neil Finn’s classic hit, Don’t Dream It’s Over. Here’s what happened:
Available to download worldwide, from iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and all global digital stores, with CDs available from HMV and Xtra-vision, in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Remember, if you’d like to support these charities more than once you can gift the song on iTunes like this.
Earlier this month, Tim joined Mark Watson, Dynamo, the Tredegar Town Band, Sara Pascoe and many more, for a memorable first Old Vic Variety Night. More details and the mailing list, for a heads-up about future Variety Nights, can be found here.
Tim and his band performed White Wine In The Sun, Prejudice, Cheese and finally Seeing You, from the stage musical adaptation of Groundhog Dayhe’s currently developing. The latter, a spectacular finale with his band joined by backing singers and the Tredegar Town Band, was met with a standing ovation.
Here are a few glimpses behind the curtain at Tim rehearsing and performing.
Tim’s song When I Grow Up, from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s multi-award winning, Matilda The Musical, has been released as a charity single and will be available to download/pre-order from just after midnight tonight (00:01 20th November) worldwide from iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and all global digital stores. There will be CDs available from HMV and Xtra-vision, in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, from the release date 27th November, 2015.
Produced by Stephen Macken, it was recorded at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, by the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) and features Shane Filan and Grace Lee and a chorus of over two thousand.
Here’s an exclusive early look at the official video, with a brief introduction by Shane Filan. Please enjoy, sing along, buy, play, share and gift!
The four young actress taking on the role of Matilda are (from L-R) Dusty Bursill, Tiana Mirra, Alannah Parfett and Ingrid Torelli.
They will be joined by the full Original Australian Adult cast from Sydney, including the principals (in alphabetical order), Marika Aubrey (Mrs Wormwood), Daniel Frederiksen (Mr Wormwood), Elise McCann (Miss Honey) and James Millar (Miss Trunchbull).
Matilda’s classmates will be played by Charli Bowers, Freya Cantwell, Keely Corcoran, Jack Coyne, Jeremiah Duncan, Shyla Farrugia, Tahlia Gerosa, Cooper Guinea, Jazi Hall, Kushinka Jayewardene, Andre Karabajakian, Kathleen Lawlor, Campbell MacCorquodale, Thierry Mendoza, Chloe Ngo, Chihana Perera, Adam Punsalang, Kyle Reynolds, Orlando Schwerdt, Hudson Sharp, Daniel Stow, Alistair Touliatos, Caleb Waterworth, Tahlia Williams and Mackensie Young.
The Melbourne run will commence mid-March at the Princess Theatre and tickets are on sale now from Ticketmaster!
To learn more about the Australian production of Matilda the Musical and hear some previews of Tim’s songs for the show, visit their website. If you want to know all about the show’s journey from a small theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon through to being a worldwide smash hit, you can have a read of that here.
Tim’ll be getting into the ChristMAS spirit next month Live at the Ace, in LA!
There will be no warm-up acts. Tim’ll be joined on stage at 8pm by his trusty, long-suffering piano, less trusty long tresses and some natty attire.
Tim’s keen to emphasise that the show is not part of a new tour but will be a fun couple of hours of favourite songs, frolics in tight pants with maybe a couple of songs he penned for his musicals. All this to satisfy Tim’s desire to hit the stage (and his piano) and his audiences’ desire to watch him do that with aplomb.
All profits from this show will be donated to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders.
The Theatre at Ace Hotel
929 South Broadway
Los Angeles, CA. Tuesday 15th December, 2015, at 8pm
Doors Open: 7pm
Price: $35.00 TicketsOnsale: Thursday, 19th November, 2015, at 10am PSThere.
UPDATE (22nd February, 2016): We’ve just heard that this gig raised $10,000 for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders. Thank you!
On Monday, Tim and writer Dennis Kelly were awarded honorary degrees at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts graduation ceremony. They each became an Honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the UK’s arts industry.
A selection of photos of Tim and Dennis at the ceremony can be found in the graduation gallery on Mountview Academy’s Facebook Page and for a little more detail pop over to their website.
The ceremony was held at the Cambridge Theatre, in London’s West End, where their production of Matilda the Musical has been enjoying a highly acclaimed run since 2011. Both Honorary Graduates gave contrasting and entertaining speeches at the event. Dennis spoke first, if you’d like to listen to them in order. Tim’s speech, in the form of a free verse poem, concludes with a masterclass in bending down elegantly in tight trousers and you’ll find the full text below.
As in previous years, all November, December and January profits from the sale of Tim’s beloved sentimental Christmas song, White Wine In The Sun, will go to The National Autistic Society (NAS) which provides support, information and services for people with autism and their families and campaigns for “a better world for people with autism”.
Along with the UK iTunes link above, here are a few more of the places you can download the 2012 single internationally: iTunes , Amazon (UK),Amazon (US) and 7digital.
If you have it already, you may fancy gifting it, along with the socks, jocks or chocs…
Wednesday 24th February, 2016
7:30pm
Ages 17+ Tickets are $20.80 – $36.00 and available here.
This’ll probably be a show featuring vintage satirical lyrical favourites and maybe a song or two from one of Tim’s musicals: Matilda (already on in the West End, Broadway, Sydney and touring the US) and Groundhog Day (opening in London’s West End, 2016 and then heading to Broadway in 2017).
On the 25th of October, the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) recorded Tim’s song When I Grow Up, from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s multi-award winning, Matilda The Musical, featuring Shane Filan and Grace Lee and a chorus of over two thousand.
The charity single will be released on Friday 27th November on iTunes, Google Play and all digital stores. There will be CDs available in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Here’s a little peek behind the scenes at the rehearsals, with an introduction by, RTÉ radio and television presenter, Ronan Collins:
The official music video will be released on the 20th November, with the single available for pre-order on that date too. There’s a little more information and background on the choice of the song here.
The very first Old Vic Variety Night, next month, sees Tim joining comedian Mark Watson, magician Dynamo and the Tredegar Town Band for a fun-filled evening of music, comedy and magic! More acts are yet to be announced.
The Old Vic’s first Variety Night will be on Sunday 15th November at 7pm Tickets go on General Sale on Friday 30th October at 12 noon.
Ticket pricing, priority booking and further details can be found here.
Tim worked with Matthew Warchus on Matilda The Musical and they are currently developing a stage musical adaptation of Groundhog Day together. When he first became Artistic Director at The Old Vic, Warchus announced his intention to open up the theatre for variety shows on Sunday evenings as part of his inaugural season. Looks like he’s starting off with a real humdinger!
UPDATE (12/11/15) Further acts announced: comedian Sara Pascoe, comedy magician David Williamson, Momento Violin Duo and The Beatbox Collective.
Tim’s guest staring in Australian streaming service Stan‘s first original production, No Activity.
The six part Australian comedy series, stars Patrick Brammall and Darren Gilshenan. It follows two police detectives, Hendy and Stokes, killing time on a stakeout, waiting for something to happen. It doesn’t. Genevieve Morris and Harriet Dyer are unlikely dispatch officers, Carol and April, while Dan Wylie, David Field and Sam Simmons make up the disorganised crime element.
Tim plays Jacob, a security guard working at the docks, tasked with looking out for anything unusual, so he can tip off the cops.
All six episodes will be available from just after midnight on Thursday 22nd October, 2015.
On the 25th of October, at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, a new charity single will be recorded.
Over two thousand, three hundred voices will join together with a sixteen-piece orchestra to record When I Grow Up from Matilda The Musical. Tim’s gladly given his approval and royalty free use of the song.
Stephen Macken, producer of the hugely successful charity single Tiny Dancer, has once again teamed up with the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) to create something very special for this Christmas.
The recording will take place as part of the gala concert ENCORE! celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of AIMS and will feature former Westlife star, Shane Filan.
Stephen Macken says: “I chose ‘When I Grow Up’ as the AIMS charity single because of its deeper meaning in the context of its portrayal of the simple childhood dreams and ambitions that we all once projected into our adult lives, eating sweets all day, climbing taller trees, no longer fearing monsters, and how those dreams and ambitions are the same for all children, including those who face an uncertain future due to illness and who may never live to see their fulfillment. It’s that context that makes the song so special and meaningful.”
The single will go on sale at the end of November. It will be a global release on all download stores and there will be CDs available in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Leave a Comment