It’s the news that so many of you have been waiting for, especially if you haven’t been following the accompanying production blog, about the forthcoming ‘Storm’ movie. Drumroll please…
The premiere of the animated version of what some see as the skeptics’ anthem will be Saturday 16th October 2010 at the London Hilton Metropole, from 8pm ’til late and recently, tickets have been made available for £22.50 from here. The night will include special guests, chat, music, and, most importantly and obviously, the world premiere of the animated poem ‘Storm’.
Until now, tickets had only been available to people attending The Amazing Meeting (TAM) London, a two day skeptic conference that Tim will also be a part of, as well as Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins, Alan Moore, Robin Ince and Graham Linehan, amongst others. I could tell you what Tim’s doing, but then I’d have to kill you or face a severe telling off, but suffice to say, it will be brilliant. Tickets for the conference can be bought here.
Do come to at least one of them; it’ll be fun.
And for those wondering, the animation will be heading to a few movie festivals before it gets uploaded to YouTube for the whole world to see. To stay informed of dates, be sure to keep an eye on the production blog.
So my efforts to accumulate a workable level of fitness with which to attack the Royal Parks Half Marathon next Sunday have been undermined, predictably, by an unpleasant and uninvited autumnal cold. I’ve not been for so much as a jog for a fortnight. ‘Snot a problem. Coughing equally so.
However, I’ve said I’ll run the bloody thing, and (pending pneumonia or the unscheduled amputation of one of my primary limbs) run the bloody thing I shall.
I have to admit that the possibility of beating the time of my dear friend and nemesis, Mark Watson is now under an even gloomier cloud of doubt, but I’ve certainly not given up on the idea. Whatever the result, having a cold may be twisted to my advantage: if I beat his time, I’ll be an heroic stoic; if I don’t, I’ll have an excuse.
Either way, this will be my last proper plea for sponsorship. The whole point of this nonsense (aside from my masochistic tendencies) is to raise money for The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts. More info and the chance to donate can be found here.
And thank you so very much for your generous donations so far. I aimed to raise £2k+, and it’s looking good.
xx
Correction to the previous News item for those in or around Perth, Australia:
Our apologies: there is indeed a second Orchestra Tour show in Perth on Saturday March 5th as follows:
Tim Minchin vs the West Australian Symphony Orchestra at
Pioneer Women’s Memorial – Kings Park & Botanic Garden
BUT we were given the wrong on-sale date to announce. It is now being rescheduled and to avoid further confusion, a mailout will be sent when the new on-sale date is announced, with all the information you need. Do make sure you are signed up to the mailing list.
Sorry for any confusion or frustration this may have caused you. We know just how you feel!
If you’re not an Australian look away now as this is another post announcing another extra date for Tim’s Australian tour.
Australians, well aren’t you lucky ducks? Especially those of you living in or around the Adelaide area as Tim has announced a third date with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the Festival Theatre on Thursday 10th March.
Don’t go and disappear to book your tickets for this new show now as they’ll be going on sale on Thursday (16th Sep) at 9am from the same place as the other Adelaide dates.
As many of you know, I’m running the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London on October 10th to raise money for the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts. (The Prince in question is Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the English throne, not the tiny, funky artist formerly known as the artist formerly know as Prince. And luckily Charlie doesn’t have too much to do with the run, else he might suggest a homeopathic training schedule involving the maintenance of near to absolute stasis.)
If you can afford a couple of minutes to go here and sponsor me, the kids and I would be most grateful. Seriously, even one or two quid would be hugely appreciated. And remember to leave a comment mocking my pain in advance.
I initially pledged that I would try to run the bloody thing in under two hours, but unfortunately my dear friend and nemesis, Mark Watson, ran his recent half marathon in 1:50, so I’ve had to up my game and have now set my sights on 1hr 45mins. If I beat the sickeningly weedy novelist’s time, he will donate £150 to Children and the Arts… and if I fail, I’ll donate the same to his mob. If you too have gambler’s bones, feel free to use the “comments” box to pledge an extra donation if I hit my target. Nothing like a bit of jeopardy.
There’s more information on the run and the charity on the donations page.
Well this is something you won’t hear on ‘Songs Of Praise’, even this fine Sunday evening.
Remember back in April, when Tim and animator, Fraser Davidson, unleashed The Pope Song video on to YouTube? And you know how it’s had over half a million views since? And you know how lots of you were requesting that it was released as an mp3?
Well, to coincide with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the UK later this week, Tim has decided to let you have the mp3 as a free download; once the Pope disappears from the UK, this download will too, so get it while it’s hot like (imaginary) hell-fires!
We’d also like to point out, that the wonderful members of Angry (Feet) have been able to download this already for the past couple of days because that’s the kind of benefit you get from joining up!
EDIT: Due to popular demand Tim will leave this song up for you to download even though Benny has now left these shores.
This new video trailer for Matilda A Musical features some of the instrumental score written by Tim and is the first opportunity to hear it. Excitingness indeed!
Now that the rehearsals have started, the RSC also have announced the cast details: Three schoolgirls are to play Matilda, the special little girl with extraordinary powers, with three teams of children sharing the other child roles. The adult team of actors includes Lauren Ward as the lovely Miss Honey, and Bertie Carvel as the formidable head mistress Miss Trunchbull. Paul Kaye takes the role of Matilda’s father, Mr Wormwood with Josie Walker playing his wife and Matilda’s mother, Mrs Wormwood. Peter Howe plays Michael, Matilda’s brother. Comedy fans will remember Paul Kaye, the award-winning comedian and actor, who has had TV roles in Skins, and Pulling. He is also known for his celebrity interviewer character, Dennis Pennis and for voicing characters in Mongrels, BBC Three’s “first urban, multi-species, adult, puppet comedy.”
The full casting information can be found here on the RSC website.
Tim is doing a one-off show at the RSC next January. It is called: Tim Minchin (Conversation With) and is on Sunday 16th January 2011 at 7:30 pm at the The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
You’ve probably heard that the RSC are putting on Matilda A Musical and that Tim has written the music and lyrics. Well there is a matinee that afternoon too, if anyone fancies combining the two for a Matilda/Tim day. More information about Matilda A Musical can be found at the official RSC site here.
The RSC will release tickets, for Tim Minchin (Conversation With), to members on the 15th September, with public booking opening on 11th October. However, the wise amongst you might make sure you are on Tim’s mailing list and check back with this blog from time to time…*wink*
In other news: the rehearsals for Matilda A Musical start on Monday- exciting! The RSC will be be posting a few updates on their Twitter feed throughout the day here: @TheRSC
Some behind the scenes insights at the July 2010 Workshops for Matilda, A Musical.
Workshop co-directors Lotte Wakeham and Ryan McBryde explain the workshop process and some of the challenges involved in semi-staging the production.
Christopher Nightingale the musical supervisor and orchestrator talks with Tim about job titles/roles, and preparing to perform the show for a small audience of children and adults. Naturally the conversation also brings in unicorns, rainbows and the precise meaning of exponential…
Tickets will go on sale tomorrow morning, at 9am, for a second ‘Tim Minchin vs The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’ show.
They will be available exclusively for the lucky prepared, pre-registered, pre-sale people for four days and then will go on sale to the general public on Monday. Use the same link and secret password you have in your mailing list email for the first Adelaide date.
The show will be at the same venue and time on Saturday the 12th of March 2011.
If you missed out this time – join the mailing list and be pre… (nope, I got nothing) special next time.
Good day to you all and hello and I hope you are well. Check this:
Starting in Melbourne in late February 2011, I’ll be grooving around my home country playing big-arsed stupid songs with large groups of the finest classical musicians in the land. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The WA Symphony Orchestra, The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, The Queensland Pops Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony have all agreed to risk their reputations by playing my songs. Scary.
I’m currently in the process of writing some new stuff especially for this project, and there’ll be plenty of orchestrated versions of my old stuff too.
I am excited and – frankly – honoured to be performing with these folk and I do hope you can come and witness it. It will be unlike anything you’ve seen before. Unless you’ve seen my shows before and you’ve seen a performance by an orchestra before, in which case it’ll be quite like a combination of two things you’ve seen before.
I’m also excited because the radio station of my youth (and beyond), Triple J , will be supporting the tour. Which is very nice of them.
Tickets go on sale to the public on August 2nd at 9am!
Dates and details:
Melbourne
Tim Minchin vs the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Friday 25th of Feb
Saturday 26th Feb
The Palais Theatre Tickets
Perth
Tim Minchin Vs the West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Friday 4th March
Pioneer Women’s Memorial – Kings Park & Botanic Garden Tickets
Adelaide
Tim Minchin vs The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Friday 11th March
Adelaide Festival Theatre Tickets
Brisbane
Tim Minchin vs the Queensland Pops Orchestra
Friday 18th March
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre Tickets
Sydney
Tim Minchin vs the Sydney Symphony
Thursday 24th March
Saturday 25th March
Sydney Opera House Tickets
In October 2008 Tim worked with Animator Martin White to create this video for “If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out (Take My Wife)” for the forthcoming series of ITV’s ‘Comedy Cuts’.
Director: Fergus March
Director of Photography: Tim Jordan
Producer: Rohan Acharya
Heroically, in the interests of art Tim sat naked* in a space craft and sang about proof, rationalism and his wife, giving rise to the alternate title for the piece: “I will give you my piano, one of my legs and [most of] my clothes”
The song was first recorded in 2006 for the album ‘So Rock’.
* Please note Tim was notactually naked in this video.
…he was wearing an underbust corset and the mystery is: What colour was it?…
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