Hotel Follies at Arts Theatre from 26 to 30 Aug 2009

Hotel Follies at Arts Theatre from 26 to 30 Aug 2009

Christopher Marney directs and choreographs Hotel Follies - a new full-length production in the style of the dance revue - at the Arts Theatre from 26-30 August 2009.

Highlights of the evening will be a chance to see a duet from an early Matthew Bourne work - Town & Country - and a special guest performance by Doreen Wells who was a Principal with The Royal Ballet throughout the 1960s.

Christopher Marney, who also performs, has danced with New Adventures, Michael Clark Company and Balletboyz among others. "I am thrilled to be presenting Matthew's duet as well as working with the enchanting Doreen Wells and am excited to introduce new talents from the dance and musical theatre world."

Hotel Follies centres on its guests, each of whom is an artiste lodging at this renowned hotel, eager to succeed and entertain with a song to offer, a dance to share and a story to tell. Through interaction with the star-struck bellboy or the uptight maid, the atmosphere will sweep the audience back in time to those heady post-war days of the 1940s when anything and everything seemed possible.

Other artists include Jason Piper, who played 'lead swan' in Bourne's Swan Lake. Other 'guests' will arrive from Rambert Dance Company, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Northern Ballet as well as various artists from the hit musical Cabaret, singing live.

There will be a new interpretation of Moira Shearer's solo from The Red Shoes performed by Rambert's Malgorzata Dzierzon, a pas de 6 of macho bravura set to a wickedly updated Bayadère plus special variety acts, including an atmospheric aerial act by Geneviève Monastesse, trapeze artist formerly with 'Cirque du Soleil'. Other pieces will be set to the music of various composers including Cole Porter, Noel Coward and Edith Piaf.

Cast also includes Hendrick January, Maurizio Montis, Belinda Chapman, Fran Mangiacasale, Beatriz Pascual, Charlotte Broom, Sarah Storer, Katherine Kingston, Daniella Bowen, Chris Theo-Cook, Roberto Forleo, Alan Mosley,