CREATIVE TEAM
DAVID COVEY - DIRECTOR
TRAINING:
Royal Academy of Music, 2003-2004, Post Graduate Diploma Musical Theatre. Bretton Hall 1998-2001 - BA Hons (First Class) Theatre Acting: Devised Performance
David worked professionally as an Actor and Youth Director from 2004-2011. Since 2011, David has worked in a mainstream secondary school as Head of Creative Arts, Head of Year and is currently a SENDCO, overseeing the provision of students with special educational needs.
DIRECTING EXPERIENCE:
Nottingham Operatic Society - The Sound of Music and Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat-
The Lace Market Theatre, Nottingham - Nell Gwyn
Ecclesbourne 6th Form Society - The Importance of Being Earnest, Bronte, Blood and Light, A Monster Calls, Antigone, Mary Shelley, Jane Eyre
The Ecclesbourne School Musical Theatre Company - Matilda Junior, The Sound of Music, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, West Side Story, Hello Dolly!, Me and My Girl, The Little Mermaid.
Stafford Gatehouse Youth Theatre - Annie, Oliver!, Smike, Guys and Dolls
PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE:
Cameron Mackintosh 25th Anniversary Tour - Grantaire 1st cover/ Javert/Bishop 2nd cover. Les Misérables - James Powell & Laurence Connor
Bill Kenwright Ltd UK Tour - Simeon, Cover Jacob/Potipher. Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - Henry Metcalf
Sheffield Theatres - Trinculo. Resuscitation Shakespeare - Sarah Gough
Camberley Theatre - Buttons. Cinderella - Nick Mowat
Cameron Mackintosh Her Majesty’s Theatre, London - M Andre (1st cover). Phantom of the Opera - Laurence Connor
Faceless Arts - Mordred. Enchanted - Janet Marshall
Twisting Yarn Bradford Alhambra - Greenleaf. Nimby - Keith Robinson
Walking Forward Productions - Algernon. Cat Ninelives in Deepest Trouble - Gavin Payne
Tall Stories - Bird & Dragon. Room on the Broom - Olivia Jacobs
Pele Productions The Cardiff Millenium Centre - Scarecrow. The Wizard of Oz - Simon Rawlings
Compass Theatre Co (UK Tour) - Yakov. The Seagull - Neil Sissons
MORVEN HARRISON - MUSICAL DIRECTOR - MEng (Hons) CEng
EXPERIENCE - MUSICAL DIRECTOR | CONDUCTOR MUSICIAN | VOCALIST | ARRANGER
Passion in particular for projects with large and complex vocal layerings and harmonies, and the development of the group sound to allow storytelling through group vocal emotion.
Over 15 years’ experience as a Musical Director and Conductor, six of those with Nottingham Operatic. Conductor of recent large- scale pit orchestras and companies including Hunchback of Notre Dame (2022), Sound of Music (2019, full 32 piece orchestration on stage), Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (2018) and Into The Woods (2015). Production Locations include Nottingham Theatre Royal, Nottingham Concert Hall, Nottingham Albert Hall, Loughborough Town Hall.
VOCAL DIRECTOR
Currently Vocal Director for Limelight Orchestra, varying from Classic Ibiza with 50 Piece Orchestra on the Festival Circuit to Classical Concerts such as DIVA and Bond in Concert. Multi-harmony vocal groups. Responsibilities for rehearsing, arrangements, sheet music prep and rehearsal tracks.
Other Vocal Directors including full time position as Assistant Artistic Director for Youth at Music for Everyone, teaching and conducting mass choirs of children and young adults throughout Nottingham.
MUSICIAN
Over 15 years’ experience as a regular musician in orchestra pits, both on reeds (flute/piccolo/clarinet/bass clarinet/saxes), keyboards (mainstage) and bass guitar across the East Midlands. Excellent relationships with a variety of professional musicians to allow for the best quality of sound to suit any production.
VOCALIST
Principal Musical Theatre includes Bakers’ Wife in ‘Into The Woods’, Florence in ‘Chess’, Cathy in ‘Last 5 Years’, Lucy Harris in ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ and Kate Monster in ‘Avenue Q’. Current Principal Solo Vocalist for Limelight Orchestra, both classic and modern; performed for approximately 21,000 ticket holders across the 2023 Festival Period. Guest Vocalist for concerts with Nottingham Philharmonic and Debut Theatre.
DIRECTOR
Directing Credits include My Fair Lady for Nottingham Operatic, Theatre Royal, and Sweeney Todd at the Nottingham Arts Theatre.
ARRANGER
Creator of both Vocalist and Orchestral Arrangements, more recently for Limelight Orchestra.
JUSTINE LEE - MOVEMENT CONSULTANT
Justine has been working professionally for thirteen years as both a choreographer and performer. She trained at Arts Ed and the AMTA, graduating in 2011 as the winner of the Dance Award. She is now co-principal of the Lisa Gail Theatre School and is resident choreographer for TaleGate Theatre Productions.
Choreography credits include Goose (Uk Tour and Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Neverland (Palace Theatre, Mansfield), The Queen’s Knickers (UK Tour and West End), Practically Perfect (Palace Theatre, Mansfield), Different Class (Barons Court Theatre), On Paper (Young Actors Theatre, Islington), The Visit (New Wimbledon Youth Theatre), Cyrano of Brixton (Brockley Jack Theatre).
As a performer, Justine has appeared in over twenty professional productions including The Queen’s Knickers (UK Tour and West End), Father Christmas Needs A Wee! (Swindon Arts Centre), Father Christmas Comes Up Trumps (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), The Giant’s Loo Roll (UK Tour), Fifty Days of Grey (UK Tour), Honk! (The Lost Theatre).
After choreographing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 2023, Justine is thrilled to be back with Nottingham Operatic for Guys & Dolls and Les Misérables.
DIRECTOR’S CONCEPT
INTRODUCTION
One of the phenomenal things about Claude Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer’s musical masterpiece has to be the beautifully crafted way in which they have concisely captured the epic plot of Hugo’s masterpiece into a condensed narrative that gave the novel a new identity.
Whether it’s the original Palais des Sports, Paris presentation of the concept album, Trevor Nunn’s staging, or the reimagining developed by Laurence Connor and James Powell for the 25th anniversary production, storytelling is at the heart of the musical.
John Napier’s employment of the original revolve and Matt Kinley’s more recent incorporation of projected images that bleed from one setting to the next, enable this epic narrative to flow with ease, spanning the time period of the piece and supporting the sense of characters evolving through their life experiences. This sense of movement, passing of time and fluidity is at the heart of the concept for the proposed NOS production.
OVERARCHING VISION
I want to create the world of the piece through suggestion, a theatrical sense of expressionism. Influenced by “Shared Experience” and the ensemble emphasis that directors such as Sally Cookson and Emma Rice celebrate in their work, our production will be centred on ensemble and collaboration. A vast company of a hundred or more representing social identify and inclusivity will become the “people” of this production.
Movement, prop manipulation and tableau will support the visual of this staging. With budget constraints and logistical considerations surrounding get-ins, this production will rely upon its company to create the environment. The concept for this staging should enable its reproduction in any empty space outside of a conventional theatre.
Utilising the stage space to its full capacity at the Nottingham Theatre Royal, the wing will be exposed, and the full depth of the stage will be visible for the audience. A constructed mezzanine encasing the space will provide opportunity for the large company to observe the action and contribute to the vocal sound of the piece, even when they aren’t directly involved in the action. All will be involved throughout, although specific groupings will be designated to different elements of the production. This, whilst reducing the emphasis of multi-roleing that is so indicative of the professional ensemble, will give way to greater opportunities for all company members from collaborating societies to be involved.
Costume will be of the time period. There will be a clear distinction between the characters in focus who will operate in a more vivid colour pallet and the ensemble who will appear muted in tone. This enables them to populate the space and engage in helping to create environments without distorting the overall image.