News: Concept album for new musical For Tonight to be released


News
July 5, 2021
News: Concept album for new musical For Tonight to be released

A concept album for brand new original musical For Tonight is set to be released on Friday 30 July.

The musical is bilingual, featuring a cast of West End actors and a fully Welsh ensemble. The album is set to be released across all digital platforms, with a book, music and lyrics by Shenelle Salcido and Spencer Williams, with audio mixing and mastering by Joseph Purdue.

Blending traditional Welsh choral, indie-pop, folk and Romani-inspired melodies, For Tonight is inspired by Williams’s three-times great grandfather’s handwritten journal.

Beginning in 1832, in a small town in northern Wales, a Roma family travels through to find shelter on the Parry family farm. Soon after their arrival, the Parry parents die from an unknown disease and the Roma are forced to go into hiding, after being blamed for bringing ‘filth and death’ to Trelawnyd.

The story follows the three Parry children, Thomas, Haydon and Nettie ten years later, in the aftermath of their parents’ death. While the eldest brother, Thomas, struggles with guilt surrounding the Roma’s departure, and the pressure of caring for his younger siblings, Haydon runs off to Liverpool in search of a new life, leaving the youngest, Nettie, behind to deal with the overbearing Thomas.

In Liverpool, Haydon falls in love with Mirela, a Roma woman, who poses a threat to his already strained family relationships.

Haydon quickly learns that bias runs on both sides and that Mirela’s family will not accept a gadje (an outsider).

When events call Haydon to return home, all three siblings must finally face both their past and their biggest fears. At its core, For Tonight is an exploration of the power and meaning of home.

The British cast is led by Simon Gordon (Girl From the North Country) as Haydon Parry, Amy Di Bartolomeo (We Will Rock You) as Mirela, Dale Evans (Kinky Boots) as Thomas Parry, Erin Caldwell (Unravelling) as Nettie Parry, Jade Davies (Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera) as Molly Llewellyn, Luke McCall (Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera) as Winn Lewis, Jake Halsey-Jones (Hamilton, Spring Awakening) as Durriken, Soophia Foroughi (The Prince of Egypt, Broken Wings) as Syeira, Glain Rhys as Anne Parry and John Ieuan Jones as Joseph Parry.

Further cast includes Owen Jac as Young Thomas, Isaac Kreisky as Young Haydon and Alexis Wilson as Young Henrietta, as well as Jordan Allan, Eva Chelsea, Joey Cornish, Sam Ebenezer, Sion Emlyn, Michelle Beth Herman, Hannah Qureshi, Samantha Thomas and Mared Williams.

With a book, music, and lyrics by Salcido and Williams, For Tonight has additional book by Whitney Rhodes, orchestrations by Salcido and Purdue and additional arrangements by Drew Wutke, audio production and mixing by Purdue, music ensemble direction by Iestyn Griffiths and Romani script consultancy by Raine Geoghegan.

Check out the latest theatre news.