ARLENE PHILLIPS AND ADAM SPIEGEL PRESENT "Midnight Tango" A NEW SHOW CREATED BY AND STARRING STRICTLY'S VINCENT AND FLAVIA OVERWHELMING DEMAND FOR TICKETS CONTINUES FURTHER PERFORMANCES ADDED TO SELECTED DATES NATIONWIDE TOUR BEGINS ON 6 APRIL 2011
For theatre details and to book tickets see our bookings page or click here or visit the web site.
With some theatres already reporting that Midnight Tango is their fastest selling show of 2011, the producers of Midnight Tango have responded by adding further performances at certain venues on the nationwide tour, which begins in Southampton at the Mayflower Theatre on 6 April. Vincent and Flavia have dazzled television audiences for six series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing with their stunning tango routines. Now, in their new live show, they will bring to life all the drama, sensuality and elegance of this most exciting of dance forms.
Midnight Tango is set in a late-night bar in downtown Buenos Aires. Vincent and Flavia will be joined by ten of the finest tango dancers in the world, and, between them, they will take the audience on a journey into the heart of this intoxicating city, as danger and excitement, joy and jealousy, pain and passion combine into a spectacular and explosive evening.
Karen Bruce, who has choreographed for both Strictly Come Dancing and So You Think You Can Dance on BBC 1, and whose recent theatre credits include Pacific Overtures (Donmar Warehouse), for which she won the Olivier Award for Best Choreographer, and Footloose (West End and UK Tour), will direct the production, with choreography by Vincent and Flavia , design by Morgan Large and lighting by James Whiteside. The live music will be provided by top tango band, Tango Siempre, featuring vocalist Guillermo Rozenthuler.
The nationwide tour of Midnight Tango is produced by Arlene Phillips and Adam Spiegel. For further information, please visit www.MidnightTango.co.uk.
Vincent and Flavia met when they were in their teens, in England, both looking for new partners with whom to compete. They competed successfully for many years and the achievements in this period included: UK Professional Ten Dance Champions 2002-2006, UK Professional Showdance Champions 2003-2006, UK Argentine Tango Champions 2006 (first time competition had ever been held), World Argentine Tango Show Champions 2005/2006, UK Ballroom Champions for several years, and World and European Ten Dance and Showdance finalists 2002-2006. In 2006, they came away from competitions and took part in Strictly Come Dancing for the first time. They both live in Guildford, Surrey.
Arlene Phillips, OBE had her first big success when she formed the dance group Hot Gossip. Since then, her career has been exciting and varied: directing, producing, writing, choreographing, presenting and above all, always creating. Theatre choreography includes the new Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Wizard of Oz, Flashdance, The Sound of Music, Grease, We Will Rock You, Saturday Night Fever, Starlight Express, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, EFX at the MGM Grand, Matador, Time, and A Clockwork Orange for the Royal Shakespeare Company. As an arena and concert director, Arlene's credits include the British entry Eurovision Song Contest, Strictly Come Dancing The Live Tour, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance, The James Bond Gala, Midsummer Classics at the Royal Albert Hall, The Bratz UK Arena Tour, Black goes with Everything, and the choreography for An Evening with Gedeminas Tarandas for the Bolshoi Ballet. Arlene was Director of Choreography for the Manchester XVII Commonwealth Games and staged Sarah Brightman and Jose Carreras in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games Official Theme, Amigos Para Sempre. Her choreography for films includes Annie (director John Huston), Legend (Ridley Scott), White Hunter, Black Heart (Clint Eastwood), Salome's Last Dance (Ken Russell) and Monty Python's Meaning of Life (Terry Jones). Television credits include Ken Russell's The ABC of Music, The Benny Hill Show, The Hot Shoe Show, the US syndicated Dancin' To The Hits, The Kenny Everett Video Show featuring dance group Hot Gossip with Sarah Brightman, Blue Peter, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa & Friends, Lesley Garrett - A Night At The Opera and An Evening With Michael Ball, The Brit Awards, The Royal Variety Show, The Prince's Trust, Children in Need, Party in the Park and the legendary Party at the Palace. Arlene has choreographed music videos for AC/DC, The Bee Gees, Duran Duran, Erasure, Aretha Franklin, Boy George, Whitney Houston, Joan Jett, Elton John, Kiss, Freddie Mercury, George Michael, Queen, Cliff Richard, Diana Ross, Tina Turner and Robbie Williams. Arlene has choreographed over one hundred TV commercials in England and America including, 7-up, American Express, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Levi Jeans, Vidal Sasoon and Yellow Pages. Her TV appearances include being a judge on So You Think You Can Dance, Strictly Come Dancing, Strictly Dance Fever, Grease:The School Musical and DanceX (a show she created with Bruno Tonioli). She is also the author of Alana Dancing Star, a series of children's dance books for Faber.
Adam Spiegel formed his theatre production company in 1996 and produced extensively in London's West End, on UK tour and internationally. Credits include Saturday Night Fever (West End, UK tours and Australasian and Scandinavian tours), Fame (West End, UK tours and Scandinavian and US tours), The Mysteries (West End and UK tour), Amadeus (Wilton's Music Hall, London), Birdy (West End), Lady Salsa (Talk of London, London and UK tours), Promises Promises (Sheffield Theatres) and Five Guys Named Moe (UK Tour). Adam Spiegel Productions was acquired in 2006 and, as part of Stage Entertainment, he has produced Hairspray (West End), High School Musical Live On Stage! (Hammersmith Apollo and UK tour), Strictly Come Dancing Live! (UK arena tour), Sister Act (West End) and High School Musical 2 (UK tour). Adam also produced the annual Laurence Olivier Awards for the Society of London Theatre from 2004 to 2008, and has acted as an Arts Consultant for The Sunday Times and Tate Britain. He is currently producing Love Story at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End.
Karen Bruce's recent theatre credits as Director and Choreographer include Footloose (West End, South Africa, UK tours); Fame (West End, UK tours); The Wedding Singer (UK tour); Oliver! (Bermuda); and Saturday Night Fever (as Associate Director and Choreographer - West End, UK tour, Australia, Singapore, Scandinavia, Korea, South Africa, Madrid). She also directed the recent tour of Strictly Come Dancing – The Professionals. Karen was awarded the Olivier Award for Best Choreography for her work on Pacific Overtures at the Donmar Warehouse and other theatre choreography credits include Chess (Hungary); Never Forget (West End, UK tours); The Producers (Madrid); Far Pavilions (West End); Brighton Rock (Almeida Theatre); Doctor Dolittle (UK tour); Annie Get Your Gun (UK tour) and a new piece on Music in War at the National Theatre Studio. She also choreographed Sheffield Crucible's critically acclaimed A Chorus Line and Sweet Charity, the latter winning the TMA Best Musical Award. Recent television work includes choreography for the BBC drama Toast, and several dances on the most recent series of So You Think You Can Dance and Strictly Come Dancing, both also for the BBC. She also choreographed the Opening Ceremony for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and has worked as Director and Choreographer devising new seasons for Princess Cruise Entertainments.
Morgan Large trained at LIPA, where he received a first class degree in Theatre and Performance Design, the Sennheiser Award for Theatre and Performance Design and The Philip Holt Trust Award. Theatre includes: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (West End - Olivier Award for Best Revival), Flashdance (West End), Footloose (West End, UK tours, South Africa), Fame (West End, UK tour), Room on the Broom (West End, UK tour & USA tour 2010), By Jeeves (Landor Theatre), Shout! (West End & UK tour), Tick, Tick...Boom! and The Last Five Years (West End), Never Forget (2009 UK tour), Sign of the Times (UK tour), Jolson & Company (UK tour), Forbidden Broadway (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Hostage (Southwark Playhouse), Fight Face (Lyric Hammersmith Studio), Dov and Ali (Latchmere 503), Maria Friedman: Rearranged (Menier Chocolate Factory/West End), Three Sides (45th St. Theatre, New York), Rock (Liverpool Unity and tour), The Comedy of Errors (Oval House), Marlon Brando's Corset (Yvonne Arnaud & UK tour), Anyone Can Whistle (Jermyn Street) and Only the Brave (George Square). Additionally, Morgan has designed the Laurence Olivier Awards since 2006. Ballet and Opera include: Planet Wonderful (Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen) and Don Giovanni (Opera East). Morgan has worked as an Associate Designer for Christopher Oram and as an Assistant Designer to John Napier.
James Whiteside graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1999. Theatre credits include: Holding the Man, The Female of the Species, Never Forget, Footloose and Calamity Jane (West End); The Snow Queen, Alice in Wonderland, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Funny Girl and Wallenstein (Chichester Festival Theatre); A Voyage Round My Father (Salisbury Playhouse); A Christmas Carol, Arcadia, Grimm Tales and Gates of Gold (Library Theatre, Manchester); Love's Labour's Lost and Guess How Much I Love You (Rose, Kingston); Salonika (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Absence of Women (Lyric, Belfast); Metropolis and Animal Farm (Theatre Royal Bath); Transparency, This Piece of Earth and The Early Bird (Ransom Productions, Belfast); Plunder and Copenhagen (Watermill); Fen and Five Kinds of Silence (Live Theatre, Newcastle); and UK tours of Donkey's Years, Heroes and Art. In a long association with Tall Stories Theatre Company, productions include: Room on the Broom in the West End and on tour; The Gruffalo in the West End and Off-Broadway; Snow White Off- Broadway; and The Gruffalo's Child in the West End and on tour. James has also designed the lighting for productions at the Croydon Warehouse, BAC, King's Head, New End and Chelsea Theatres in London and for Princess Cruises on ships worldwide. Work in opera includes: Maria de Buenos Aires at Theatre Royal, Bath; HMS Pinafore for Carl Rosa Opera and Madama Butterfly on a US tour for London City Opera. James has worked as an Associate Lighting Designer for Howard Harrison and Hugh Vanstone.
Tango Siempre are the UK's leading tango company. Since 1998 they have worked extensively throughout the UK and Europe touring numerous projects ranging from highly successful traditional tango dance shows (Subitango and Tangomotion) through to collaborations with internationally acclaimed jazz musicians (Gilad Atzmon, Steve Arguelles, Ian Ballamy, Paolo Russo, Huw Warren). In 2009, they were joined by the outstanding bandoneonist Julian Rowlands. Tango Siempre have recorded four albums: 'Nocturno' (2002, ARCM1807), 'Tangled' (2004, ARCM1960), 'Tangents' (2007, GMC024) featuring Steve Arguelles and Gilad Atzmon, and their most recent album, 'Only Human', was released in November 2008 by Galileo-MC.
Guillermo Rozenthuler was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a versatile vocalist, guitarist and composer and the lead singer of Rioplatenses, a band featuring some of UK's top Latin musicians. They appear regularly in London, performing Guillermo's originals and their distinctly contemporary take on traditional South American folklore. Rioplatenses have recently released their first live album, 'A Route to the Roots'. Guillermo moved to the UK in 2000 after more than 10 years performing and teaching in Buenos Aires, where his reputation grew as a jazz and Latin vocalist and voice coach. Now based in London, he regularly takes part in several musical and pedagogic projects across Europe. He has now become one of the leading voices of tango in the UK, working regularly with various UK and Europe-based tango bands, La Portatil, Mala Pinta, Los Mareados. Formerly the vocalist of outstanding sax player Gilad Atzmon's Orient House Ensemble, winner of the BBC Jazz Awards, Guillermo has recorded on their album, Musik, hailed"Best Jazz Album of the Year", (J Lewis, Time Out). In 2007, he achieved a Masters degree with distinction in Ethnomusicology (Middle Eastern music) at SOAS.