Nigel Richards (actor)

Nigel Richards is an actor/singer most recognised in England for his work in the field of new musical theatre.Whilst still training at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama he worked with Bernstein on the British stage Premier of Bernstein's Mass at the Barbican.
He spent four years in the Bridewell Theatre Company in the premieres of Floyd Collins (playing Floyd),^[1] Hello Again (playing the Senator),^[2] Songs for a New World (Man 2), La La LaChiusa, the new Sondheim review, 'The Road You Didn't Take' & The Cutting Edge (which transferred to the Donmar Warehouse). Other premieres include Napoleon (Shaftesbury Theatre), Spend Spend Spend (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Charlotte Salomon:Life Or Theatre (Soho Theatre), & Baby (Forum Theatre, Wythenshawe).
For over two years he toured in Bob Wilson's production of Tom Waits' The Black Rider, taking over the lead role when Marianne Faithfull became indisposed. Work since then has included playing Sienna Miller's father in As You Like It (Wyndhams Theatre), and the long awaited revival of Kurt Weill's 1933 Der Silbersee (Silverlake) at the Wexford Festival Opera.
Other theatre work has included: Ghosts (as Oswald opposite Sue Johnson), Macbeth, and Chris Monks' revisionist Mikardo(New Vic, Stoke), Blood Brothers (Olympia, Dublin), The Caucasian Chalk Circle & Cyclops (The Scoop), The Glass Menagerie (Oxford Touring Company- European Tour), Hair (National Tour), Ayckbourne's Me, Myself & I (Orange Tree, Richmond)and MTL's The Marriage of Figaro (Drill Hall, Vienna & Stuttgart).
Nigel's occasional TV work includes Doctors, Judge John Deed, Moon & Sun (BBC),Virgin Birth (Granada), Sparkle Baby Sparkle (ITV). Nigel co-wrote the award-winning short film 'The Crouch End Negotiator' (48 Hour Smoke & Screen Challenge) in 2007 and co-starred in 'Lucky old Bag' the following year.
He was most recently seen in London at the Barbican performing with Jarvis Cocker and Damon Albarn in Drifting and Tilting: The Songs of Scott Walker in the songs Clara, Jolson and Jones, and Farmer in the City. He recorded his debut album in 2009, called 'A Shining Truth', a collection of previously unrecorded songs by Adam Guettel, Michael John LaChiusa, Conor Mitchell & Others. Due for release August 3rd.
This recording has been reviewed as 'this wonderful collection of songs..diverse..interesting...not so much a cd as a manifesto'(The Independent) and 'truly authentic and triumphantly realised...the best CD of Musical Theatre songs I have heard in a long while...a profoundly refreshing and uplifting experience on every level'(Musical Stages).
Prior to the launch Nigel played Stryver in the HBO version of A Tale Of Two Cities. Nigel also teaches at the Arts Educational School in Chiswick, the leading conservatoire in Britain for student artists who can sing, dance and act. He will be the walking cover for Phantom in Phantom of the Opera from Mid September 2009 and is currently preparing his second cd and a one man show with Conor Mitchell.

References

Biographical details from various reviews/programmes and nigelrichards.org, reviews for the CD from the Independent Online interview with Edward Seckerson & Musical Stages review by Ken Caswell.

1. ^ "Charismatic Nigel Richards triumphs"-The Times , Dennis Benedict
2. ^ "NR stands out for presence and charm"-Guardian, Rhoda Koenig

External links

• The Official Site of Nigel Richards, Actor and Singer

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Name	Richards, Nigel
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