Take outstanding vocal talent of four good looking young men and a unique collection of timeless classics from musical theatre and you have all the ingredients for the success of Teatro, already billed as Theatreland’s first supergroup, whose debut album simply entitled Teatro is launched by Sony BMG on 26th November.As a vocal group, Teatro captures the current zeitgeist which has elevated musical theatre to new heights of popularity with prime time TV shows like Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria attracting huge audiences and seen seven and a half million musical theatre tickets sold in the UK last year.The band evolved through a process of four hugely talented and like-minded singers three British and one American deciding that Teatro’s moment was at hand and fusing their talents, coming together through a happy mixture of invitation, recommendation and friendships. Each had already achieved outstanding success in the West End or on Broadway - Simon Bailey for instance played the lead in Les Miserables and turned down the opportunity of appearing in Phantom Of The Opera to join the group which the singers believe will do for theatre music what Il Divo has done for opera.Simon was joined by Stephen Rahman-Hughes who played the lead in the seminal production of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams which brought the glamour of Bollywood to the West End, Jeremiah James from upstate New York who turned down the role of Sinatra for the call of Teatro, and by Royal Acadamy Of Music graduate and classically trained singer Andrew Alexander.Teatro, the album will feature the great anthems from a century of musicals which have captivated successive generations including numbers such as Music of the Night (Phantom of the Opera), Maria (from West Side Story) Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina (Evita), Somewhere Over The Rainbow (La Cage Aux Folles) and Love Changes Everything (Aspects Of Love).
Testimony to the album and the musical heritage on which it uniquely draws is the fact the shows from which the songs originate have between them won an astonishing collection of 23 Oscars, 11 Golden Globes, 39 Tony Awards and three Grammy’s.
Not only will the album showcase the outstanding voices of the four singers, it will also feature the backing of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with a new and unique series of arrangements for the universally loved favourites from the West End and Broadway.
The creative team responsible for the album includes Nick Patrick, the producer responsible for global hits for Tina Turner, Marvin Gaye, Russell Watson, Tony Bennett and Catherine Jenkins and Hollywood Arranger Jorge Calandrelli, winner of seven Grammy’s who has arranged for Sting, Streisand, McCartney and Michael Buble among others.
Nick Raphael for Sony BMG said:The music of Teatro celebrates the work of some of the world’s greatest ever popular composers and a century of great musical heritage at a time when the genre has reached record levels of popularity. We believe the group will captivate a mainstream and mass audience and has the potential to be a huge commercial success.
Jeremiah James, born in upstate New York, and raised in Los Angeles. He has spent the past decade in constant work, and was one of the youngest performers ever to be nominated for a Los Angeles Theater Ovation Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical for his role in "Crazy For You".
Most recently, he appeared on Broadway in a Cameron Mackintosh revival of "Oklahoma!" as Curly, and was about to take the stage as a young Frank Sinatra in "My Way" when he was asked to become a part of Teatro instead.
"The key to Teatro," he says, "is that we are a little different to what you've heard before. Sure, we will be singing songs that theatre fans will be familiar with but our interpretations will be much more individual, so much so that they will completely stand alone."
Andrew Alexander, a public school-educated graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, who also has a History degree under his belt as well. Born and bred in Berkshire, he has recently played Nanki-Poo opposite Nicola Hughes in a new production of "The Hot Mikado" (which was nominated for a TMA Award), and alongside Marti Webb and Wayne Sleep in "Beauty And The Beast". He is also a classically trained singer.
"I've loved singing since childhood," he says. "I sang in choirs and as part of a chorus, but the more I grew [he is 6'3"], the more I stood out. In Teatro, though, I'm glad to say, I blend in nicely - in every way."
Simon Bailey is a multitalented graduate of the National Youth Theatre who has appeared in everything from Les Miserables and Romeo and Juliet at London's Piccadilly Theatre to a Rock Legends tribute show in South Africa, where he played a very convincing Freddie Mercury and Ringo Starr.
"But being in Teatro," the Berkshire-born childhood friend of Alexander says, "is something else entirely. The instant the four of us came together, we immediately felt this amazing bond. It was hard not to, really, because the whole project has had such a momentum to it since day one.
Stephen Rahman-Hughes is similarly a man of many talents. Half British, half Malaysian, he grew up obsessed with breakdancing, attended dance school from the age of 18 to 22, and later formed his own award-winning choreography company before getting into acting.
In recent years, he has appeared in "West Side Story" and "Bombay Dreams" on the West End stage, as well as several BBC1 afternoon plays. He can currently be seen as world-weary Detective Inspector Dasari on "Emmerdale".
"Life is constantly full of surprises," Stephen says, "and I think this might just be the best one yet. We're getting to sing some really fabulous songs here, songs that have been arranged quite beautifully by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It's a privilege, and an immensely satisfying one, to be part of all this."