Tess hits the international airwaves

SONGS from new British musical TESS are to be featured in an international broadcast this week.
 
The show has been selected for the ‘Sampler Platter’ slot on Musical Theatre Radio, an internet-based radio station devoted to the artform. The slot is a regular feature that aims to bring new and lesser-known musicals to a wider audience.

Based in Canada, the station broadcasts its Sampler Platter at noon on Wednesdays (UK time), repeated at midnight on Thursday mornings. TESS will be featured on Wednesday, August 7.

The show, which has also received airplay on Radio 2’s flagship musical theatre programme Elaine Paige on Sunday, is written by composer Michael Blore and award-winning playwright Michael Davies. A concept album recording, featuring lead vocals by Siobhan Dillon, Tam Mutu and Simon Bailey, has also been released.

The full musical is available to listen to on the website www.tessthemusical.com, where followers and fans can sign up to join #TeamTess and be given free access to hear the whole album. Meanwhile, talks are under way for a UK tour in 2020.

Set in the Wessex so beloved by Hardy, TESS tells the devastating story of Tess Durbeyfield, daughter of a poor villager who fatefully discovers that they may be related to the ancient aristocratic d’Urberville family. As Tess is sent to seek respectability with her new-found relatives, she embarks on an emotional and dramatic journey that leads to love, loss and ultimate tragedy.

Read again

'How to make a musical' blogs by TESS lyricist Michael Davies on WhatsOnStage:

Part 1: From page to concept album - WhatsOnStage
Part 2: Putting it out there - WhatsOnStage
Part 3: Tiptoeing towards the stage - WhatsOnStage
Part 4: Seeing is believing - WhatsOnStage
Part 5: What to do after your workshop - WhatsOnStage