Raising Gays: A Concert Reading

Theatre Credits Include: Courtney Masterson in Alfred Hitchcock Presents… (Bath); Guy in A Chorus Of Disapproval (Salisbury Playhouse); Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends (Gielgud Theatre); Ben in The Great British Bake Off Musical (Noel Coward Theatre); Mac in Local Hero (Edinburgh Lyceum); Eilert Lovbourg in Hedda Gabler (Salisbury Playhouse); Charley Kringas in Merrily We Roll Along (Menier, London/Huntington, Boston); Life of the Party (Menier/TheatreWorks SV) Songs For A New World (St. James Theatre, London); Forbidden Broadway (Menier/Vaudeville Theatre); Spamilton (Menier Chocolate Factory); Putting It Together (St. James Theatre/London); Charles Dickens in Dickens Abridged (Arts Theatre); Harry in Company (Sheffield Crucible); Max in Lend Me a Tenor, The Musical (Guilgud Theatre); Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors (Menier Chocolate Factory – UK Tour); Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof (Sheffield Crucible and Savoy Theatre); Jamie Wellerstein in The Last 5 Years (Menier Chocolate Factory); Walter Hartright in The Woman In White (Palace Theatre). Concerts include: Damian has performed in numerous concerts internationally, including The Song Is You (PhillyPOPS); A Grand Night For Singing (Edinburgh International Festival); A Little Night Music (Quick Fantastic); Sondheim on Sondheim (Festival Hall); The Symphony of Australia (Sydney Opera House); Masterpiece: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (Beijing/Shanghai). Recordings include: A Grand Night For Singing (Linn Records); The Great British Bake-Off Musical (Sony Music Ent.); Merrily We Roll Along (DigitalTheatre.com); Lend Me A Tenor (Original Cast Recording); Fiddler on the Roof (2007 London Cast Recording).

Sarah most recently has played Madame Morrible in Wicked (The Apollo Victoria)

Other theatre credits include: A Little Night Music (Buxton Opera House), Miss Jane in Floyd Collins (Wilton’s Music Hall), Paulette in Legally Blonde (South Korea for The Curve) Grand High Witch in The Witches (The Curve and Tour) Medium / Aunt in See What I Wanna See (Jermyn Street Theatre), Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd (Twickenham Theatre), Stella in Follies (Opera de Toulon), Josie in Taboo (Brixton Club House), Mrs Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (York Theatre Royal and Tour), Miss Hannigan in Annie (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Road Show (Menier Chocolate Factory), Hannah Owens in Flashdance (Shaftesbury Theatre, West End), Miss Adelaide in Guys & Dolls (Kilworth House Theatre, Leicester), Mrs Blair in Inherit The Wind (Old Vic Theatre), Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Sarah/Naomi in Imagine This (New London Theatre & Plymouth Theatre Royal), Mrs Pearce in My Fair Lady (Singapore/Kuala Lumpa), Lina Lamont in Singing in the Rain (Hereford Court Yard), Marge McDougal in Promises Promises (Sheffield Crucible), Mrs O’Brian in Showboat (Royal Albert Hall), Felicia in Murderous Instincts (Savoy Theatre), Dinah Murphy in South Pacific (Royal National Theatre), Sonia Walsk in Neil Simons’ They’re Playing Our Song (The English Theatre of Frankfurt), Therese Talien in the original West End production of Napoleon (Shaftesbury Theatre), Mrs Cratchitt in A Christmas Carol (Derby Playhouse), Maddie in Women Laughing (Not The National Theatre Tour), Sarah’s own one woman show Portrait of a Lady (New End Theatre, Hampstead), The Dressmaker in Spin (Royal National Theatre Studio), Sylvie in Oklahoma! (Royal National Theatre and Lyceum Theatre), Anya in A Brief Affair (The Bridewell Theatre), Catherine in Martin Guerre (Prince Edward Theatre), Mona in Chicago (Leicester Haymarket), Maggie in Yakety Yak, and Rosie in Cabaret (The Sheffield Crucible).

National tours include Scrooge with Anthony Newley, Minnie Faye in Hello Dolly with Dora Bryan, Alternate Laurey in Oklahoma! and Anytime Annie in 42nd Street.

Film and television credits include: Father Brown (BBC), Stephen (ITV), Oklahoma! (National Theatre) and Imagine This (PBS)

Melanie is currently starring in the Olivier Award Winning production of Into The Woods at the Bridge Theatre, and recently played Hermes in the West End premiere of Hadestown (a role that earned her the 2025 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Performer in a Musical). Before this, Melanie took to Broadway in the role of Angelique in the Max Martin musical & Juliet at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. She originated this character from its earliest workshop phases and continued with the production through to the original London cast at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Her extensive stage credits include a wide variety of celebrated productions including We Aren’t Kid’s Anymore at The Savoy Theatre, Madame Morrible in Wicked at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre, Dick Whittington at the National Theatre, The Everyman Season at the Everyman Playhouse in Liverpool, Matilda the Musical (original cast) at the RSC and Cambridge Theatre, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax at The Old Vic, Play Mas at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, and The Bakkhai with Ben Whishaw and Bertie Carvel at the Almeida Theatre.

Theatre credits include: Wicked (Apollo Victoria); Little Shop of Horrors (Sheffield Crucible); The Baker’s Wife (Menier Chocolate Factory); Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); 42nd Street (Crossroads Live); Aspects of Love (Lyric Theatre); HEX (National Theatre); Singing in the Rain (UK Tour); La Cage aux Folles (Park Theatre); King Lear (West End); Richard III (Headlong); Broken Glass (Watford Palace); The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre); Uncle Max in The Sound of Music (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park); Taboo (with Boy George); Wonderful Town (tour with Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé); The Return of the Soldier (Jermyn Street Theatre); The Baker’s Wife (The Union); Lend Me a Tenor (West End); ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (West Yorkshire Playhouse); A Christmas Carol (West End); Oklahoma! (Chichester); The Canterbury Tales and Eastward Ho! (RSC in the West End); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Timon of Athens (Globe); Rough Crossings (Headlong); Imagine This (New London); The Comedy of Errors and The Wizard of Oz (Sheffield Crucible); Martin Guerre (West End).

Television includes: Suspect (Disney+ / ITV); The Lazarus Project (Sky); Endeavour (ITV); The Split (ITV); Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators (BBC); The Dom Joly Show (BBC); A Prince Among Men (BBC); EastEnders (BBC); Invasion (Apple TV); Marilyn Monroe (Netflix).

Film includes: The Crying Game and A Muppet Christmas Carol.

Michael has been nominated for a TMA Award, a WhatsOnStage Award, a Helen Hayes Award, a BroadwayWorld Award and an Off West End Award, and jointly won an Olivier for Best Acting Ensemble with RSC.

Joanna is a 5-time nominee and two-time winner of the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical, for Julie (Carousel, National Theatre, London) and Eliza (My Fair Lady, Drury Lane Theatre, London). Other recent roles include Sondheim’s Old Friends (Gielgud, London); Sally (Follies, National Theatre); Madame Rose, (Gypsy, Buxton Opera House); Babe (Pajama Game, Shaftesbury, London); Annie (Calendar Girls the Musical, Phoenix Theatre), Jane (Witches of Eastwick, Drury Lane), Umbrellas of Cherbourg (The Gielgud) and Romantics Anonymous (The Globe).

Sydney Sainté is a Caribbean-American actor from the East Coast who has worked in both NYC and LA and now, London. Training: NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, RADA. Theatre credits include: The Great Privation, Or How to Flip Ten Cents into a Dollar (Theatre503, London, 2024) and the world premiere of Roy Williams’ The Loneliness of the Long Distance runner (Atlantic Theater Company, 2014). Screen credits include: a 21-episode run as a series regular on FBI International (CBS, 2024–2025), 47 Meters Down: The Wreck (2026), The Mallorca Files (BBC/Amazon, 2023)  Black Cake (HULU, 2022) and recently seen in Ballad Lines at the Southwark Playhouse.

Micha Mirto is Bristol/London based director, writer and dramaturg. She’s a queer, working class, intrinsically collaborative artist. Micha creates darkly comedic, innately theatrical work with punch and she’s interested in telling stories about relatable characters in extra-ordinary situations. Her shows are innovative and full of heart.

Theatre Credits include: Disney’s immersive piece The Nutcracker and The Four Realms; Cross Examined, a courtroom drama for Penguin’s Random House (written with James Patterson); MiLife a theatrical commission for the NHS – which has been adapted into a cartoon starring Jo Brand. Lethe previewed at The Pleasance, secured repeat Arts Council Funding and then played at The King’s Head.  Micha is a repeat director on Newsrevue – the world’s longest running satirical sketch show – and directed their Edinburgh show in the iconic udderbelly venue. She directed radical queer wrestling show SASQUATCH (arts council funded) which toured nationally, as well as The Working Men’s Club (a play about northern pit villages). Her theatre company Dolls In Amber workshopped their new play Beard at the Arcola. She was Assistant Director for Heidi Vaughan’s Macbeth at the Tobacco Factory Theatre and Associate Director for Adam Lenson’s Public Domain at the Vaudeville Theatre (West End).

She’s currently director/book writer for new musicals: Raising Gays (supported by Birmingham Hippodrome & The Other Palace – produced by Suzanna Rosenthall Productions) which was a finalist for the Stiles and Drew award 2026 and The Tell Tale Hound with Louis Barabbas (Coraline, Bedlam Six). She will be directing debbie tucker green’s dirty butterfly at Bristol Old Vic in May.

She has taught at various drama schools including Trinity Laban and LAMDA.

Film credits include; historical short I,Dido (Line Producer); spoken word short, Wake Up (Director); a series of shorts commissioned by the NHS: Forum, Gift, Cake (Writer/Director); a children’s TV show, Embers the Dragon (Co-creator), and short drama Welcome to the Circus (Director). She is currently in post-production for a proof-of-concept sketch show; We’ll be right back after these messages (Director).

Radio credits include: Dartmoor, Slices of a soundless scream and Bandages (Ties that Bind)  a series of three audio dramas for Documental Productions, I,Dido adapted for Radio Reverb and Gnomesville 07 by Emily Duchen for BOVTSr.

Jordan Paul Clarke is an award-winning writer, composer, musical director and improviser. He’s a musical director of Olivier Award Winning Showstopper: The Improvised Musical [“incredible… defies belief” The Telegraph], and has toured with multi-award winning Mischief Theatre (Olivier-Nominated Mischief Movie Night). Other MD Credits include Broken Wings (Dubai Opera House), AIDS Baby (Barbican), Animal Farm (National Youth Theatre), Ride (Garrick Theatre), Going Out Out (Home, Manchester), Elmer The Patchwork Elephant (Tall Stories, Soho Theatre), and in Spring 2026 he’s touring with Drag Race superstar Kate Butch. As writer/composer, original musicals include: Happy (Waterloo Vaults, The Kings Head)[“profound, modern theatre at its best” Boyz], Friday Night Sinner at Soho Theatre [“would do Mel Brooks proud” Chortle], Angry Salmon at Theatre Royal Plymouth [“is it really all about salmon?” Claude-Michel Schönberg], Public Domain (Vaudeville Theatre) for which he was nominated for The Stage Debut Awards 2022 for best composer/lyricist. Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer 2023.  Currently in development; The Bob Ross Effect (with Sarah Louise-Young), Raising Gays (finalist of the Stiles and Drewe Mentorship Award 2025), and P.S. I’m a Terrible Person (shortlisted for the Charlie Hartill Award, Pleasance Theatre). Instagram: @jordanpaulclarke