Wait For Me: New British dance musical to premiere online

Brand new British dance musical Wait For Me is to premiere online in October.

The piece has been written and composed by Sam Cassidy with choreography and direction from Ainsley Ricketts.

The musical will be made available to watch online with a link from the show’s Facebook page from Monday, October 5 on a pay-per-view basis. Tickets will cost just £10.

The cast features singers Eloise Davies (Be More Chill) and Bluey Robinson (The Lion King) and dancers Ainsley Ricketts, Chrissy Brooke, Clarice Lanta Lilly an Jaih Betote.

Making up the full creative team alongside Sam Cassidy (music & lyrics) and Ainsley Ricketts (direction & choreography) are assistant choreographer Dean Lee, cinematographer Nick Ross, lighting designer Matthew Carnazza and sound designer Will Vaughan.

The production was filmed during lockdown with the cast and creatives in a social bubble.

Sam Cassidy said he was working on the musical before the pandemic took hold.

He explained: “I was in the process of putting together ‘Wait For Me’ as a stage show. It was early days and I was still pitching the idea and the creative team involved to producers. But when the lockdown was enforced, I had time to develop the music and the storyline with Ainsley’s style of choreography in mind.

“I saw that people were hungry for content on line – a theatrical fix – so I thought how can this show be developed so that it gives the audience at home something they might NOT get in a theatre sitting 30 rows back from the stage? That’s when I brought my brilliant cinematographer Nick Ross onto the project and decided this whole show would be choreographed for camera.

“Wide sweeping shots would blend into intimate close-ups so that the emotion on the faces of the dancers gets as much screen time as the leaps and lifts. The show is already a hybrid between dance and musical theatre, so why not make it a hybrid theatrical/film experience, too?”

Ainsley Ricketts added: “When Sam first read me his story I was blown away by its sensitivity and how much rhythm it had, just on paper! ‘Wait for Me’ has been a very special project and has blossomed into a very powerful story. In a time like no other, it was important for everyone involved to express themselves through something real and heart held.

“From the beginning I wanted to approach the choreography with empathy, I wanted these characters to tell the story, not just dance. This gave room for more creativity, so when Sam said I had to rework it for camera I was thrilled. It gave me a chance to be subtle, to have beautiful and heart-breaking moments of stillness directed for the camera that the audience couldn’t miss.”