We’re presenting four new musicals tonight, so naturally we searched high and low for a kick-ass cast to do the pieces justice…. so three cheers for the company of From Scratch!

Tickets are available online until 6pm, and on the door at the Phoenix Artist Club from 5:30pm: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/299297

Ruthie Luff

Ruthie is a Canadian actress with a MA in Musical Theatre from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Upon graduating, she starred as Dot in Sunday in The Park with George at the Edinburgh Fringe. In Canada, she has played in a variety of roles from Eponine in Les Miserables to Shelia in HAiR. Her London credits include Peep Bo in the Landor’s Hot Mikado and in the new musical comedy Wasted Love. Most recently she in the feature film Suffragette starring Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep. Apart from being the next Carol Burnett, she dreams of some day being the voice of a cartoon character.

Stacey Ghent

Stacey was born in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, and graduated from The American Musical Theatre Academy of London (AMTA) in July 2013. Theatre credits includes: Nellie/Actor-Musician in The Threepenny Opera (UK Tour); Janine in Reasons to be Cheerful; The Festival (UK & Germany); Connie in Passport to Pimlico: Rehearsed Reading (SouthWestFest); Actor-Musician in The Opinion Makers (Mercury Theatre and Derby Theatre); Featured Vocalist in Sondheim Women (St. James Theatre); Backing Vocalist in Hannah Waddingham and Her Band (St. James Theatre), Julie Atherton: All I Want For Christmas is an Audience (St. James Theatre), Christmas in New York (Palace Theatre, London), and Julie Atherton & Laura Pitt-Pullford; Partners in Crime (St. James Theatre), and recently, Julie Atherton: Rush of Life (Album Launch). Television credits include: Nurse Morris in Breathless (ITV). Stacey is currently performing in Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas at the Lyric Hammersmith, and is very excited to be making her first appearance at From Scratch! @staceylghent 

Daniel Donskoy

Daniel has recently graduated form ArtsEd and had a busy few months since , working on a feature film as well as a play and two musicals . Before moving to London to study, Daniel grew up in Berlin and Tel Aviv but was actually born in Moscow . Daniels has made his professional debut in June on this very stage playing Stan , an American porn actor in the play Porn Virgins as part of the Camden Fringe Festival . Theatre includes: Stan, Porn Virgins (Phoenix artist Club); Snake, The Apple Tree (Rose and Crown Theatre); Joshua, Soviet Zion (Lost Theatre). Film includes: Karl in The Honourable Rebel, Adama in Prometheus Rising.

David Young

After shows with the National Youth Theatre in London and China, David attended the three year BA Acting course at LAMDA. Whilst at LAMDA, David’s credits included: Chebutykin in the Three Sisters, Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi and most notably: Vindici in The Revenger’s Tragedy, which gained him representation in LA, where he hopes to also work in the future. At LAMDA, David received tutelage from the current head of music, Rob Archibald, who co-wrote ‘The Dating Cycle’ which is included in the repertoire tonight. David used to play Ice Hockey for Great Britain and is still a keen athlete. He enjoys tennis, swimming, most water sports and due to the natural competition between him and his identical twin brother, will try his hand at most sports, stunts and tricks.

Tiffany Melrose

Tiffany Melrose recently graduated from the Guildford School of Acting with a BA (Hons) Musical Theatre. Credits while training include Marmee in Little Women (Union Theatre), Miss Lynch in Grease (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), Lady Dolly in Twang (Ivy Arts Centre) and Rona in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (GSA). Tiffany also sang the part of Marmee from Steven Luke Walker’s musical adaptation of Little Women at his concert The Songs of Steven Luke Walker (St James Theatre). Tiffany recently performed the part of Woman 2 in Here’s To Life, a newly written song cycle, at Cornbury Festival. 

Christian Lunn

Christian is newly graduated with 1st Class Honors from The Guildford School of Acting. His credits during training include Anatoly Sergievsky in Chess (The Union Theatre) Directed by Steven Dexter. Songs for a New World (The Electric Theatre) Directed by Paul Baker. The Sheriff of Nottingham in Twang! (Ivy Arts Centre) Directed by Ian Talbot. Giuseppe Zangara in Assassins (Guildford School of Acting) Directed by Andrew Wadsworth. Christian Lunn is no stranger to New Musical Theatre. He was involved in the creation of The Water Babies musical in which he played Claude in a Workshop Staged version. He played The Emerald King in the premiere of BBC Composer Martyn Swain’s Ruby and the 13th Door. Twelve in New Musical Boiling Frog (York Theatre Royal) and this year he premiered his own Musical “Here’s To Life” at The Cornbury Festival sponsored by Caffe Nero which he co-wrote with collaborator Claire de Belloy. He is excited to announce that “Here’s To Life” will be staged at The National Portrait Gallery in March 2015. In which he will play the part of Man 1. Born in a small town in Yorkshire, from a young age he always hoped to achieve his dreams in London. Christian is honored to be involved in the friend of a friend MT from Scratch Company and the development of new material and hopes you enjoy this evenings diverse collection. @lunnbelloy

Tony Bayliss

www.spotlight.com/2210-7831-0442

MUSICAL DIRECTOR

 JAMES TAYLOR

James studied Music & Sound Recording (Tonmeister) at the University of Surrey, achieving First Class Honours, followed by a postgraduate diploma in Musical Direction at LAMDA. Musical Directing credits include PlatformLDN, Emerging Artists, ‘I Love You Because’, ‘As You Like It’ (Actor-Musician), ‘RENT’, ‘Sweeney Todd’ (Assistant MD). James is currently Musical Director for London based cabaret group, DENIM, with recent events including Port Eliot Festival and Mario Testino’s 60th birthday party. James has worked as rehearsal pianist for several recent productions, such as ‘Sweeney Todd’ (Tooting Arts Club) and ‘The Confession Room’, as well as performing on many recordings, and as a classical soloist, having won several awards as a piano soloist and accompanist. James also works as a vocal coach, both privately and at drama schools such as LAMDA and GSA.   www.jtaylormusic.com @JATaylor_90

Tomorrow marks the return of From Scratch, and we’re tacking new musicals. With that in mind, we have lined up a fabulous panel of industry representatives who will offer their professional insights as part of tomorrow’s feedback and discussion session.

So without delay… our panel:

Oliver Southgate is a London-based marketeer and producer working across the live entertainment sector. Since 2013 he has been a Ticketing Manager at the worldwide marketing agency AKA where he currently works on the West End campaigns for The Scottsboro Boys (Garrick), Stomp (Ambassadors), The 39 Steps (Criterion), La Soirée (Southbank Centre) and the Royal Opera House. Other recent West End shows he has managed ticketing campaigns for include Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense (Duke of York’s), The Importance of Being Earnest (Harold Pinter), The Woman in Black (Fortune), Uncle Vanya (St James), Putting It Together (St James) and Tell Me On A Sunday (St James & Duchess).

Beyond AKA, Oliver’s independent clients have included Danielle Tarento (for Taboo at the Brixton Clubhouse) and TheatreMAD (for West End Bares 2014). He was also the line producer of Lift (Soho), The Great British Musical in Concert (Hazlitt, Maidstone) and the original cast recording of From Up Here (all for Perfect Pitch), and the producer of three London editions of the award-winning Broadway concert series If It Only Even Runs a Minute (Hippodrome Casino) as well as regional productions of the musicals And Then You Blink and Avenue Q.

@OllieSouthgate

Emily Maltby is an New York City. based director and choreographer. Recent credits include The Lion (Manhattan Theatre Club), Under My Skin (Little Shubert), Ring of Fire (Milwaukee Rep), and Eastland (Lookingglass Theater Co.) as well as 42nd Street and Ragtime at Northwestern University. She has also worked with Stage Entertainment, Goodspeed Musicals, CAP21, and The Smithsonian Institute, where she created four musical pieces to commemorate the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. She also directed a presentation of new musical The Gefilte Fish Chronicles which received a command performance at The White House. Proud Northwestern University graduate.

www.emilymaltby.com

Stephen McGill formed his own production company in early 2012 after working as co-producer for Poppy Productions Ltd since 2010. He has previously worked on the worldwide productions of Mamma Mia! as well as the London productions of Billy Elliot and Jersey Boys.

He has recently co-produced the West End transfer of The Pajama Game at The Shaftesbury Theatre.  Current production The Last of the De Mullins will be playing at the Jermyn Street Theatre Feb 2015.

Recent productions include:  The Tailor Made Man, a new musical at the Arts Theatre,  An Incident at the Border which transferred to Trafalgar Studios after a sold out run at the Finborough Theatre.

Other productions include:  Pushing Up Poppies, (Theatre503 and Hill Street Theatre, Edinburgh) The Lost Christmas, (Waterloo East Theatre) In The Act; (Theatre Royal Stratford East) The Last of the De Mullins (rehearsed reading, Jermyn Street Theatre) and Our Boys (rehearsed reading, Prince Of Wales Theatre).

Stephen attended the Stage One Workshop for new producers in October 2011. He is a recent recipient of the Stage One Start Up Fund.

@smcgproductions

Nigel Richards is an award-winning Actor and Singer, most known for his championing of new work both in the UK and in the States, having originated roles in the European premiers of Floyd Collins, Hello Again, Spend!Spend!Spend, Baby, Songs For A New World, LaLaLaChuisa, The GoBetween and Bernstein’s Mass. This emphasis on new work culminated in his critically acclaimed album, A Shining Truth, in 2009, described by The Independent as ‘not so much a cd as a manifesto. A love letter to new writing’. His second album, ‘Short Stories’, will be released in 2015, and is a collection of previously unrecorded songs by predominantly British writers.

In addition to his many West End credits, his eclectic career has found him singing with Marianne Faithful, Tom Waits, Damon Albarn, Jarvis Cocker, Cirque de Soleil, and Scott Walker.
Nigel lectures in Musical Theatre, and is Head of Acting through Song at Arts Ed. Nigel last appeared in the West End playing the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, and the lead in Kurt Weill’s Songs From A Hotel Bedroom (Royal Opera House).
Future projects include The Stationmaster by Tim Connor and Sue Pearce, and The Night Before My Wedding by Lance Horne and Neil Gaiman, both new works.
Nigelrichards.org

Tickets are available now for just £4: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/299297