YOUNG ACTORS FOR TITANIC QUARTER

Young people urged to audition for
exciting musical production to be
held in Titanic Quarter

Young performers and West End fans from across Northern Ireland are
invited to audition for a local youth production of the 1980s classic musical
film Fame, to be held in the heart of Belfast's Titanic Quarter.

Local performing arts education charity, Music Theatre for Youth (MT4Uth), 

will embark on a nationwide search for talented young people keen to star
in their upcoming interpretation of Fame – The Musical which will be staged 

at T13 Shared Cultural Space in the Titanic Quarter in August.

Headline sponsor, George Best Belfast City Airport, will open its doors for
X Factor style auditions on 8th and 9th June 2013 where 60 talented youths
 will be selected for the cast of the popular musical which has frequented
stages on the West End and Broadway.

The chosen cast members will have the experience of a lifetime as they are
put through numerous master classes, legwarmer worthy choreography
sessions and an intense 10 day performance boot camp before the production
 is staged.

Ruth Morgan, Communications Executive at George Best Belfast City Airport
which has sponsored the musical theatre initiative through its Community Fund
said: “We are delighted that once again the airport Community Fund has been
able to support one of Music Theatre for Youth’s amazing productions.

“Changing the lives of young people locally is key to our Community Fund,
which sees the airport impose a fine on airlines which operate late flights.
This money is then re-invested back into projects and groups within
neighbouring communities.

“The fund aims to support projects that can influence, educate and encourage
young people from all backgrounds. The MT4Uth production of Fame – The
Musical truly reflects all of these aims.

“We believe a spark of talent exists in every young person and we would
encourage young people aged between 10 and 23 years old who have an
interest in musical theatre or who may be hiding a voice worthy of a stage
and an audience, to attend the workshop auditions in the airport and to let
MT4Uth inspire your confidence.”

The pressure will be on for audition attendees to show off their ‘hard work’
and to ‘make magic’ in front of a talented judging panel, many of whom have
made their own magic on West End stages.

On the panel will be Phil Willmott, a multi-award winning director who directed
the tenth anniversary cast of Fame – The Musical on the West End in 2005.
Joining him will be Jenny Cooke, Chief Executive of MT4Uth, who said:

“This is a really exciting opportunity for young performers from all over Ireland
to come together and showcase their talents in an energetic production of the
hit musical which will be performed at the T13 building on 23rd and 24th August.

Following the initial audition stages held in Belfast City Airport, the chosen
cast will undergo a 10 day residential camp which has been sponsored
by Phoenix Natural Gas.

Those aged between 10 and 23 wishing to attend the auditions in
Belfast City Airport on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2013,
must register their interest withprojects@mt4uth.com by
Friday 10th May 2013.

To find out if your community group or project could benefit from the George Best Belfast City Airport Community Fund, please contact communityfund@belfastcityairport.com. 

TAKEN FROM DISCOVER NORTHERN IRELAND

STEVE COOGAN: I PHONED IN HOLLYWOOD ROLES (from YAHOO)

Steve Coogan: I phoned in Hollywood roles (Exclusive)

Alan Partridge star said US movie career was a ‘waste of time’.

By Orlando Parfitt | Yahoo UK Movies Features – 2 hours 50 minutes ago

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  Damp squib... Steve Coogan with Jackie Chan in 'Around the World in 80 Days' (Credit: Disney)

Steve Coogan told Yahoo! Movies that his Hollywood career - which included roles 

in ‘Around The World In 80 Days’, ‘Tropic Thunder’ and ‘Percy Jackson And 

The Lightening Thief’ - was a “waste of time”.

“When I have gone over there and played ‘part number three’ in a film like 

‘The Other Guys’ [with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg], it’s just unremarkable. 

I could phone it in frankly. I’ve got no love for that work. You go and flirt with it 

and then come back home and do what you’re good at.

[Related story: Coogan on 'strip club research']
[Related story: More Alan Partridge details revealed]

“I just feel that a lot of that [Hollywood] work is a naive experiment. I met 

some nice people working on those projects, but I don’t feel any love for them.”

’80 Days’ saw Coogan star opposite Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger in 

an ill-judged adaptation of the Jules Verne classic, while in the critically panned 

film ‘Night at the Museum’ movies he played a miniature version of Roman 

general Octavius. 

Bad hair day... Coogan as Hades in 'Percy Jackson' (Credit: Rex Features)

“What I learnt [from going to Hollywood] was to go with my instincts and 

do the things I actually want to do.”

Suffice to say, he’s much more proud of the upcoming Alan Partridge movie 

(‘Alpha Papa’) and current project ‘The Look Of Love’ - a biopic about legendary 

Soho publisher/real estate magnate Paul Raymond, which is in UK cinemas now.

“I think Paul Raymond is far more interesting than Hugh Hefner, 

for example,” he said. “Hugh Hefner is 50 years of bonking 20-year-old women. 

There’s not a lot you can say about that really.”

The life of Raymond on the other hand was “sometimes funny, sometimes a bit 

depressing”. The film covers Raymond’s 70s heyday on the Soho party scene, 

the creation of adult mag ‘Men Only’ and the death of his daughter Debbie by a 

drug overdose in the 1990s.

Coogan told us about the film’s shift of tone. “There’s a scene in the film where 

[Raymond] takes class A drugs with his daughter whilst she’s pregnant, which 

sounds absolutely horrific, and on one level it is horrific. But whenever I watch

 that scene I burst out laughing, which is very odd. And so does the audience.”

Coogan remembers briefly meeting Raymond (who died in 2008) at a theatre 

performance in 1990 and did his research on the man, but didn’t want to 

impersonate him too directly.

Playboys... Coogan in character and real life Paul Raymond (Credit: FilmFour/PA)

“There are certain witticisms that I say as Paul Raymond that he never would. I 

think I’m a funnier person that Paul Raymond was. Though he had this ostensibly 

glamourous lifestyle, in some ways he was a dull man. You don’t want the film to be dull.” 

For more stories about the movies it's worth checking out the Yahoo site .

Click here->  TAKEN FROM THE YAHOO PAGES: