Joe Stilgoe - Theatre

Joe Stilgoe is a true modern-day entertainer, known as a performer of wit, style and a level of musicianship that has seen him recognised as one of the best singers - pianists in the world. Joe's originality lies in writing songs that feel like they've been around for years, and adapting classics that sound as though they were just written.

He has released 8 albums to great critical acclaim, 5 of which have topped the UK Jazz chart.

Brought up in a theatrical family, this album is Joe's love letter to the theatre. At a time when theatres are only just getting back to (show)business, each song is a theatrical event in itself - chosen or written with the aim of transporting the listener straight into that hushed auditorium, ready to be absolutely steamrollered by the mixture of emotions experienced as the lights go down and the curtain goes up.

Joe also shows his ever-evolving brilliance as a songwriter, a skill that has now taken him into the world of musicals and theatrical songwriting. He recently composed a musical for Chichester Festival Theatre to add to his already impressive body of work. Having only started writing for theatre in 2017 (The Jungle Book) Joe has now written 5 musicals (including the touring family showsZog and Zog & The Flying Doctors), and he has just been commissioned to write a new musical with Jason Manford for the Bolton Octagon, in which they also both star. He has written three new songs for Theatre as well as the triumphant overture Theatreland (orchestrated by John Wilson's former arranger Andrew Cottee) - these include Mr Matcham, a musical tribute to the prolific theatre architect Frank Matcham.

This is Joe's ninth studio album and continues Joe's genius for taking great songs from the past and giving them an exciting and relevant new spin that makes them sound as if they were just written. Theatre turns the spotlight on some of the greatest songwriters past and present from Kander & Ebb, Kurt Weil and Stephen Sondheim to Pasek & Paul.