Meet The Creatives Behind New Musical UNEXPECTED JOY

I'm Katie Lipson, I'm the producer of the show

I'm Amy Andrews Corcoran, I'm the director. And I'm Gareth Breton and I'm going to be a musical director

I was involved with both the Off-Bordway and the UK production, but much more creative in this one because I'm here

I always wanted to work with Amy and I was working with another producer I'd met with Jim Kirsted on a

that saw new musicals have a premiere in New York and then in London

And so when this one was presented to me as something that they were working on

I was like, yeah, this could be it. And I also loved Bill and Janet's work

So it felt like faith that there was a director that was doing this project, a great producer I wanted to collaborate with

and Bill and Janet's next show. And I've been huge fans of their energies for Angels, Punks and Regent Queen's for many years

So it was definitely the right show. And then when I realized it was four women and what it was about

and I heard the score. It had to be that. And so we worked on this model to do it at Southwick Playhouse in New York

but with a whole new fresh approach in London and a separate team in New York

apart from Amy. So this is where we're at. So I actually did something crazy

which I've never done before, which is direct in New York, and I'm directing it here

So I'm the only connector, except for Katie and Jim, as producers

So it's been really awesome because you never get to do that. You never get a chance to do a show

and then either fix your own mistakes or rethink it totally. So the cast is totally different

The set is totally different. We have a different MD, obviously, different designers

So if we're as a director, it's really exciting because I get to rethink of the show

The show came to me through Jim Kirstead, the producer. And of course, I love it

It's girl power. It's three generations, which is very rare on stage

shockingly in a musical three generations of women I am a daughter I have a daughter So for me that a really cool link And I dealing with my own things the things I used to say

oh my God, I can't believe my mom does that to now doing those things. And that happens in our show

So it's sort of interesting to sort of watch that. And then there's this other really cool element of things sort of being twisted

The generation that you don't expect is not accepting. And that's a really cool twist, too

So there are things I think in the show that haven't been shown in a musical before

and that's really exciting because what I care about is stories that haven't been told

That's the, so this one for me checked that box in a good way

We're definitely taking a fresh approach to it, for sure. But I've been a big fan of Janet Hood's music since Elie's Frangers Punks and Raging Queens

And the show does not disappoint. The songs are all bangers. They're amazing

I kind of left Jim to produce the off-board way of one because that's his ex-examination

He knows how to market a show how the design would work in the York Theatre, which is a very different theatre to the

Southwark Playhouse Little, which I was drawn to for this when I read it. I built a team that I felt would do this show justice in this city, in this country

And ultimately, you know, I think with the sort of set design we've gone for and the sort of immersive quality of that intimate space, it will automatically be quite different because it's not as end on as it was at the York

and marketing it in my own way. I do think it will have a different audience here

I do think that, well, like the York, Suffolk, does have a loyal following of musical theatre audiences

but probably a larger demographic, I would say, of age groups. And I think that these characters mean something different

to British audiences than the US. We don't have as many chamber musicals

We don't have as many new musicals having a platform anyway. And I just think it will be quite fresh and new

So yeah, I'm producing the show through my experience of producing another 30 new musicals over the last six years And I learned a lot from Jim from watching how he marketed and used the PR there But ultimately I think you have to go with what you know best

And for me, being involved with the US production as a producer was just to sort of get my name out there in the US

and to associate myself with some fantastic teams. But the real producing for me is started when I've come here, when I've done the show here

So yeah. I've been able to work with Katie on a couple smaller things over the last couple of years

So I did 21 Chump Street. We did that together. And then I was able to do the showcases from page stage, which is for a musical festival

So last year I did 20 minutes snippets of four new musicals. So I learned that was a really quick learning curve because there are four different writing teams

And obviously sort of those shows are geared for four different audiences. So I had a very fast sort of class clinic in British audiences and what you find funny and what you

don't find money. One of the things that Bill has really given us freedom with is to make sure

that even though the show is set in the States to make sure that it tracks. So there are at least

five times a day I'll say, does that make sense? Is that a British thing? Do you say that? Do you know that

And then if not, we sort of adjust it and change it and there's a couple things we're still tweaking

because even though it is set in the States, we want it to track for a British audience. So we're

finding our way there. But that is the cool thing about working on a new musical where the

writers are still present. I mean, they're not here with us in the room, but they're available

It's different, right? If you have a show that's 60 years old, you may not be able to access

the writers, so it's really cool. I can say, literally, as long as it's the time's appropriate

like at 10 a.m., I'm not going to be able to get him, but at like two, I can send him an email

and say, hey, can we change us? And he's like, yeah, no problem. So he's been really flexible

with that to make sure it's accessible for British Hopkins. It's absolutely incredible. They're also

unique vocally acting yeah it just a joy to work with it really exciting I just demonstrate down the opportunity I think that it has everything for everybody

I think it'd be taken on many different levels and I think that, you know, as Gareth said, the tunes alone are just euphoric and uplifting and there's such heart-fought messaging in the show

It's very different. I think if you want to see something that it's going to be like nothing you've ever seen

like nothing you've ever seen and yet leave feeling you know warm and connected to something new

I think that this is the one I think it's a brave new musical in many ways and I think that it should

be supported in its four-week run I think audiences would be disappointed I think the most yes I think

new musicals are really important for a variety of reasons obviously it's where I make my life

but for this piece I think the fact that these people are three

dimensional and very nuanced and no one is perfect and at any given point you find yourself

identifying with all of them is sort of a human connector that not all musicals can give us and

I think that makes this really special the music is amazing no doubt but the fact that there are times

from like I'm really mad at this character and really feeling for her and then a scene later it's

reversed it's really cool people will leave and go to the pubs and hash out why they're sided with

people and I think that's what theatre can do it. It's finest. And only 90 minutes as well

Yeah. And actually you can take these songs out and you still can follow the play

So it's got a lot of text and a lot of songs and it manages to do that and to flesh out these women and you want to see them again

You want to see this is just one episode. You kind of want to know what happens next

It feels very much that you can just put them on the television and watch this, you know, and then next week catch up the next bit of their lives

lives it feels very much like you want to know the next step of the journey this is just one chapter