Musical Supervisor/Director for all of Evolution Productions 2020/2021 Shows at The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury / The Cruicble Theatre, Sheffield / Theatre Royal, York / The Hawth Theatre, Crawley / Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells / The Octagon Theatre, Yeovil / Lichfield Garrick Theatre

It was a real honour to be part of this VERY memorable, and very different 2020 Pantomime Season, and just a joy to help bring back live theatre in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. A total pleasure collaborating with Evolution on such a great, unique to 2020 script! – Many of the shows were not able to open to a live audience, thanks to the various government restrictions. However, every show was professionally filmed and released for all audiences (worldwide) to enjoy, streamed from their own home!

See below a little teaser clip of my Overture (arranged, orchestrated and produced by myself) from Sheffield, where I was able to be in person performing, after touring the country setting up all the other shows as musical director, working with a great collection of talented people!

Musical Supervisor/Director for award winning “BEST SHOW” Cinderella at Sheffield Lyceum Theatre, produced by Evolution Productions. I’m very proud to have received an award for BEST MUSIC in the Great British Pantomime Awards 2020, for my music creations and performance in this show.

This was a top quality panto, playing to a packed, and beautiful theatre, with standing ovations every night. I felt incredibly proud hearing months worth of my work, being pulled off by the best in the business. Evolution are an incredible forward thinking company, fully utilising the talents and skills of their team. My JH showmanship approach was totally encouraged, with many moments for band interaction, with myself and the band fully showcased in the grand boxes, we were the opposite of a standard ‘boring’ theatre ‘pit band’ and grabbed the opportunity to perform/entertain our audiences with both hands. The band even had various on-stage cameo appearances weaved into the show!

Musical Director for Cinderella, Extravaganza Productions, Middlesbrough Theatre, 2015-2016

It was great to return to Extravaganza Productions as musical director, working with some friendly familiar, and new faces. With a very talented, fun cast & crew, making the job very enjoyable all around, especially with the very talented comic, Scott Gallagher (Buttons) who always does a grand job of including the band into the show, with lots of interaction. This really encourages the band to go for it and have some fun, rather than the old fashioned approach of being locked away deep within the orchestra pit, never to be seen. The whole company had a blast and this really showed in the performances.

The show starred Cheryl Fergison (known from EastEnders as “Heather Trott”) as Fairy Godmother. Also featuring Katie Lowe as Cinderella & Scott Gallagher as Buttons.

Click here to read the review.

Musical Supervisor for Peter Pan, Shone Productions, Middelton Arena 2015.

With only a small band, the rest of the orchestra was put onto a click track, allowing the band to play-a-long to enhance the overall sound, providing a whole new dimension to the audiences experience. Backing vocals were also arranged and recorded to enhance the performance. Below are examples of rehearsal tracks used in the various pantomimes I’ve produced for, which include all instruments of the band/orchestra, as a reference to how the finished article should sound. Enjoy!

This show starred Oliver Mellor (from Coronation Street) as Peter Pan.

Musical Supervisor for Cinderella, Shone Productions, Rotherham Civic Theatre 2015-16.

With only a small band, the rest of the orchestra was put onto a click track, allowing the band to play-a-long to enhance the overall sound, providing a whole new dimension to the audiences experience. Backing vocals were also arranged and recorded to enhance the performance. Below are examples of rehearsal tracks used in the various pantomimes I’ve produced for, which include all instruments of the band/orchestra, as a reference to how the finished article should sound. Enjoy!

This show starred Maureen Nolan, as Fairy Godmother.

I am very fortunate to have worked for Cattle & Cane in many different settings, and with very different roles, from studio session musician to arranging & producing tracks. They write some fantastic music, and have played at many of the UK’s leading festivals, such as Radio 2’s Live in Hyde Park, and have played a variety of unique gigs, such as supporting The Jacksons. Other than their gigs & albums, you might also find their music featured on TV Programmes such as E4’s Made In Chelsea, and various TV Adverts. They are featured heavily also on BBC Radio 2, where you will also hear some of my arranging, and playing, on the song “Skies”. I’m also lucky enough to have made it onto their upcoming album, on Fender Rhodes, and Hammond Organ.

I’m very much looking forward to playing at their album launch gig before the tour kicks off, on September 18th. Click here to see the dates. They are a great bunch to work with, and always very welcoming… even Tom the drummer.

In June 2015, Cattle & Cane assembled some of the best musicians in the North, and put together their own personal orchestra, to accompany them for a video recording of one of their latest singles “Carried Me Home”. I was lucky enough to make it onto this recording session, as a percussion player… and banging this big bass drum turned out to be harder than I thought!

Below is an example from an orchestral track, which I arranged, recorded & produced for the band in 2014.

	Superheat A function band with a funky twist, steering away from the wedding cliché vibe, when possible.
	Mosaic A classic function band, specialising more in the ‘oldies’ style.
	Beatless A unique jazz band led by drummer Robbie Huston, playing crazy jazz arrangements of well known pieces by The Beatles.
	Dropping Bombs A very adaptable, in terms of line up and styles, jazzy based band, playing music fitting for jazz clubs to weddings, or any function.
	Al Harrington Blues Band Playing Hammond Organ with Al Harrington’s Blues Band. This is an out & out blues band. Al plays the likes of Jimi Hendrix, B.B King, Fleetwood Mac, Screamin’, Jay Hawkins, and many more. A brilliant band to jam with, amazing and extremely experienced blues musicians. Click here to see us in action.
	The Henchmen Pianist with “The Henchmen”, a Jazz sextet I was recruited into whilst at Uni, based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. They specialise in swing, lounge, and club style jazz standards, but are easily adaptable depending on the job.
	Steve Dixon Band From time to time I’ll guest on Hammond/Piano for Steve Dixon’s blues band, a guitar led trio. Steve plays a wide range of blues styles, but always retains the classic/authentic blues feel, even when I’m there trying to jazz everything up! Check out Steve in action here.
	Ray Dales Quartet Alto Sax led Quartet, by the legend that is Ray Dales “Sax God Of Teesside” – A really fun band to play with, playing a variety of great different standards, from reggae to swing! Ray is an amazing experienced player and a brilliant fun spirit to work with! Read our latest review here. Find more from Ray at raydalesmusic.

Deputy Keyboard work includes

Various function bands in the North, such as ‘Soul Survivors’, ‘Live Injection’, ‘Ska Boom’

Musical Supervisor/Director for The Wizard Of OZ, Shone Productions, UK Tour 2015

This was a really fun show to be a part of, with a great cast, crew and creative team. The tour visited all sorts of different, beautiful venues, starting at The Lyceum Theatre in Crewe, finishing at ‘Cast’ in Doncaster. It was really nice to be able to work with my own click tracks/arrangements that I produced for the tour before hand, as usually I do that work is done for different companies, and it will be sent for their MD to work with. It just so happened I was fortunate enough to end up doing the tour (the fun part) as well this time, so that was great. We had a very talented, funny cast which kept the band entertained in every show, and it was a fantastic experience getting to work with a dancing dog that won Britain’s Got Talent… even when he did decide to have a poo on stage one day!

The show featured Britain’s Got Talent Winners, Ashleigh & Pudsey, as Dorothy and Toto

Also starring,
Lloyd Hollet as Scarecrow
Simon Kingsley as Tinman
Conor Barrie as Lion
Laura Handley as The Witch
David Burton as The Wizard

Click here to read the review.

“The audience are clapping to the cleverly devised overture from the word go when the Musical Director, James Harrison, had everyone joining in. Its fantastic to see a live band, its the only Easter production I’ve seen who incorporate this and it really does create a brilliant atmosphere.” – Middleton Arena Review