Hugh Wooldridge

Hugh Wooldridge
Born
Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England
Alma materLondon Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation(s)Theatre director, theatre and television producer and writer, and stage lighting designer
Parents
RelativesSusan Wooldridge (sister)

Hugh Wooldridge is an English theatre director, theatre and television producer and writer, and stage lighting designer. Wooldridge was born in Amersham, Bucks, the son of British composer John Wooldridge[1] and actress Margaretta Scott.[2] He is the brother of actress Susan Wooldridge. Wooldridge currently specialises in large productions, often at the Royal Albert Hall, London. He also teaches, gives master-classes and runs workshops.[3][4]

Early career

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After attending Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, Wooldridge trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, then assisted directors including Alan Ayckbourn, Eric Thompson, Frank Hauser and Michael Blakemore. He directed his first play at the age of seventeen. In the first ten years of his career he directed more than sixty productions in London and throughout the UK, by authors including Alan Ayckbourn, René de Obaldia, Pam Gems and Athol Fugard. He was a resident director at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester, the Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead, and The Old Vic, London.[5] In 1980 he co-devised with James and Edward Duke Jeeves Takes Charge by PG Wodehouse. He directed and lit the world premiere production performed by Edward Duke at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.

During the next ten years Wooldridge ran his own multi-media company, The Jolly Good Production Company (JGPC), which produced plays and TV programmes, managed artistes and published books. During this time he was also responsible for music programmes and programming in the ITV network in the south and south east of England. He also directed international tours of Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Show, as well as national tours of plays by Noël Coward, Daphne du Maurier and Dylan Thomas.[6]

Credits

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Each year since 1999 Wooldridge has produced, devised and directed The Night of 1000 Voices at the Royal Albert Hall. The production has featured amongst others Michael Ball, Brent Barrett, Len Cariou, Glenn Close, Michael Crawford, Kerry Ellis, David Essex, Maria Friedman, Joel Grey, Brian May, Caroline O'Connor, Adam Pascal, Philip Quast, and Sally Ann Triplett, and the works of Cy Coleman, George and Ira Gershwin, Lerner and Lowe, Tim Rice, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, Stephen Sondheim, and songs from the productions of Richard Eyre, Nicholas Hytner, Cameron Mackintosh, Trevor Nunn, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.[7]

Productions at the Royal Albert Hall:

Between 2010 and 2012 Hugh Wooldridge directed three tours of the play The Haunting, based on stories by Charles Dickens, for Bill Kenwright Ltd.[13]

In 2011/2 Hugh Wooldridge was the Beatrice Carr and Ray Wallace Visiting Professor at A. Max Weitzenhoffer College of Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma, where he directed the revival of his 1989 production, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.[4]

In 2013/4 he directed the European and US production of BelCanto produced by Luigi Caiola in conjunction with the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation, Italy. First seen at the New York City Center in November 2013 and subsequently in Naples, Rome and Paris and European Tour.

In 2016, he directed a production of Twist of Lemmon at The Other Palace, London with Christopher Lemmon portraying his father, Jack Lemmon.[14] In 2017 he conceived, wrote and directed a production for the Young Artists of America celebrating the songs of Tim Rice, hosted by Sir Tim, The Circle of Life, which was first seen at the Strathmore Center, Maryland and was later aired on PBS in the US. This MPT programme was nominated for three local Emmy Awards – Best Artistic Program, Best Lighting and Best Direction. It won an Emmy Award for Best Lighting.

In 2018, along with his international masterclass and teaching commitments, Hugh Wooldridge directed Play on Words – a celebration of PG Wodehouse and his fellow Wordsmiths on Broadway – with Hal Cazalet at Live at Zedel/Crazy Coqs and in New York;[15] and another production of Jesus Christ Superstar at Teatru Astra, Gozo/Malta.[16]

In 2019, Hugh Wooldridge produced and directed The Best of Rock Musicals, hosted by Tim Rice, Christopher Biggins and Richard O’Brien at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith for the benefit of the suicide awareness charity, The Charlie Waller Trust.

During the pandemic of 2020, he produced and directed 28 short films about Osteopathy – Discovering Osteopathy with Barrie Savory, and a season of new play readings, presented live and streamed globally from the Riverside Studios in London – Riverside Reads.[17]

In the post-Covid years Hugh Wooldridge has held Masterclasses – specialising in Auditions and Acting Through Song - in the UK, US and Demark.

In December 2024 he is directing a brand new production of Jeeves Takes Charge at the Theatre Royal, Bath, recently chosen by The Guardian as one of the top 20 Best Festive Theatre Shows.

Hugh Wooldridge has written a play with music with Nicholas Bromley about a girl band, Heads Up!

References

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  1. ^ "JOHN WOOLDRIDGE – June 2005 MusicWeb-International". musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  2. ^ "Obituary: Margaretta Scott". The Independent.
  3. ^ (27 Aug 2021). West End Masterclass with Kerry Ellis. Cranleigh Arts.
  4. ^ a b "Hugh Wooldridge". Hugh Wooldridge. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  5. ^ Hugh Wooldridge. London Box Office.
  6. ^ Riverside Studios announces ‘Riverside Reads’. Theatre News
  7. ^ (January 31, 2002). Night of 1000 Voices Set for May in London. Playbill.
  8. ^ "A Gala Concert for Hal Prince". First Night Records. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Concert Hall". David Firman. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  10. ^ Staff writer. "Who Could Ask for Anything More? A Celebration of Ira Gershwin (1997)". Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  11. ^ (6 May 2007). The Night of 1000 Voices 2007. Royal Albert Hall. London.
  12. ^ "Seasons of Love: A Celebration of the Calendar Girls". Royal Albert Hall. Archived from the original on 21 November 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  13. ^ "Bill Kenwright Ltd presents The Haunting". Bill Kenwright. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  14. ^ "Twist of Lemon". Love London Love Culture. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Hal Cazlet stars in PLAY ON WORDS Live at Zedel". Broadway World. Broadway World UK. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Jesus Christ Superstar". Teatro Astra 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  17. ^ "Riverside Reads". Theatre News. Theatre News 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
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