Chosen presented by Rewrites

Join us for another evening of REWRITES, a national initiative to develop and platform the most exciting new musicals from talent across the country. This evening showcases Chosen, a pop-rock comedy musical from Taiyo Yoshida and Dominic Varney. This is a ‘concert performance’, which means all the key songs from the new musical will be performed for the audience in an intimate setting,

Imagine accidentally killing Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, or Jesus and having to take their place. Chosen is a about Sue, an IT Support Technician in her 60s, who wakes from a coma to discover half the world has been zombified. After accidentally killing the zombies’ prophesied ‘Chosen One’, Sue must assume their identity and save humanity herself.

REWRITES was launched by The Lowry, Salford in 2017, to support and promote new musicals at the start of their journey to the stage. It’s a platform that puts shows on their feet and in front of an audience for the first time via presentations including scratch nights, works-in-progress sharings and concerts – The hit West End musical Operation Mincemeat started out at a scratch event as part of REWRITES. This year Norwich Theatre joined the programme, alongside Birmingham Hippodrome and MAST Mayflower Studios to create a new twice-annual touring platform for new musicals in development.

The show on 12 Nov, will begin with a short curtain-raiser test performance of ‘Maud and the Ring’, written by local artist Dan Sturman from Open Door Theatre.

The performance on 13 Nov will be followed with a post-show company Q&A, at which your feedback will be welcomed.

Creative team:

DOMINIC VARNEY

Dominic is a London-based songwriter and actor. He studied at The University of Manchester before graduating from The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in 2019. This year Dominic graduated as a composer from the course, Book, Music & Lyrics, and recently showcased his 2nd year work on a musical adaptation of Miss Congeniality at Crazy Coqs in London. He has also starred in award winning short films, and won Best Acting Duo for his performance in Light Fantastic at the Independent Shorts Awards (2021). He also has extensive experience working in Theatre In Education.

TAIYO YOSHIDA

Taiyo is a half-Irish, half-Japanese, and culturally confused writer and composer based in London. He has a Masters in Screenwriting from London Film School and has won awards at Film the House UK, Watersprite Film Festival, and Hollywood Just4Shorts. His plays have been performed at the Camden and Clapham Fringe Festivals and at Theatre 503 in London.