On Monday and Tuesday July 13 and 14, the work of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim will be celebrated in two evenings of musical theatre at the Rye Creative Centre in New Road, from 7:30pm (doors open 7pm) to raise funds for local charity ARRCC, which supports adults with sensory impairments and physical disabilities. Among the musicals featured will be West Side Story, Into The Woods, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Company, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Forum, A Little Night Music and Gypsy. Tickets £10 from www.eventbrite.co.uk, on the door, or by calling 07799 771961 or 01797 229797. Free parking and licensed bar.
This Friday and Saturday July 10 and 11, Acting Up in Rye present a comedy thriller “Wanted One Body” at Rye Community Centre in Conduit Hill at 7:30pm. Tickets from Grammar School Records or A Pocket Full of Rye. Also on Saturday Rye Singers are in concert at St George’s Church in Brede with “On Wings of Song” at 7:30pm. To book tickets call 01424 882549 or 01424 882991.
Next Friday July 17 at 7pm, in the Milligan Theatre at Rye College in The Grove, the Rye Wurlitzer Academy proudly presents “An Evening of Music and Song” with a cavalcade of Rye’s young star musicians and singers performing a wide variety of musical treats. Doors open 6.30pm.Tickets £6 including a cake in the interval. Fives and under free. To book, call Richard on 01424 444058 or students can book through Mrs Dale in the Music Department.
On Sunday July 19, Royal Opera House Singers will be performing popular operatic arias at Winchelsea Parish Church at 6.30pm for 7pm to help raise the £63,000 needed to repair the church roof. The singers, current and former members of the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, are performing in aid of the Friends of Winchelsea Church. Cash bar before the performance and in the interval. Enquiries to 01797 228514, jaynebeach@jempsons.co.uk or Jayne Beach, John Jempson & Son Ltd, Slade Yard, Rye TN31 7DG. Tickets £25.
The launch of the 44th Rye Arts Festival’s (RAF) programme will be at 4pm , also on Sunday July 19, at the George Hotel in Rye High Street and priority booking for Patrons, Friends and advertisers begins the day after at 10am. The Box Office will open at Phillips & Stubbs in Cinque Ports Street from August 3, Monday to Saturday 9.30am – 12.30pm. The Festival runs from September 11 until September 27 and one highlight will be Euphonia performing Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” on September 12 and 25.
(Sources: ARRCC, Acting Up, Wurlitzer, Winchelsea Friends, and RAF)