Birmingham Hippodrome puts young people centre stage in new musicals

Flower Cutters, performed by Birmingham Hippodrome’s Musicals Young Company, comes to the venue from April 17 to 18, while Groove on Down the Road by ZooNation Young Company Birmingham will be staged from July 18 to 19.

Flower Cutters is a brand-new musical by Josh Bird and Rachel Bellman that is in development with Perfect Pitch, a not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to the creation, development and promotion of new British musicals, run by the producers of the Olivier Award nominated hit musical SIX.

This April will mark a regional premiere as the auditioned group of 19 people aged 16 to 24-years-old from Birmingham Hippodrome’s Musicals Young Company will be the first to perform the musical.

The young company was created by Birmingham Hippodrome in order to provide a platform for young performers from Birmingham and the West Midlands to work with industry professionals.

Groove on Down the Road is ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company's re-imagining of iconic story The Wizard of Oz.

The first ZooNation young company outside London, ZYCBrum is made up of 18 hip hop dancers in the city aged between 11 and 20 years of age.

Led by Artistic Director, Rhimes Lecointe, the company train weekly at their base of Birmingham Hippodrome.

Birmingham Hippodrome’s head of learning and participation, Zaylie-Dawn Wilson, said: “As a charity committed to working with our local communities and developing young talent, we created Birmingham Hippodrome’s Musicals Young Company and ZYCBrum to give the young people of Birmingham and the West Midlands a world-class professional platform to nurture their talents.

“We are delighted to see our two young companies taking to the stage with exciting, fresh and engaging works which will connect with both audiences and performers.”

For more information and to buy tickets, click here.