Feb 05 2021: It’s show time for Roundabout and South Yorkshire theatre lovers

IT’S the greatest show…a day of musical theatre excitement and excellence that comes to Sheffield this summer in support of South Yorkshire youth homelessness charity Roundabout!

The Musical Theatre Drive-In, organised and staged by Roundabout, is a theatrical extravaganza that will be be live in the orange car park at Meadowhall Shopping Centre on Saturday June 12.

Among the organisations already supporting the event are Meadowhall, The Leadmill, Sheffield City Council and Sheffield Hallam University.

But before the curtain rises on one of the year’s most colourful live entertainments, organisers are looking for performers to volunteer their talents and fill the stage with music, movement and drama.

The plan is to have four full performances throughout the day - at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm - giving plenty of opportunity for South Yorkshire’s most talented actors, singers and theatre companies to take to the stage for the first time since the pandemic lockdown saw all live performances cancelled.

From Hairspray to Annie, We Will Rock You to Mamma Mia, Kinky Boots to The Rocky Horror Show, the opportunity is there to bring some of the most popular theatre hits to new life in support of Roundabout.

The shows will have a drive-in format, with all vehicles safely social distanced and with the numbers of performers on stage limited to follow all current government safety guidelines.

“Roundabout has been badly hit by the pandemic and to ensure we can continue running our services and be there to support as many young people as possible, we are looking to the future and creating events to help inspire our supporters,” said the charity’s Events Fundraiser Emily Bush.

“This is a true drive-in experience but instead of a movie, we are aiming for a fantastic display of live entertainment.

“Each show will last around 90 minutes and will feature performers from across the Yorkshire region singing the top hits from musical theatre.

“Sheffield is a city that really supports the arts and we cannot wait to be able to bring theatre back to the city in a covid-secure way - but to do that we need to hear from both groups and individuals.

“We know that all South Yorkshire’s performers have missed more than a year of theatre and that their audiences have missed them too so this will be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the best of live community theatre and support a great charity at the same time.”

Anybody interested in joining the Musical Theatre Drive-In talent lineup should email Emily at emily.bush@roundaboutltd.org for full details.