Geraint on song with first musical

Buy photos » Chorister Geraint Owen has put together his first musical with the help of lyricist Elissa Foord. (s)

HE has already performed on Broadway and been featured singing live on television.

And now Rugby School chorister Geraint Owen is getting ready for his first musical to be performed live as part of this year's Festival of Culture.

The 15-year-old's debut production, Flashman!, has so impressed Rugby School it has been chosen as a headline act for its offerings at this year's festival.

Geraint, from Llandaff in Wales, was inspired by the history of Rugby School and has based his production around the novel Tom Brown's School Days.

The teenager, whose abilities earned him a scholarship at the school, has written the music and co-written the script with lyricist and fellow pupil Elissa Foord, 17.

And he will play two characters during the shows, as well as play in the ten-piece band, during the performance on Wednesday July 4.

It comes two years after Geraint was spotted singing at the Wales Millennium Centre on Youtube and jetted over to New York to perform on Broadway in a Martin Luther King Jr Day concert.

After coming up with the idea to base his production around Rugby School, he chose the story of Tom Brown, his nemesis, the bully Harry Paget Flashman, and famous headmaster Thomas Arnold.

But realising he needed help with the lyrics, he drafted in fellow Rugby School pupil Elissa Foord, and together the pair set to work putting together the songs and script.

Geraint said: "I have to thank Elissa so much for all the work she has done - I truly couldn't have done it without her."

"As a fan of Bernstein, Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, I hope the different styles in my musical writing will appeal to all sorts of tastes."

Flashman! will be peformed at the Macready Theatre, Rugby School, on Wednesday (July 4) starting at 4.30pm.

Visit http://rugbyfestivalofculture.co.uk for more information.

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