Birmingham Hippodrome has announced that Deirdre O’Halloran will be joining them as the Head of New Musical Theatre. The first UK venue to launch an in-house department dedicated to musical theatre, O’Halloran will head the Birmingham Hippodrome’s development of new musicals for the West Midlands.
Prior to this appointment, O’Halloran was the Literary Manager at the Bush Theatre from 2018, where she designed and implemented artist development programmes, and took the lead on dramaturgy for all commissioned work.
Highlights of the work O’Halloran produced at the Bush Theatre include; Anoushka Lucas’s debut play with songs Elephant, August In England by West Midlands icon Sir Lenny Henry, the Olivier Award-winning The P Word by Waleed Akhtar, and winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Award Lava by Benedict Lombe. Other work in development at the Bush includes Sparrow Girl, a new musical written by Chris Bush and Maimuna Memon.
When she starts her new role in October, Deirdre O’Halloran will grow a specialist team and collaborate with creatives and partners to create new production opportunities in Birmingham and beyond. The dedicated department will develop, commission and produce new musicals as part of the Hippodrome’s core business, alongside offering skills development, employment, and a new Writers Lab, supporting the national new musical theatre community and more sustainable career pathways in musical theatre.
Jon Gilchrist, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Birmingham Hippodrome, said: “Dee is a theatre marvel: her compassion for and understanding of artists, combined with a rare dramaturgical insight, make her the perfect pioneer to lead this new department. I am certain that her love and understanding of musical theatre will help ignite a new generation of writers and composers. I am also delighted that the brilliant Vicky Graham will be continuing with us as the department becomes a reality.”
Deirdre added: “Birmingham Hippodrome is a venue that is fizzing with ambition and passion for musical theatre and I am delighted to be heading up this brand-new department to develop new musicals for a range of scales and platforms. There is a huge contingent of talented and dedicated musical theatre artists in the UK and I am so excited to make the Hippodrome their home, a place to develop their craft and make brilliant new work.”
