Welcome to Cromer Pier and the Pavilion Theatre at the heart of entertainment in North Norfolk
Cast Biographies
Meet the Seaside Special 2008 Cast
Peter Piper
Lead Comic
Peter, born in Stockport, Cheshire, cut his teeth travelling the circuit of working men's clubs before headlining the lavish VIVA production shows in Blackpool.
He made the crossover from comedy to drama on the other side of the Atlantic. After co-starring in ITV's 5 Alive which won the 'New York Festival of Comedy' award and completing his third series as special guest on The Ron Lucas Show for Thames TV, he emigrated to Los Angeles having signed a 'holding deal' with Lorimar Television.
Roles in various primetime TV series such as Party of Five, The Martin Short Show, and Tarzan coupled with US commercials created a groundswell of interest in Peter's natural acting abilities. This culminated in the filming of Acapulco HEAT, of which 22 episodes were shot on location in Mexico. It has since been syndicated on television worldwide.
He worked as a voice-over artist for Disney and Paramount
Films, on Black Beauty, Patriot Games I and II and Pocahontas. This established Peter as a measured commodity in the Hollywood acting fraternity.
He is now establishing himself as a prolific actor on British soil, whilst maintaining his roots in comedy. He has recorded Stand and Deliver, a half-hour, one-man comedy show for Sky TV, and recently played the guest-lead as Eddie Walker in Holby City for BBC1.
He has since been directed by Simon Callow to understudy and perform in the one-man show Tommy Cooper Just Like That at the Garrick Theatre, Leicester Square.
He toured with the cult musical Boogie Nights and was critically acclaimed as Spencer Gabrielle in the West End for his performance. Peter has been asked back again to headline the Summer Seaside Special at the Pavilion Theatre in Cromer.
Johnny Mac
Comic
Award-winning comedian Johnny Mac is delighted to be at Cromer. Johnny made his name entertaining audiences the length and breadth of the country with his comedy talent, and has received some fantastic reviews over the past few years.
Recently, Johnny has appeared in holiday parks nationwide, and has performed in various summer seasons, including the Gaiety Theatre Ayr in 2006 as principal comedian, and last summer at Bournemouth Pier for Openwide International/Paul Holman Associates.
Johnny has a long list of pantomime credits to his name. He appeared at the Lyceum Crewe for two years, playing Buttons and Wishee Washee for Charles Vance and WISH. Before that, he spent two years in Northern Ireland at the Waterfront Belfast and Millennium Theatre Derry, playing Muddles and Simple Simon.
Last year, he returned to the Gaiety Theatre Ayr to top the bill as Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk.
Johnny made his television debut in the new series of Still Game for BBC Scotland.
Teodora Ilieva
Violinist
Originally from Bulgaria, Teodora's first experience of Britain was at the tender age of 11 when she won a full music scholarship to the prestigious Wells Cathedral School in Somerset. As a specialist musician, she excelled at the violin, winning the Concerto Competition. In addition to recording for BBC Radio 1, Teodora also toured the UK as leader of the Wells Cathedral Symphony Orchestra. She went on to follow her education by achieving a BMus degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, studying under respected teachers Catherine Lord and Professor Yfrah Neaman.
Teodora's many stage appearances have been for various audiences including celebrities and members of royalty, such as the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Charles Worthington to name but a few. As well as performances with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, she has also performed as a soloist at world-famous venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St John's Smith Square, and St James' Palace.
Recently, Teodora collaborated with tenor singer Alfie Bow.
Although a classically-trained musician, Teodora also enjoys improvising and recording in other genres of music. She has recently collaborated with Nicolette from Massive Attack and Fabio D'Andrea from P.U.P.P. She is also a keen supporter of the charity Voices for whom she performed at Dulwich Picture Gallery alongside Sir Willard White and the award-winning Nicky Spence.
Georg Tormann
Lead Male Vocalist
Georg gained a BMus degree from London University in 1994, majoring as a singer. He went on to further study with maestro Eduardo Asquez and the distinguished Welsh tenor Jeffrey Talbot, performing with opera companies such as The Royal Carl Rosa, Opera Holland Park, European Chamber Opera, English Festival Opera, London City Opera, and most recently, Hever Castle Opera with whom he performed the role of Lord Tolloler in Iolanthe last year.
Georg has also sung in many musicals including Crazy For You, Oklahoma!, West Side Story, Camelot, and South Pacific.
Georg is equally at home on the podium! He began conducting in 1996 when he produced, conducted and directed Carmen at the Bob Hope Theatre in Eltham. Since then he has conducted many musicals including Company by Stephen Sondheim and Chess by Ulvaeus and Rice. In 1999 he founded and became
Musical Director of Bromley Open Air Theatre, co-producing a month long festival of opera and plays, in the beautiful setting
Laura was raised in North Yorkshire, the youngest of three daughters to fantastic parents John and Janice. She began her professional singing career fronting production shows aboard a cruise ship at the age of 18. Since then, her talent has taken her on various theatre tours and cruises in the UK, Europe and the Caribbean. She indulges her passion for live music by working with various different bands up and down the country and enjoys the challenge of singing a multitude of different styles.
Laura Grace
Lead Female Vocalist
of the Church House Gardens. In 2003 Georg was asked to co-produce and sing in the ‘Big Band’ show Music To Watch Girls By for the Crystal Palace Open Air Concert Season. Since then Music To Watch Girls By has been performed at theatres, concert halls and corporate events around the country to great acclaim.
As well as his performing career, Georg enjoys teaching singing privately, coaching ‘pop’ artists at the ‘B.R.I.T.S. Performing Arts School’, and managing up-and-coming artists through his own management company, GPM Productions.
He is also founder and chorus master of the London Concert Chorus, which has performed with many distinguished artists, including Ruthie Henshall on her 2004 tour, and Jonathan Cohen in the Christmas Sing-Along at The Royal Albert Hall.
Georg lives in Bromley and has two children.
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Aby Kate
Seaside Special Dance Captain
Aby has been performing professionally as a dancer since completing her professional training at Performers College. She has had many professional credits including television, theatre, cruise and corporate work.
As Dance Captain & Choreographic Assistant, Aby has just worked alongside Ken Oldfield and Di Cooke, and has performed at the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton in ‘Dick Whittington’ (QDOS) and at the Pavilion Theatre, Norfolk in last year’s summer and Christmas shows. Previously, Aby performed with the hilarious Paddy McGuinness (from Max & Paddy...) on his live tour “The Dark Side of the Force”, and toured with the talented pianist, Bobby Crush.
TV credits include dancing on Audience with Kylie with the famous Kylie Minogue (LWT), and on Casanova, televised for the BBC with
the well-known David Tennant. Aby has not only appeared on English television but on Swedish & Italian TV as well, after performing in Circo Massimo over in Sweden.
Aby has also performed for the summer season at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool alongside Cannon & Ball.
She has also had many successful pantomime seasons in conjunction with QDOS Entertainment including: the Birmingham Hippodrome with Joe Pasquale, The Regent in Stoke-on-Trent alongside The Chuckle Brothers, Swansea’s Grand Theatre, and The Grand in Wolverhampton with Billy Pearce & John Challis (Boycie from Only Fools & Horses).
Alongside her performing, Aby has choreographed for various shows and competition events and has had great rewards from teaching dance to all ages.
Andy Young
Seaside Special Dancer
Hazel Beauchamp
Seaside Special Dancer
Originally from Portsmouth, Hazel started dancing at the Purbrook Academy of Dance. She later gained a scholarship to train at Elmhurst School for Dance and Performing Arts in Surrey, graduating with a Diploma in Jazz and Commercial Theatre.
Hazel’s theatre credits include: featured dancer/singer in a variety of shows on the P&O Cruise liner with Cruising Musicals Consortium, Spirit of the Dance, Spirit of Broadway and Spirit of Christmas (UK, European & Far East tours), Dancing Queen (Bournemouth Pavillion) and Aladdin (Marlowe Theatre Canterbury). Additional TV and commercial credits include: Dr Who (BBC Cardiff) where she played a Cat Nun, the MOBO awards dancing for Chaka Khan and also modelling for the Hair Show International.
Hazel is delighted to be part of this production and is looking forward to spending her first summer season in Cromer.
Casey Smith
Seaside Special Dancer
Casey was born in Cheshire where she trained locally. At the age of six, the dance school she was attending was invited to perform at Disney World Resort, Florida. Casey then joined the Hammond School, Chester and later Elmhurst School for Dance, Surrey to further her training vocationally. She supplemented her classical training by putting herself forward to work with Wayne Sleep for the National Youth Ballet and also getting the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the English Youth Ballet on two occasions. Alongside this, Casey also took part in a number of amateur and professional productions,
including several pantomimes working with house-hold names from film and TV. Having discovered a passion for all aspects of the theatre, she embarked on a three-year course at Stella Mann College where she graduated with a Level 4 Diploma in Musical Theatre and as an Associate of The Royal Academy of Dance.
Since graduating, Casey has worked as a dancer/entertainer for Warner Leisure Breaks at Bodelwyddan Castle, North Wales. She has also worked abroad for a small hotel chain in Tenerife, as a dancer, where she had the opportunity to perform the roles of the “White Girl” in a creation based on and around the music of Michael Jackson and of “Killer Queen” in We Will Rock You.
Juan Luis Gosp De Vicente
Seaside Special Dancer
Juan Luis is a graduate of Millennium Dance 2000.
During training for a Diploma in Performance Arts, he has been taught by leading West End musical directors, choreographers and performers.
Juan Luis has worked extensively in Spain prior to training and has most recently toured the UK with Spirit of the Dance.
Natasha Keeley
Seaside Special Dancer
Natasha attended a three-year Performing Arts course at Performers where she qualified as a teacher in I.S.T.D. Modern and Tap. She also studied R.A.D. Ballet and I.S.T.D. Ballet. Natasha has performed in many cabarets for a variety of events including: Variety Club of Great Britain Annual Gala at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Warner Brother Stores grand openings, Essex FM road shows, Rugby League Challenge Cup for BBC TV, Movie Awards for Carlton TV, as well as TV extra work in Baywatch and various pop videos.
The vast majority of Natasha’s career has been working for Princess Cruises, firstly as a dancer then as dance captain, pursuing one of her life-long dreams of travelling the world. She also spent a year in Italy teaching a variety of dance followed by a short time working in Dubai.
For the past five years Natasha has been involved in the Thursford Christmas Spectacular, the last two years of which were as Dance Captain of 21 girls. This will be her third summer season at Cromer,
the most recent of which was in 2006. She took 2007 off to spend time with her mother. Natasha is extremely pleased to be invited back again this year and will be dedicating her performances in memory of her mum.
Andy returns for a fourth season of Seaside Special. Having trained at Bretton Hall College and Northern Contemporary School of Dance, Andy successfully completed a three-year Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance and Choreography.
Andy spent several months as Dance Captain aboard MS Sunbird and MS Carousel cruising the Mediterranean, Caribbean, USA and Africa and has also performed the role of Assistant Choreographer for Openwide International. He is also a seasoned pantomime performer, appearing in Cinderella (New Theatre, Cardiff), Jack and the Beanstalk (Theatre Royal, Plymouth), Cinderella (Birmingham Hippodrome) and Aladdin (Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury) appearing
alongside the legendary Danny La Rue, Brian Conley, The Chuckle Brothers and Barry from Eastenders!
Other credits include: Fame (Powerhouse Theatre, Wakefield), Oliver (Royal Theatre, Northampton), The Clothes Show, Visit Britain and various commercial dance videos and corporate performances.
Andy has recently been establishing himself as a choreographer and his credits include Aladdin (Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury) as Resident Choreographer, and Tricky TV – UK Tour, with Stephen Mulhern (of Britain’s Got Talent).
Andy is delighted to be back in Cromer once again.
