Craig Revel Horwood
Director / Choreographer
PERFORMANCE CREDITS
Craig’s professional training began in his hometown of Ballarat, Australia. He later moved to Melbourne and appeared in productions including WEST SIDE STORY, the Australian and New Zealand tour of THE DANNY LA RUE SHOW, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, ME AND MY GIRL, OLYMPUS ON MY MIND, SUGAR BABIES, JACK AND THE BEANSTALK and LADIES NIGHT (the hit comedy play in which he played the part of “Norman”) Craig also featured in numerous television commercials in Australia, notably, he was the face of the very first Kentucky Nugget advertisements for KFC and the voice of the MACLEANS toothpaste commercials. He also appeared in TV specials including THE DON LANE SHOW, THE MIKE WALSH SHOW and special-guest spots on THE MIDDAY SHOW.
On arriving in Europe Craig joined the famous company at the LIDO Du PARIS as a dancer in PANACHE and thenas principle singer in FORMIDABLE at the MOULIN ROUGE,finding himself a year later in the UK tour of CATS in Edinburgh and Dublin. Craig also appeared in the original concert version of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR.
In the West End, Craig has performed in CATS, playing the part of ‘Munkustrap’ at the New London Theatre, MISS SAIGON at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane as Dance Captain and was an original cast member playing the part of ‘Harry’ and Dance Captain of CRAZY FOR YOU at the Prince Edward Theatre. This took him to New York and Baltimore in the USA then to Germany at the Schiller Theatre, Berlin. Craig then went on to re-create the show for SUSAN STROMAN in South Africa.
Craig has performed in concert at The Grovesnor House, Smiths, Centre Stage, Talk of London, Prue Leith’s, Kids at Heart (London Palladium) Groucho Club and at the New Connaught Rooms.
His recording credits include LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (original Australian cast recording), CRAZY FOR YOU (original London cast recording) and TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS with Jonathan Pryce, as well as numerous jingles for television and radio.
Television credits include CHILDREN IN NEED BBC, TVAM Breakfast show, THE 1992 ROYAL VARIETY COMMAND PERFORMANCE for the BBC at the Dominion Theatre and THE 1993 LAURENCE OLIVIER AWARDS. Since the end of 1994, Craig concentrated on his directorial and choreographic career,but inrecent years, has made a return to the small screen, appearing as a judge on the hit TV series STRICTLY COME DANCING for the BBC.
DIRECTION and CHOREOGRAPHIC CREDITS
Craig Revel Horwood’s credits include SOPHIE TUCKER, THE LAST OF THE RED HOT MAMAS (New End Theatre) CRAZY FOR YOU (South Africa) FAIRY TALES (Drill Hall) JACK IN REVIEW starring Diana Rigg, Dora Bryan, Wayne Sleep, Clark Peters and Jonathan Pryce (London Palladium). He was Associate Director/Choreographer on WEST SIDE STORY (UK Tour, Prince Edward Theatre and Prince of Wales Theatre), Resident Director on MISS SAIGON (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane) and assisted Bob Avian on the Olivier-Award winning choreography of MARTIN GUERRE (Prince Edward Theatre). Other choreography includes HEY MR PRODUCER! (Lyceum Theatre, West End) working with theatrical legends such as JULIE ANDREWS, BERNADETTE PETERS, JONATHON PRYCE, DAME JUDI DENCH, STEPHEN SONDHIEM, ELLEN GREENE, JULIA MCKENZIE and RUTHIE HENSHALL. Craig also choreographed the Norwegian cruise line production of HEY MR PRODUCER! A Jean Ann Ryan production for the Sky’s maiden voyage. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Carre Theatre Amsterdam and Holland National Tour) SPEND, SPEND, SPEND (Plymouth Theatre Royal, Piccadilly Theatre West End and UK National Tour) for which he received a nomination for an Olivier Award for Best Choreography and won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical; LA TRAVIATA (Ahoy Arena, Rotterdam) HARD TIMES the MUSICAL (Windsor and Haymarket Theatre West End) PAL JOEY and ARCADIA (Chichester Festival Theatre) EATING RAOUL (Bridewell Theatre) GUYS AND DOLLS (Sheffield Crucible Theatre) FRED ASTAIRE TRIBUTE( London Palladium) PARADISE MOSCOW (Opera North) ON THE RAZZLE (Chichester Festival Theatre) CARMEN (Holland Park) MY ONE AND ONLY (Chichester Festival Theatre) for which he received a nomination for Best Regional Musical; TITANIC the Musical (Carre Theatre Amsterdam and National Tour) CHESS the Musical (Denmark) for which he received a nomination for Best Musical; Directed and choreographed LA TRAVIATA (Arena, Munich); IL TROVATORE (Ahoy Arena, Rotterdam); Choreography for MY ONE AND ONLY (Piccadilly Theatre, West End) for which he received nominations for the Olivier Award for Best Choreography and the Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Choreography; Craig directed Clive Row, Jenna Russell, Alison Jiear and John Barr in IN WHATEVER TIME WE HAVE (Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) Choreography for ANYTHING GOES (Grange Park Opera) WHEN HARRY MET BARRY a new musical (Hampstead). He directed the OPENING CEREMONY of the 2002 COMMONWEALTH GAMES (Manchester); Choreographed CALAMITY JANE (UK Tour and Shaftsbury Theatre West End) for which he received nominations for Best Musical, Manchester Evening News Awards and the Theatregoers Choice Award for Best Choreography; He Directed and Choreographed a new version of Barry Manilow's COPACABANA (Carre Theatre-Amsterdam/National tour) also COPACABANA (Demark) receiving a nomination for Best Musical; Choreography for TOMMY COOPER –JUS LIKE THAT! (Garrick Theatre West End); Directed and choreographed BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED (Lyric Theatre West End)a new musical based on the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda.
Craig went full circle and choreographed BONHEUR a new production at the world famous LIDO Du PARIS currently running on the Champs Elysee, Paris. He conceived, directed and choreographed THE LEGEND of the LION KING currently running at Disneyland, Paris; DER KUHHANDEL an Operetta by Kurt Weill for the Bregenz Festival, Austria. He staged and choreographed ONCE UPON A TIME… The Life of Hans Christian Andersen (Endemol/Initial TV) A worldwide, televised, live concert in Copenhagen, at Parken Stadium, a 48,000 seater to mark his bicentenary on April 2nd, 2005. Starring TINA TURNER and OLIVIER NEWTON JOHN.
Craig Revel Horwood directed and choreographed the highly acclaimed production of SOUTH PACIFIC for Grange Park Opera, summer 2005, SWEET CHARITY (Holland and Belgium) which received rave reviews and recently was nominated for five musical theatre awards and won two, A FUNNY WAR a Strauss operetta for the Bregenz Festival, Austria and has just re-staged the very successful, Der Kuhhandel renamed in English, ARMS AND THE COW for Opera North now touring the UK and opening in Vienna, May 2007. Craig has recently created choreography for GLANZLICHTER currently running at Europe’s largest revue theatre in Berlin, the FRIEDRICHSTADTPALAST.
Craig also choreographed the recent hit BBC TV shows HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA? And JUST THE TWO OF US. He recently staged the dances for the play SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket starring CLAIRE BLOOM and BILLY ZANE, also the play starring MAUREEN LIPMAN entitled MARTHA, JOSIE AND THE CHINESE ELVIS currently on a UK national tour. Craig choreographed a new work for THE BALLET BOYZ Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, to open the Royal Festival Hall this summer entitled YUMBO vs. NONINO a tango for two men, which had rave reviews and he directed and choreographed a new version of MARTIN GUERRE, an actor musician production for the Watermill Theatre, Berkshire which proved to be a massive hit for the company.
TELEVISION APPEARANCES
Craig is a well-known face on television in the UK and now, due to BBC Prime, all over the world as a judge on the first, second, third and forth hit series of BBC ONE’s STRICTLY COME DANCING presented by Bruce Forsythe. Strictly Come Dancing has won numerous awards including Broadcast award for Best New Program; TRIC award for TV Entertainment Program; RTS award for Entertainment program; Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for Best Entertainment program and Best Performer for Bruce Forsythe and a Festival Rose d'Or Award for Best Variety program. Craig was also a Judge on Comic Relief Does FAME ACADEMY series one and two, STRICTLY ICE DANCING, STRICTLY AFRICAN DANCING and has a regular weekly slot onBBC TWO’s IT TAKES TWO with Claudia Winkleman, He also judges the New Zealand version of Strictly Come Dancing, DANCING WITH THE STARS, and has appeared on numerous television shows for TVNZ. Craig will be judging the fifth series of Strictly Come Dancing, broadcast live to the nation to over 12 million viewers from 6th of October 2007. He was also a grand finalist on the hit cooking show, CELEBRITY MASTERCHEF! participated in and won READY, STEADY, COOK. Craig has also appeared on BLUE PETER, HIDER IN THE HOUSE and THE BIG FINISH with Graham Norton all for the BBC.
Craig is an accomplished artist and has had many successful art exhibitions in London and Paris working in 3D design, acrylic on paper.
He has written a book entitled TEACH YOURSELF BALLROOM DANCING by Craig Revel Horwood for Hodder Education’s famous Teach Yourself range worldwide, which has been available in all good bookstores since September 2005 and is now on it’s third re-print.
Future Productions
Appearing as a judge on the hit TV series, STRICTLY COME DANCING BBC ONE series five! DANCING WITH THE STARS series 4 TVNZ.
Craig is developing and directing a new musical for China called THE ROSE GARDEN written by Huiling Wang, of CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON fame, to open World Expo 2010, Shanghai.
CRHtheatreproductions
This will be one of the most challenging ventures of Craig’s careerto date. He intends to write and produce his own material and is also looking forward to collaborating with some of the most talented people in the business to create, what undoubtedly will be one of the most exciting and innovative theatre companies in the world!
Production news
EX! A new musical written by Daniel Cainer, work-shopped at The Arts Theatre, West End, starring Alison Jiear and Anna Jane Casey,about the journey of life, love and divorce! A contemporary comedy with a dark raw edge and filled with pure unadulterated themes.
THE UNCONVENTIONALS a new musical. Music/lyrics by Drew Jaymson and book by Drew Jaymson and Ash Logan about life, it’s causes and it’s consequences. This is a show about how we live, why we live and most importantly what happens when the living stops.
THE HUNGER adapted by Craig Revel Horwood as a contemporary ballet with words based on the book by Whitley Strieber with music by a new and innovative Australian band called Mushroom Giant. This sensual and terrifying vampiric love triangle springs to life in this classic story that for years satiated millions. Eternal youth is a wonderful thing for the few who have it, but for our leading character Miriam Blaylock, it is a curse- an existence marred by death and sorrow. Because for the everlasting Miriam, everyone she loves withers and dies. Now, haunted by signs of her adoring husband’s imminent demise, Miriam sets out in search of a new partner, one who can quench her thirst for love and withstand the test of time. She finds it in the beautiful Sarah Roberts, a brilliant young scientist who may hold the secret to immortality. But one thing stands between the intoxicating Miriam and the object of her desire: Dr. Tom Haver…and he’s about to realize that love and death go hand in hand.