The Other Palace and Mercury Musical Developments present MUSICAL BITES, a ‘tasting menu’ of exciting musicals in development. Served at 1.30pm every other week, audiences can spend their lunch hour watching a reading of something brand new!
Each week will feature a 45-minute excerpt with script-in-hand, from The Other Palace bar, and an opportunity to provide feedback to the writers. Do support new musicals in development as ticket revenue goes straight to the writers.
All tickets £5.
A selection of lunch options are also available from £5, for purchase on the day or to pre-order with your ticket.
Casts are subject to change.
LINE-UP
1 May – Deal of the Day
Book: Doug Quinn
Music: Adam O’Connor
Lyrics: Simon May
Cast: Lotti Brogan, Callum Henderson, Doug Quinn, and Joanna Kirkland
A fast-paced musical comedy set in 1990s Pittsburgh, where ambitious Molly fights to save a failing home shopping network and chase her TV dreams. With quirky coworkers, high-stakes sales, and live on-air chaos, it’s a rollercoaster of ambition, romance, and seizing the spotlight.
29 May – Can’t Complain
Writer & Composer: Sam Easton
Creative Director: Madison French
Cast: Steffan Eldridge as Tom/Neighbour; Hannah McCoy as Joanna/Neighbour; Megan Keaveny as Helen/Neighbour, and Sam Easton as Narrator
A brand new electropop audiodrama musical that captures a yearlong exploration of grief and loss, love and light, isolation and community seen through the eyes of a makeshift family unit living in the leafy but lifeless British countryside.
12 June – Dashing
Book & Lyrics: Will Jackson
Music & Lyrics: Matthew Floyd Jones
A magical snowstorm hits Patterbridge on Christmas Eve. With decoration disasters, runaway robot reindeer, and the town’s only gay bar facing closure, can our lovable townsfolk save Christmas? Or at least fall in love trying?! A queer romp filled with catchy songs – the feel-good festive treat you need this June!
26 June – Flyology
Music & Lyrics: Tamiko Dooley
Book & Lyrics: Cathy Farmer
Cast: Megan Abbott as Ada Lovelace; Ashleigh Cassidy as Ethel Smyth; and Beth McKinnon as Emmeline Pankhurst
FLYOLOGY is a defiant new musical where Ada Lovelace, Ethel Smyth, and Emmeline Pankhurst wake in a future that’s deleted them. Trapped in a perfect system with no room for unruly women, they fight back — hacking the code, rewriting the rules, and singing a truth the future can’t erase.
10 July – The Stop
Book: Emily Garsin
Music & Lyrics: Anna Shields
When an underground train unexpectedly stops between stations, Jules panics. She’s not been on the tube since the traumatic event that killed her father twenty years ago and now she’s trapped. Who are the strangers sharing this encounter? Can they help Jules confront her past and move beyond this stop?