- 2003
- ...
has been a busy year for Willy Russell
- HOOVERING THE MOON
  Willy
Russell's songwriting prowess and musicianship came out of the
shadows and into the limelight with this new album. The recording and mastering
of Hoovering The Moon occupied the early part of the year
with some fine contributions from other musicians both during
the recording sessions and the gigs at the 'Walls' and in Ireland
as part of the 'Galway Arts Festival'. The release of the CD
has been greeted with lots of airplays and great reviews. Mike
Harding called Willy "One of the Country's great songwriters".
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- willyrussell.com
- This new web-site was launched
to great reviews and a wonderful response from fans of Willy
Russell's work across the world. wr.com plans to keep everybody
up-to-date with Willy Russell news, provide a resource and also
a forum for fans to express their views. The site ran its first
competition (to win a copy of the new CD) and the winner,
Andrew Ball, whose letter can be seen on the guestbook page,
thanked us a million times! More competitions soon.
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- TIM FIRTH
 Willy
also co-produced (with Andy Roberts) and played on Tim Firth's
new album in 2003. Tim, like Willy, is a songwriter and musician,
but is more widely known as a playright and screen-writer. Tim
co-wrote Calendar Girls, the film starring Julie Walters and
Helen Mirren, which had such great reviews this year. This new
album, as yet untiitled, will be released early in 2004.
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-
- BLOOD BROTHERS
- The UK production
of Blood Brothers continued to fill the theatres. Linda Nolan,
after a wonderful season on the London stage, joined the touring
cast and Lyn Paul rejoined the London Cast as Mrs Johnstone.
The fourth production of Blood Brothers, directed by Glen Walford,
opened in Japan and played to full houses and received wonderful
reviews.
-
- ALAN BLEASDALE
- Willy and
Alan re-united onstage at the Liverpool Playhouse for an evening
of words, music and comedy.
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- JULIE WALTERS
Willy Russell joined with others to pay a special BAFTA tribute
to the talents of Julie Walters. Willy read a very funny poem,
written specially for the event and Matthew Kelly recalled those
early days at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool. "...The
northern mafia at the Everyman... ...with the splendid Alan Dosser
and great writers like Willy Russell..."
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- BREEZEBLOCK PARK
 First produced in 1975 with a cast
including Julie Walters and Pete Postlewaite. The year ends with
Willy Russell re-visiting and re-polishing the script for Breezeblock
Park. The cast includes Pauline Daniels, Michael Starke, Drew
Schofield and Neil Caple.
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-
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- IN ADDITION
- Willy has also been working
on a variety of other projects, some of which will become known
shortly. Keep tuned for more information soon.... 2004 will
be an exciting year!
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