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Sonia Friedman

Kirsty Young interviews theatre producer Sonia Friedman.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the theatre producer, Sonia Friedman.

Acclaimed as the most influential producer in British theatre today, she has produced over 160 new shows. They include Funny Girl with Sheridan Smith, Jerusalem starring Mark Rylance, Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet, the record-breaking Book of Mormon and the musicals Legally Blonde, and Dreamgirls. Her productions both here and on Broadway have won numerous awards, including a record-breaking 14 Olivier Awards in 2014, and nine this year for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Brought up in a creative, if unconventional, household, she left school at 16. After a stage management course at Central School of Speech and Drama, she cut her teeth at the National Theatre, worked with Harold Pinter, Richard Eyre and Tom Stoppard and then co-founded Out of Joint, a leading touring theatre company, with Max Stafford-Clark. She was named Producer of the Year for the third year in a row at The Stage Awards, and this year she also claimed number one spot in The Stage 100, a chart of the most influential people in British theatre, overtaking Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh.

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Available now

37 minutes

Last on

Sun 4 Jun 2017 11:15
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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Clips

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Music Played

  • Imogen Heap

    Hide and Seek

    • Speak for Yourself.
    • Megaphone Records.

  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • Claude Debussy

      Clair de Lune

      Performer: Clair Llewellyn Friedman.

  • Leonard Friedman, Richard Friedman & Members of the Scottish Baroque Ensemble

    Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor BWV 1043 (Second Movement)

    • Violin Music of Bach Vol. 1.
    • Syrinx.

  • Maria Friedman & Stephen Sondheim

    Children and Art

    • Now and Then.
    • Sony Classical.

  • Mark Umbers, Damien Humbley & Jenna Russell

    Our Time (From Merrily We Roll Along, 2013 West End Production)

    • (From Merrily We Roll Along, 2013 West End Production).

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Lark Ascending

    Performer: Richard Friedman. Orchestra: London Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Ross Pople.
    • Vaughan Williams: Tallis Fantasia.
    • ASV.

  • Jerry Bock

    Sunrise, Sunset

    Lyricist: Sheldon Harnick. Performer: The Friedman Family.

  • Amber Riley

    And I Am Telling You IΒ’m Not Going

    • Dreamgirls (Original London Cast Recording).
    • Sony Classical.

  • BOOK CHOICE

    Oxford Book of English Verse

  • LUXURY ITEM

    Cello

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Sonia Friedman
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcast

  • Sun 4 Jun 2017 11:15
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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