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The long awaited 'Alchemy' shows, which took place in early September at the Cheltenham Playhouse Theatre, proved to be a great success! The Caamora Theatre Company, featuring eleven principal singers, eleven understudies, the band and the chorus, performed four shows in front of the enthusiastic multinational audience. The superb performances from everyone involved brought most positive reactions from press and viewers alike.

Moreover, on the closing night of the Cheltenham shows, Clive was presented with the MLWZ Golden Lexicon Award 2013 for Outstanding Achievements in Music for his musical 'Alchemy', which crowned three extremely intensive years of work on the musical. Congratulations, Clive! Well deserved!

Clive Nolan: "Winning this achievement award was a real surprise to me and a wonderful conclusion to the 'Alchemy' week. It is already on my wall and I am very proud of it. Thank you!"

Clive Nolan is working with a famous comic book and graphic novel artist Mark Buckingham to develop imagery for the CD/DVD and for the show, as well as a graphic novel version of the story, as part of the 'Alchemy' project. The images of the graphic characters will be based on the actual 'Alchemy' cast.

Mark Buckingham has been working in comics for almost 25 years, on numerous titles, including 'Miracleman', 'Sandman' and 'Death', all with writer Neil Gaiman, as well as significant runs on other key comics such as 'Batman', 'Spider-man' and 'Hellblazer'. For the past ten years Mark has been the regular artist on Fables for DC Comics, working with its writer and creator Bill Willingham, for which they have earned numerous comic industry awards. He has also illustrated 'Willingham's Down the Mysterly River' prose novel released last summer by Tor books. In addition Mark is also the regular cover artist on IDW's 'Doctor Who' comic and is recently worked with Neil Gaiman on a comic strip for 'The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2012' for BBC Books.

Clive Nolan: “It is a very exciting new development to have Mark Buckingham involved with the 'Alchemy' show. He will certainly add a whole new dimension to the story. Actually the great thing is that he can make any visual idea possible... this opens up all sorts of new paths! The fact that he is using the likenesses of the cast makes it even more personal, and unique! We have many ideas, it's just a question of choosing the best ones.”

More details will be revealed soon...

The forthcoming 'Alchemy' shows in Cheltenham, UK (September 5th, 6th, 7th) will be a feast not only for the theatre-goers. Among the Caamora Theatre Company team, an association of artists formed to perform Clive's musicals, a number of the renown progressive rock names can be found too. In some of the principal roles we will see Andy Sears (ex-Twelfth Night), David Clifford (Red Jasper) and Clive Nolan himself. The role of Thomas Anzeray at the Saturday matinee show will be performed by Paul Manzi (Arena). Moreover, in the orchestra pit we will find more prog-world celebrities: Scott Higham (Pendragon), Mark Westwood (Shadowland) and Claudio Momberg (Seti, Taurus). Chris Lewis, formerly involved with The Enid, and Agnieszka Swita, a lead vocalist for Clive's rock opera 'She', will re-appear on the Playhouse stage in the Cheltenham production of 'Alchemy' too.

Clive Nolan: “The cast of 'Alchemy' is a very diverse one. It's a mixture of local Cheltenham area artists, who were part of last year's theatrical 'SHE' production, some new singers, who have joined us recently, and some of my old friends with whom I've been working for years on various progressive rock projects. My aim for 'Alchemy' was to collect as many different voices as possible to ensure variety and flavour. They all did a fantastic job on the album, and indeed in Poland. So, even though the Cheltenham cast differs a little, I hope that everyone will find something of interest in the September shows, regardless of whether they are musical theatre enthusiasts or prog-rock fans.”

Metal Mind Productions have just announced the release dates and the content of the 'Alchemy' live DVD and a box set!!

Metal Mind: "The DVD recorded in February at the Wyspianski Theatre (Katowice, Poland), is enriched by a number of additional features, such as interviews with Clive Nolan, Agnieszka Swita, David Clifford, Scott Higham, and Mark Westwood, as also 'The Making of Alchemy' material.

Live version of 'Alchemy' will be available also in a special edition box which includes live DVD, two CDs with an audio version of the show, a bonus DVD with a number of features providing deeper insight into what the project is all about, as also a bonus CD featuring exclusive demos, alternative versions of the songs and more!”

The release date of the DVD and 2DVD+3CD Box is scheduled for September, 9th in Poland, September, 25th in Europe and October, 1st in USA (via MVD).

Learn more about the characters in 'Alchemy' in our 'Sights and Sounds' section! The video clips introducing the characters one by one are added regularly. All clips have been directed and produced by 'Alchemy' author and composer, Clive Nolan himself! Moreover, each of these short video presentations contains original music composed by Nolan. In the section you will also find commentaries concerning the characters.

Five clips have been released so far featuring: Clive Nolan as Professor Samuel King, Agnieszka Swita as Amelia Darvas, Chris Lewis as Thomas Anzeray, Andy Sears as Lord Henry Jagman and Damian Wilson as Captain Joseph Ferrell. More coming soon!