Bryan Cass – Musical Director
Bryan is Young Gen’s resident musical director. He sits on the audition panel, guides the cast through their songs, is our musical accompaniment on the baby grand for all rehearsals and summer school, and leads the orchestra during show week.
Ray Jeffery – Director and Patron
In 2012 Ray directed Young Gen’s double NODA award winning production of Les Miserables which scooped not only Best Youth Production, for NODA East, but also Best Musical for the region. Previously, in April 2011, he directed Young Gen’s production of Whistle Down The Wind which won NODA East’s Best Musical, The NODA East Shield for Best Overall Production, and saw Kathryn Peacock win Best Youth Performer for her role as Cathy. The previous year, in the Ray Jeffery directed West Side Story, Sam Toland won Best Youth Performance for his role as Tony. Ray’s productions for both Young Gen, CAODS and other amateur musical societies across the country and in Europe remain popular with audiences and continue to scoop awards. Ray’s last production for Young Gen, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, has been nominated as Best Youth Production for NODA East 2013, alongside the group’s other 2013 production Joseph (directed by Jeremy), demonstrating the talent and quality both of our professional directors have!
Jeremy was himself a Young Genner, directed by Ray Jeffery in his earlier productions with Young Gen! After graduating from Mountview Theatre School, Jeremy appeared in numerous West End, touring and rep seasons. Now travelling all over the UK and Ireland directing and choreographing shows, Jeremy is one of the most sought after Directors having received numerous NODA awards and critical acclaim for his productions. Jeremy has continued his association with Young Gen, directing some of the societies most energetic, fun filled and colourful productions, including Bugsy Malone, Seussical, The Wiz, Little Shop of Horrors, Smokey Joe’s Cafe and ‘Honk!’. HONK! received critical acclaim and was nominated for Best Youth Production, winning Bart Lambert Best Youth Performance for his role as Ugly.
Jeremy’s most recent Young Gen productions were the November 2013, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (youth group production) and Grease (April 2014, Civic Theatre). Joseph has been nominated for NODA East Best Youth Production; NODA said it was a “show second to none”. See the pictures and read the reviews on our show pages.
Sallie has directed several successful productions for CAODS already and joined Young Gen for the first time in the Autumn of 2014 to start directing Cats, Young Gen’s April 2015 production. She has a string of NODA nominations and trophies to her name and Young Gen are confident she will bring another winning dimension to their repertoire. We are pleased to announce that Sallie will be directing our forthcoming production of Oliver.
