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Amelia Dunn and Jacob Wylie
Amelia Dunn and Jacob Wylie, students at Stagecoach Newcastle pictured at Sunderland Empire Theatre
Along with over a thousand children across North East England, Amelia Dunn and Jacob Wylie are members of Stagecoach theatre school.
During after school classes, students receive coaching in dance, drama and singing. They regularly get to put their new-found skills into practice on a grand scale when touring theatre production companies call on Stagecoach pupils to perform in the chorus of well know West End shows.
Amelia and Jacob were part of a 70-strong line up of budding theatre stars who raised the rafters of Sunderland’s Empire Theatre during a sell-out run of performances of much-loved musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Sunderland Empire Theatre
Edwardian music hall star, Vesta Tilley laid the foundation stone of the Sunderland Empire theatre on 29 September 1906. Just less than a year later, she topped the bill at its opening night performance.
South Shields entrepreneur Dick Thornton was the man with the vision and capital to create the Sunderland Empire and by so doing transformed theatre going in the North, making it clean, comfortable and affordable to a wide range of people for the first time.
Over the years, the theatre has hosted many thousands of performances featuring some of British entertainment’s best-known names.
Stanley Jefferson, who grew up in Bishop Auckland and North Shields, appeared at the Sunderland Empire alongside his father in a production they both wrote called ‘Home from the Honeymoon’. Stanley went on to become better known as Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy fame.
Other famous comics who appeared on stage included Max Wall, Flanagan and Allen and George Formby. However, it was not just comedians who performed at the Sunderland Empire. Gracie Fields and Marlene Dietrich starred, as did Charlie Chaplin in a production, which ultimately led him to cinematic fame.
In April 2004, the Sunderland Empire underwent a £4 million redevelopment to create the flagship theatre for the North of England, thus securing a new high profile phase in its history attracting West End shows such as ‘Starlight Express’, ‘Miss Saigon’, ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ and the of course ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’!
Contact The Sunderland Empire on: 0870 602 1130