An award-winning creative team will begin readings and workshops of brand new British musical, Saving Grace, next week.

Composer Chris Passey teams up with chart-topping brother Nigel and emerging writer Caitlin Plimmer to tell a coming of age story of four friends who are impacted by a life-changing event.

Chris Passey co-wrote ‘Stagey & Proud’, originally performed by Chloe Hart, followed by Sheridan Smith at the Whatsonstage Awards, and his album Self Taught: Still Learning was a bestseller at Dress Circle and reached number 3 in the Amazon Broadway charts. He recently wrote the music, lyrics and score to Brilliant Theatre Arts production of Beauty and the Beast at the Alban Arena with his brother, Nigel.

Nigel Passey is an actor and singer in his own right, who has had chart-topping success around Europe. His single, ‘Please Sit Down’ made it to number 6 in the iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts.

Responsible for the book, Caitlin Plimmer is both an emerging writer and theatre performer. Whilst training, she performed in and co-wrote She (Veža Theatre Company, The Showroom, Chichester & Yard Theatre) and Hell Hath No Fury (The Showroom, Chichester).

A post was put out on Twitter asking for actors to take part in an initial reading of Saving Grace. It received a whopping 258 responses and Chris has vowed to audition everyone who expressed interest, when the musical reaches an appropriate stage.

Chris said: “I honestly didn’t expect such a huge interest. We merely wanted to give some actors the opportunity to read a new musical and contribute to it. We were so thrilled with the talent that stepped forward. As a result, those cast will be credited in any future development and we look forward to receiving submissions for our later workshops.

Saving Grace will go through a development period before premiering at Edinburgh Fringe in 2021, should some semblance of normality have resumed”

The cast for the initial reading will be Lauren Lee, Adam Filipe, Charlie Booker and Erin Chalk.

To keep up-to-date with developments, please ensure you are following @Saving_GraceUK on Instagram and Twitter.