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Who doesn’t love a feel good musical? And how many of us turned to the dazzling lights of Mario kart racing during lockdown?! Well, out of the darkness of theatre black outs emerges this charming, wacky parody that combines these two beloved past times into a jam-packed hour of witty musical theatre meets gaming fandom galore.

The stage is set for the iconic characters from these timeless games to come to life in full musical glory as Mario’s sidekicks join together on a unique adventure storyline, accompanied by an electrifying original score.

Transfer Productions are delighted to be producing the debut of this uniquely fun piece. Over the past few years, they have collaborated with an incredibly talented group of creatives to develop the show, and everyone is ecstatic to be bringing “Mario: A Super Musical!” to London audiences this summer!

Many moons ago, writer Jim Burrows, an avid Mario fan, wrote the original concept for “Mario: A Super Musical!”. Initially written as a love letter to the game - it was extremely long and featured 17 cast members to play the huge ensemble of Mario characters!

Since then, director Ellie Coote has developed the show with Jim, turning it into the hour of nostalgic fun it is today! Composer Winston Eade has also written an entirely new score, whose 8-bit sounds transport us straight into the world of Musical Mario. Together with Transfer Productions, the group has collaborated for a few years, honing video game themes into a heartfelt musical extravaganza!

This led us to creating a brand new storyline where the theme of autonomy vs group power is explored. We join a host of Mario’s sidekicks when the red-suited mustachioed plumber goes missing. 

How will this discombobulated group step out from the ‘Player 2’ shadows to rescue their rescuer? Will it be mission complete or game over?!

Mario is going to The Camden Fringe in London this summer! It is playing at The Cockpit Theatre on the 9th & 10th August at 4pm.

A lot of preparation, hard work and talent will go into making these two full scale performances a huge success and it is extremely important to us that everyone is paid fairly for their work. 

The creative team has already put in many hours of creative genius, then the cast of six awesome actors will pour their talents into rehearsals and the performances. Along with a casting director, technician and lighting designer there are many elements to putting on an original musical - and we are so excited to pull everything together to celebrate this show that audiences are going to love!

The Super Mario franchise celebrated its 35th anniversary last year which can only mean one thing - it’s a genius game and people LOVE it! They love the world so we’re bringing it to life  on stage - delivering the best ‘level up’ experience.

As the game is so widely enjoyed, and fans of Mario span across generations, we want audiences to experience a nostalgia trip or an ‘I just jumped into my TV’ moment as the archetypal characters are given the depth they deserve through the lens of Musical Theatre. 

Most importantly, this show is extremely witty and fun - the extravagance of the games does not go a miss in our show! This is reflected in the comedy of the piece as well as the toe-tapping music.

Support for homegrown Musical Theatre has grown exponentially in the past few decades - but it is still hugely challenging and risky to get new work on our British stages. 

We could choose to do a fabulous revival of ‘Rent’ or ‘Anything Goes’ but giving British audiences an entirely new theatrical experience is so much more exciting to us - and we think a lot of people agree and are hungry for new musicals.

This piece is a high quality example of the level of creative talent for Musical Theatre writing we have in this country and we want to honour that by giving it the highest platform we can!

Supporting us through our fundraising is the absolute best way to help us get this project the recognition it deserves! We are a young company pulling out all the stops to make this happen and we need your help!

If you love playing Super Mario and want a peek into how a fellow fan threw his passion for the game into a Musical  - you should support us so we can get the best set, costumes and props to tell the story!

If you think this is a great idea for a musical and are an advocate for supporting new work; you should put in what you can to help us give recognition to these hard-working theatre makers!

If this project sounds like a brilliantly funny, totally unique, eye-catching idea (which, it is!) then what are you waiting for? Ultimately, the more support we receive from you, the best homage we can pay to this game that has brought joy to millions, and to our team of passionate creatives who are itching to show their work!

Here is a chart to explain how your money will be spent:

Jim Burrows - Book & Lyircs

Jim is a writer and performer who graduated last year from Emil Dale Academy and is a member of the Book Music Lyrics Advanced Group. He first conceived a Mario musical way back in 2015 which was performed at Gamecity Festival in Nottingham and the London Games Festival. After meeting Winston at BML, they have completely rewritten and reimagined the show as well as working on other exciting new projects. Jim's favourite Mario game is Super Mario Galaxy 2 and he always plays as Waluigi in Mario Kart.

Winston Eade - Composer

Winston fell in love with musicals as a child actor at the age of 13 when he appeared as ‘Gavroche in Les Miserable’, at the Palace Theatre and the ‘Artful Dodger in Oliver’ at the Royalty Variety Show, both in the West End. As a child, he was also the voice of ‘Pop’ in the animated ‘Rice Krispies’ TV adverts. At the Edinburgh Fringe, he composed the music to the musical comedy ‘Jesus Camp’ The Musical for Exist Theatre. Other musicals in development included ADRIFT, BECOMING MISS HAVISHAM and with Jim Burrows he is developing HOT FUZZ – The Musical. He currently an advanced member of BML (book, music & lyrics) London, writing and composing new musical theatre. 

 Ellie Coote - Director

Ellie is a London-based theatre-maker specialising in new musical theatre, and co-founder of Chalk Musical Theatre Dramaturgy. She has worked as an assistant director and director across London’s Fringe, including at Southwark Playhouse, Arcola Theatre, The Vaults, The Other Palace and Shoreditch Town Hall. Most recently she co-directed Catch Me and The Limit at Central School of Speech and Drama, and directed Bluff; a musical for radio. She is currently preparing for 42 Balloons (Perfect Pitch). Her work as a writer has been featured at Signal, Shook and The Ceiling Project, and she is currently working on a commission for Vicky Graham Productions.

Laurence Stannard - Musical Director

Laurence is a musical director and composer, who has just graduated with an MA in Music Direction and Coaching from Mountview. His work as a musical director includes Parade, with NYMT at The Other Palace and as an assistant to MD Andrew Hilton at Mountview. Laurence has also worked as a Rep Coach and Audition Pianist at Urdang Drama School and London Theatre Runway.

The three producers at Transfer Productions are David Perkins, Sam McCallum and Rhian Lynch - they studied Musical Theatre at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts where they formed their theatre company in 2018. One day, over a pint with Sam Harjanne - international director who had worked on Spring Awakening with them during their training - he encouraged the group to take the production to The Edinburgh Fringe. The show received rave reviews and sold out the entire run. This spurred the three of them to take on another production when they were approached by Jim and Winston with Mario: A Super Musical!

The biggest risk to our production, and all theatre, is Covid. If the government restrictions are not lifted by August we will be in significant danger of making a loss on the show.

As young professionals at the start of their careers, the pandemic has come at a terrible time. We’re desperate to get back to doing what we do best and have audiences back in theatres! 

This show is the perfect antidote for the darkness that fell across theatres around the country. It’s bright, bold and it will make a lot of people laugh together. We want to spread this light so we jumped at the chance to do these shows for families, theatregoers and gaming lovers after the toughest year for theatre and society.