Gina Beck
Encyclopedia
Gina Beck is an English actress and singer known primarily for her roles in leading musical theatre
productions. Gina recently starred as Christine Daaé
in Cameron Mackintosh's
production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's
The Phantom of the Opera
in London's West End
for two years. For this role she was nominated for a Theatre Fans Choice Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, 2010.
, Buckinghamshire
, England
but moved to Hampshire
with her parents at an early age. She attended local schools and was introduced to the stage through school and amateur groups. She passed her Grade 8 singing at the age of fifteen and gained experience in both solo and ensemble singing as a founder member of the Hampshire Children’s Choir and subsequently, the Hampshire County Youth Choir.
In her teens, Gina had many acting and singing roles at Perins School
and Peter Symonds College
in Winchester
and was also engaged professionally to play leading roles in productions at Winchester College
(Gianetta in L’élisir d’Amoré
, 1999; Beatrice
in Much Ado About Nothing
, 2000 and Emily Tallentire in The Hired Man
, 2001). Her first break into musical theatre occurred when she auditioned successfully at the age of 14 for the National Youth Music Theatre
of Great Britain. She performed in their production of Warchild in various English cathedrals during 1997. The following year she played the leading role of Kate Hardcastle in The Kissing Dance, a new musical written for the NYMT by Charles Hart
and Howard Goodall
and based on Goldsmith's
She Stoops to Conquer
. The show was performed to great critical acclaim at the Brighton
and Edinburgh Festival
s, The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, and The Linbury Studio Theatre, Covent Garden
amongst other venues. She reprised this role in the first professional production of The Kissing Dance in March 2011 at the Jermyn Street Theatre, off the West End. Gina’s last role with the NYMT was as Guinevere
in their Arthurian legend show Pendragon
. Performances of this show included two tours to Japan.
.
Gina performed in opera and operetta during 2005 at Holland Park Opera (Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Donizetti's
L’élisir d’Amoré
) and the Buxton Opera House
(Gilbert and Sullivan
’s Ruddigore
and The Sorcerer
).
In 2006 Gina Beck toured South Africa
in The Merry Widow
and in June of that year she made her West End
debut as Cosette
in Les Misérables
at Queen’s Theatre. She performed the role in the 21st anniversary celebration concert of Les Misérables which was broadcast on BBC Radio 2
. After a year, Gina left Les Mis to create the lead role of Rebecca Warshowsky for the world première of the new musical Imagine This
at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth
in July 2007. At Christmas time that year Gina appeared as Wendy Darling
in the Rachel Kavanaugh production of Peter Pan, the Musical
at the Birmingham Rep.
Gina took over the principal role of Christine Daaé
in The Phantom of the Opera
at Her Majesty’s Theatre in September 2008. Since that time she has also performed The Phantom duet with Ramin Karimloo
at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s
60th birthday concert in Hyde Park
. She has sung the duet ‘All I Ask of You’ with co-star Simon Bailey on the Grand Staircase of the actual Opera Garnier in Paris
(where Phantom is set) for CBS television
and the same song on the Alan Titchmarsh
show on ITV1. On 3 October 2010 she appeared as part of the Alumni Ensemble in the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Les Misérables
at London's O2 Arena
and also appeared in the Les Misérables
sequences in the 2010 Royal Variety Performance
at The London Palladium.
Recently, Gina Beck has been instrumental in supporting the music of the young musical theatre composer, Steven Luke Walker. She has taken part in several workshops of his compositions for the musical based on the novel Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott
and, together with many stars from the West End, has performed in and helped promote a concert of his songs.
In June 2011, Gina made her debut in the leading role of Maria von Trapp
in a new production of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music
at the 3,000 seater Plenary Hall Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur
, Malaysia.
In September 2011, it was announced that Gina will be taking over the role of Glinda
from Louise Dearman
in the West End production of Wicked
at the Apollo Victoria Theatre
from 12th December.
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
productions. Gina recently starred as Christine Daaé
Christine Daaé
Christine Daaé is the main female character in Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera , the young singer with whom the main character Erik, the Phantom of the Opera falls in love.- Character history :...
in Cameron Mackintosh's
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
for two years. For this role she was nominated for a Theatre Fans Choice Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, 2010.
Background
Gina Beck was born in High WycombeHigh Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
but moved to Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
with her parents at an early age. She attended local schools and was introduced to the stage through school and amateur groups. She passed her Grade 8 singing at the age of fifteen and gained experience in both solo and ensemble singing as a founder member of the Hampshire Children’s Choir and subsequently, the Hampshire County Youth Choir.
In her teens, Gina had many acting and singing roles at Perins School
Perins School
Perins School is a community Sports College and secondary school in New Alresford, Hampshire, England...
and Peter Symonds College
Peter Symonds College
Peter Symonds College is a sixth form college in Winchester, Hampshire, in the south of England. It is one of the largest sixth form colleges in Britain.-Admissions:...
in Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
and was also engaged professionally to play leading roles in productions at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
(Gianetta in L’élisir d’Amoré
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, 1999; Beatrice
Beatrice
Beatrice is a name derived from the Latin name Beatrix. It is a feminine form of the late Latin name Viator which meant "voyager, traveler". It was also a common name amongst early Christians, though the spelling was altered by association with the Latin beatus, meaning "blessed". The French form...
in Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
, 2000 and Emily Tallentire in The Hired Man
The Hired Man
The Hired Man is a novel by Melvyn Bragg, first published in 1969. It is the first part of Bragg's Cumbrian Trilogy.The story is set predominantly in the rural area around Thurston , from the 1890s to the 1920s, and follows the life of John Tallentire, a farm labourer and coal miner...
, 2001). Her first break into musical theatre occurred when she auditioned successfully at the age of 14 for the National Youth Music Theatre
National Youth Music Theatre
The National Youth Music Theatre or NYMT is a UK organisation for young people in the field of musical theatre, based in London. It runs acting auditions, workshops, and musical theatre productions...
of Great Britain. She performed in their production of Warchild in various English cathedrals during 1997. The following year she played the leading role of Kate Hardcastle in The Kissing Dance, a new musical written for the NYMT by Charles Hart
Charles Hart (lyricist)
Charles Hart is a British lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for re-writing the lyrics to, and contributing to the book of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical The Phantom of the Opera. He also co-wrote the lyrics to Lloyd Webber's 1989 musical Aspects of Love...
and Howard Goodall
Howard Goodall
210px|thumb|Howard Goodall at St. John the Baptist Church in Devon, United Kingdom, May 2009Howard Lindsay Goodall CBE is a British composer of musicals, choral music and music for television...
and based on Goldsmith's
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, son of an Anglo-Irish vicar, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a great favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in Britain and the United States. It is one of the few plays from the 18th...
. The show was performed to great critical acclaim at the Brighton
Brighton Festival
The Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove in England each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England...
and Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
s, The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, and The Linbury Studio Theatre, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
amongst other venues. She reprised this role in the first professional production of The Kissing Dance in March 2011 at the Jermyn Street Theatre, off the West End. Gina’s last role with the NYMT was as Guinevere
Guinevere
Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot...
in their Arthurian legend show Pendragon
Pendragon
Pendragon or Pen Draig, meaning "head dragon" or "chief dragon" , is the name of several traditional Kings of the Britons:...
. Performances of this show included two tours to Japan.
Career
After A-levels, Gina successfully auditioned for an acting degree at The Central School of Speech and Drama in London, from where she graduated with a BA in Acting in 2004. Since graduation, Gina has had a number of small cameo roles on TV (Doctors, Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Silk Stocking, etc.) and has done both voice-over and video recordings for English Language teaching media produced by Pearson EducationPearson Education
Pearson Education is an international educational publishing and technology company providing textbooks and other educational material, such as multimedia learning tools...
.
Gina performed in opera and operetta during 2005 at Holland Park Opera (Puccini's Madame Butterfly and Donizetti's
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
L’élisir d’Amoré
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
) and the Buxton Opera House
Buxton Opera House
Buxton Opera House is in The Square, Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It is a 902-seat opera house that hosts the annual Buxton Festival and International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, among others, as well as pantomime at Christmas, musicals and other entertainments year-round. Hosting live...
(Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
’s Ruddigore
Ruddigore
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan...
and The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
).
In 2006 Gina Beck toured South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
and in June of that year she made her West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
debut as Cosette
Cosette
Euphrasie "Cosette" Fauchelevant is a fictional character in the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.- Cosette in the novel :...
in Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
at Queen’s Theatre. She performed the role in the 21st anniversary celebration concert of Les Misérables which was broadcast on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
. After a year, Gina left Les Mis to create the lead role of Rebecca Warshowsky for the world première of the new musical Imagine This
Imagine This
Imagine This is a musical with music by Shuki Levy, lyrics by David Goldsmith and a book by Glenn Berenbeim. Set in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, it focuses on a family of actors trying to stage a play about the siege at ancient Masada to inspire hope and optimism within the Jewish...
at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
The Theatre Royal in Plymouth, Devon, England is "the largest and best attended regional producing theatre in the UK and the leading promoter of theatre in the south west", according to Arts Council England...
in July 2007. At Christmas time that year Gina appeared as Wendy Darling
Wendy Darling
Wendy Moira Angela Darling is a fictional character, the female protagonist of Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie, and in most adaptations in other media. Her exact age is not specified in the original play or novel by Barrie, though she is implied to be 12 or 13 years old or younger, as she is "just...
in the Rachel Kavanaugh production of Peter Pan, the Musical
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
at the Birmingham Rep.
Gina took over the principal role of Christine Daaé
Christine Daaé
Christine Daaé is the main female character in Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera , the young singer with whom the main character Erik, the Phantom of the Opera falls in love.- Character history :...
in The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
at Her Majesty’s Theatre in September 2008. Since that time she has also performed The Phantom duet with Ramin Karimloo
Ramin Karimloo
Ramin Karimloo is an Iranian-born Canadian musical theatre actor, recognized chiefly for his work in London's West End. He has played the leading male roles in both of the West End’s longest running musicals; the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, as of 29th...
at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
60th birthday concert in Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
. She has sung the duet ‘All I Ask of You’ with co-star Simon Bailey on the Grand Staircase of the actual Opera Garnier in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(where Phantom is set) for CBS television
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and the same song on the Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Titchmarsh
Alan Fred Titchmarsh, MBE DL is an English gardener, broadcaster and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a garden journalist, he established himself as a media personality through appearances on gardening programmes...
show on ITV1. On 3 October 2010 she appeared as part of the Alumni Ensemble in the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
at London's O2 Arena
The O2 arena (London)
The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of The O2, a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in London, England.With a capacity of up to 20,000 depending on the event, it is second largest...
and also appeared in the Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
sequences in the 2010 Royal Variety Performance
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
at The London Palladium.
Recently, Gina Beck has been instrumental in supporting the music of the young musical theatre composer, Steven Luke Walker. She has taken part in several workshops of his compositions for the musical based on the novel Little Women
Little Women
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott . The book was written and set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts. It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869...
by Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist. She is best known for the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys. Little Women was set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, and published in 1868...
and, together with many stars from the West End, has performed in and helped promote a concert of his songs.
In June 2011, Gina made her debut in the leading role of Maria von Trapp
Maria von Trapp
Maria Augusta von Trapp , also known as Baroness Maria von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers...
in a new production of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
at the 3,000 seater Plenary Hall Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia.
In September 2011, it was announced that Gina will be taking over the role of Glinda
Glinda
Glinda is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.- Literature :Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
from Louise Dearman
Louise Dearman
Louise Dearman is a British musical theatre performer, currently playing the role of Glinda in the West End production of Wicked. She has a number of other professional stage and television credits, such as Eva Perón in Evita, and released her debut solo album, You and I, in 2005.-Early...
in the West End production of Wicked
Wicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
at the Apollo Victoria Theatre
Apollo Victoria Theatre
The Apollo Victoria Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Wilton Road near Victoria station in the City of Westminster. Opened as a cinema and variety theatre, the Apollo Victoria became a venue for musical theatre, beginning with The Sound of Music in 1981, and including the long-running...
from 12th December.