Ray Shell
Encyclopedia
Ray Shell is an African American
, film, TV and stage actor, as well as an author, director and producer. He is famous for creating the roles of Nomax in Five Guys Named Moe
and Rusty
in Starlight Express
. He is a Creative Director of the Giant Olive Theatre Company
, resident Company at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre
in Kentish Town
.
Ray Shell wrote about the closure of the musical Gone With The Wind
for The Guardian
Newspaper. After arriving in London in 1978 with the Gospel Musical LITTLE WILLIE JR'S RESURRECTION produced by LON SATTON (who would later play PAPA to Ray Shell's RUSTY in STARLIGHT EXPRESS; LITTLE WILLIE's score was by gospel composer JOHHNY THOMPSON leader of THE JOHNNY THOMPSON SINGERS and book by OSCAR JOHNSON) Ray immediately became part of London's NEW WAVE music scene recording with HOWARD DEVOTO'S MAGAZINE, covering KATE BUSH's THEM HEAVY PEOPLE prouduced by THE SQUEEZE for EMI Records which Ray thought meant EVIL MEN INCORPORATED, he went on to record with his own band THE STREET ANGELS featuring a pre SIMON COWELL SINITA, CARL McKINTOSH (LOOSE ENDS) and CHARITA JONES (GORDON RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES).
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, film, TV and stage actor, as well as an author, director and producer. He is famous for creating the roles of Nomax in Five Guys Named Moe
Five Guys Named Moe
Five Guys Named Moe is a musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others. The musical originated in the UK in 1990 at Theatre Royal Stratford East, running for over four years in the West End, and then premiering on Broadway in 1992...
and Rusty
Rusty the Steam Engine
Rusty is a fictional character from the musical Starlight Express. He is the protagonist of the musical. Rusty is a steam engine, relegated to the sidings, who dreams of winning the Championship Engine of the World races. He is roundly mocked for this ambition, as steam is old fashioned, and...
in Starlight Express
Starlight Express
Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates...
. He is a Creative Director of the Giant Olive Theatre Company
Giant Olive Theatre Company
Giant Olive Theatre Company was founded in the summer of 2008 by George Sallis and Andrea Hooymans. The Company's inaugural piece was 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme', by Molière, which received critical acclaim...
, resident Company at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre
Giant Olive Theatre Company
Giant Olive Theatre Company was founded in the summer of 2008 by George Sallis and Andrea Hooymans. The Company's inaugural piece was 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme', by Molière, which received critical acclaim...
in Kentish Town
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...
.
Ray Shell wrote about the closure of the musical Gone With The Wind
Gone With The Wind (musical)
Gone with the Wind is a musical based on the Margaret Mitchell's novel of the same name and its 1939 film adaptation, with music and lyrics by Margaret Martin, and a book by Martin, adapted by Sir Trevor Nunn....
for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
Newspaper. After arriving in London in 1978 with the Gospel Musical LITTLE WILLIE JR'S RESURRECTION produced by LON SATTON (who would later play PAPA to Ray Shell's RUSTY in STARLIGHT EXPRESS; LITTLE WILLIE's score was by gospel composer JOHHNY THOMPSON leader of THE JOHNNY THOMPSON SINGERS and book by OSCAR JOHNSON) Ray immediately became part of London's NEW WAVE music scene recording with HOWARD DEVOTO'S MAGAZINE, covering KATE BUSH's THEM HEAVY PEOPLE prouduced by THE SQUEEZE for EMI Records which Ray thought meant EVIL MEN INCORPORATED, he went on to record with his own band THE STREET ANGELS featuring a pre SIMON COWELL SINITA, CARL McKINTOSH (LOOSE ENDS) and CHARITA JONES (GORDON RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES).
Theatre
- RustyRusty the Steam EngineRusty is a fictional character from the musical Starlight Express. He is the protagonist of the musical. Rusty is a steam engine, relegated to the sidings, who dreams of winning the Championship Engine of the World races. He is roundly mocked for this ambition, as steam is old fashioned, and...
in Starlight ExpressStarlight ExpressStarlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates... - PoppaPoppaPoppa is a character from the rock musical, Starlight Express. He's a steam engine like protagonist Rusty and is the oldest train of all. Control introduces him as "Ramblin' Poppa McCoy". He preaches of the Starlight Express, a god-like figure that will help those who call on him...
in The New Starlight ExpressStarlight ExpressStarlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates... - Pork in Gone With the WindGone With The Wind (musical)Gone with the Wind is a musical based on the Margaret Mitchell's novel of the same name and its 1939 film adaptation, with music and lyrics by Margaret Martin, and a book by Martin, adapted by Sir Trevor Nunn....
- Narrator in Dancing in the Streets
- Ain't Misbehavin'
- Jesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
- Miss SaigonMiss SaigonMiss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
- Mass Carib
- Little Willies Jr
- Children of EdenChildren of EdenChildren of Eden is a two-act musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John Caird. The musical is based on the Book of Genesis. Act I tells the story of Adam and Eve, Cain, and Abel, and Act II deals with Noah and the Flood...
- 125th Street
- The Lion KingThe Lion King (musical)The Lion King is a musical based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M. Directed by Julie Taymor, the musical features actors in animal costumes as well...
- Golden BoyGolden Boy (musical)Golden Boy is a musical with a book by Clifford Odets and William Gibson, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse.Based on the 1937 play of the same name by Odets, it focuses on Joe Wellington, a young man from Harlem who, despite his family's objections, turns to prizefighting as a means...
- Nomax in Five Guys Named MoeFive Guys Named MoeFive Guys Named Moe is a musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others. The musical originated in the UK in 1990 at Theatre Royal Stratford East, running for over four years in the West End, and then premiering on Broadway in 1992...
- Sweeney ToddSweeney ToddSweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
in Sweeney Todd - Vernon God LittleVernon God LittleVernon God Little is a novel by DBC Pierre. It was his debut novel and won the Booker Prize in 2003.-Plot introduction:The title character is a fifteen-year-old boy who lives in a small town in the U.S. state of Texas...
- Happy EndHappy End (musical)Happy End is a surrealistic three-act musical comedy by Kurt Weill, Elisabeth Hauptmann, and Bertolt Brecht which first opened in Berlin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm on September 2, 1929. It closed after seven performances...
- Two Trains RunningTwo Trains RunningTwo Trains Running is a play by American playwright August Wilson, the seventh in his ten-part series The Pittsburgh Cycle. It was first performed by the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, while its Broadway première was on 13 April 1992 at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York...
- HairHair (musical)Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
Film/TV
- 'Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew 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 Royal Albert Hall Celebration' performed 'Light At The End Of The TunnelLight at the End of the Tunnel (musical number)Light at the End of the Tunnel is the gospel-style finale number from the musical Starlight Express. The Company perform the number as a glorification to Steam...
' - 'The Apple' as 'Shake'
- 'Too Much Sun' as 'Transvestite'
- 'Velvet GoldmineVelvet GoldmineVelvet Goldmine is a 1998 British/American drama film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. The film tells the story of a pop star based mainly on David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' character and is set in Britain during the days of glam rock in the early 1970s.Sandy Powell received another Academy...
' as 'Murray' - 'Pirate Prince' as 'Darbo'
- 'Young Soul RebelsYoung Soul RebelsYoung Soul Rebels is a 1991 critically acclaimed coming-of-age/drama British film written by Isaac Julien and Paul Hallam, and directed by Juilen. The film examines the interaction between youth cultural movements during the late 1970s in the UK. Namely skinheads, punks and soulboys along with the...
' as 'Jeff Kane' - 'Breakfast with FrostBreakfast with FrostBreakfast with Frost was a talk show hosted by Sir David Frost on the BBC on Sunday mornings. The news presenter was Moira Stuart. The show ran for more than 12 years and exactly 500 editions between 3 January 1993 and 29 May 2005...
' as himself - 'The McGuffin'
DVD/Video
- 'Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew 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 Royal Albert Hall Celebration' performed 'Light At The End Of The TunnelLight at the End of the Tunnel (musical number)Light at the End of the Tunnel is the gospel-style finale number from the musical Starlight Express. The Company perform the number as a glorification to Steam...
'
Recordings
- Starlight Express: Original London Cast Recording
- Only YouOnly You (Pearl and Rusty)"Only You" is the love duet from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express. It is performed by the protagonist, Rusty, a young steam locomotive and his true love, the observation car, Pearl.- Overview :...
- The Apple
- 'Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew 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 Royal Albert Hall Celebration' performed 'Light At The End Of The TunnelLight at the End of the Tunnel (musical number)Light at the End of the Tunnel is the gospel-style finale number from the musical Starlight Express. The Company perform the number as a glorification to Steam...
'
Own Work
- Iced - (Soon to be a major motion picture)
- Flatshare
- Frederick Avery Visits
- Street Angels.