This is a blog that, if I recall rightly, is about 23 weeks overdue. Still, I wanted to spread the love and talk about two wonderful and ridiculously talented people that have been brightening up my Sundays for all that time: Stuart Matthew Price & his wife, Heather Lundstedt Price, with their venture: “Lockdown Lounge”.

Every Sunday at 8pm (UK Time) via their respective Facebook pages and Youtube, Stuart & Heather perform a set that’s full to the brim with musical theatre goodness. There’s always a theme, be it a decade, a composer or something else; the fun thing about that being the way that they are sure to include the familiar favourites as well as lesser known gems and interesting stories in their sets: it’s always an education as well as a joy to watch – I always end the night with at least three new shows or names to look up! My favourites thus far have been The Ladies Who Write, celebrating the female composers and lyricists of the genre, A Night At The Movie Musicals, and the Musicals of the 1950’s. They even produce their very own “Staybill” via their mailing list that you can sign up to receive for each week’s show with lots of cool info about the shows and songs that feature.

Once a month, Stuart and Heather also have an evening called “Request Roulette”, where we can submit requests to them, either a solo or duet: they’ll take them and learn them all, and then it just comes down to a draw on the night! I haven’t had a draw during roulette night yet, but one of my duet requests: On The Edge Of Time from Doctor Zhivago made the finale of Ladies Who Write night. Every so often, they’ll even put together a special video to play at the top of the show: most recently “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” from Hello Dolly! that showcases once more their creativity and passion, but most importantly the hard work that they put into these shows, which are free but donations however small are hugely appreciated as they allow them to cover all the costs associated with producing such wonderful content, and therein allow them to keep doing so. These special videos in mind, I still say to this day that their mashup of “You Matter to Me” from Waitress and “Falling Slowly” from Once is one I never knew I needed…

Those of you who know me and follow this blog will know that Stuart came into my life seven years ago, at the workshop performance of a musical he composed with Timothy Knapman: Before After. I’ll never forget how he welcomed me with open arms and will always treasure that, and that’s a huge part of what makes Lockdown Lounge so special for me: I know Stuart as a composer and up until these concerts started hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing him perform, and that’s something I hope I’ll be able to do in person soon enough: his voice is incredible, as is his versatility.

Heather, too, has continually blown my mind with her astonishing vocal and the ease with which she performs some often really intricate & technically difficult tunes. The best part though? Watching the two of them interact and play off each other: the love they have for each other is just so abundantly clear and warms my heart, so to does the humour and banter. If you’re anything like me – you’ll want to go back and catch all the rest, which you can do via facebook.

In May, they’ll be taking some well deserved time away as they prepare to welcome a new member to their family, but here’s the schedule for the next few weeks, starting tomorrow!

April 4th: Request Roulette (Part 5)

April 11th: More Music of Stephen Sondheim

April 18th: Broadway Blockbusters

April 25th: The Musicals of the 1960’s (part 2)

May 2nd: So Long, Farewell!

I hope that, once baby arrives and they settle into parenthood that they’ll want to continue doing these in some shape or form, as they’re always a delight from beginning to end!

Want to tune in? Here are all the links you’ll need.

To Watch on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/StuartMatthewPriceOfficial
To Watch on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/stuartmpriceofficial
To Sign Up for our Newsletter and receive a weekly ‘Staybill’ – https://cutt.ly/heatherandstunews