The Headliners Theatre Company

Hello again,

Day five at sea across the Atlantic Ocean, Madeira tomorrow, land ho!

There is something special about an ocean crossing; you really feel you are on a voyage rather than just a cruise.

Tonight it is the Passenger/Music Festival at Sea production of The Mikado; I shall be posting the reviews tomorrow!

Today I will tell you about our Headliners Theatre Company; this is our resident cast of professional singers and dancers who on Oriana perform no less than nine production shows. ‘Headliners’ perform on five of our six P&O Cruise ships and are our ‘in-house’ production company, that means we employ all the singers and dancers, and creative teams that put all the shows together - that is directors, choreographers, assistant choreographers, script writers, set designers, costume designers, and lighting and sound programmers. P&O Cruises also own the sets, costumes, props and music for the shows. At the head of this complex creative operation is P&O Cruises Production Show Manager Steve Bee, Steve is based at the company offices in Southampton but spends a great deal of his time at our rehearsal studio near the Oval Cricket Ground in South London.

One of the most experienced cast members on Oriana is singer Paul Loxton, who is originally from Liverpool but now lives in Brighton. Over nineteen years he has worked on six of our ships and completed 16 contracts; the average length of a contact is six months so in the last nineteen years Paul would have been at sea approximately eight years! His background is in musical theatre in London’s West End, national tours, radio concerts and he was also in the resident cast at Disney World Japan. Paul loves being at sea and particularly loves our overnight calls in ports for the cultural attractions these bring.

Paul Loxton and myself.

We currently have thirteen Headliners Theatre Company cast members on Oriana, they joined the ship on 9th May and finish their contract after next cruise on 16th November. The replacement cast for them have already been auditioned and are at our rehearsal studio in South London rehearsing for their contact onboard which will run from 16th November to 16th June 2010.


The Headliners Theatre Company and myself taken back stage in the Theatre Royal just before the opening number of our Production Show, ‘At the Hop’ on 13th October.

Land tomorrow!

Nigel