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FREE 18 page preview of the graphic novel with 6 x podcasts and chart topping songs when you sign up for the newsletter – no payment required
Is Twist and Turn a musical with a graphic novel or a graphic novel with music? It’s both – and a lot more as well.
Dip into any part of this site to enjoy music from the updated (2021) version of Twist and Turn, videos, podcasts and clips from radio stations in the Media Hub.
To follow the story of Twist and Turn, you can either watch the numbered videos in sequence or read the graphic novel
For the full experience, you can also listen to the podcasts which explain more about the main characters
Recording session with Sandy Jones, Erin Caldwell, Graeme Duffin and Tony Gibbs
Together with Graeme Duffin (Wet, Wet, Wet) and husband and wife duo, Esther and Tim O’Connor (Ashton Lane) who had all worked previously with Tony Gibbs, the four of them wrote the first five songs for the musical alongside a first draft of the script for a planned stage version, written by Tony.
All five songs were recorded by Ashton Lane and produced by Graeme at The Foundry Music Lab in Motherwell.
Later that year, Tony returned to The Foundry to work on further songs with Graeme and co-producer, Sandy Jones, which were recorded by Erin Caldwell.
Tony led script development from 2016 working with various collaborators, before re-writing the script.
With a showcase production planned for October 2018 at The Other Palace in London (no props or scenery, with piano and acoustic backing only) auditions took place in May 2018 and an incredibly talented cast was assembled.
In February and March 2018, a photoshoot took place to create photographs for use in social media and marketing materials, followed by a video shoot for ‘Should I Stay?’ and ‘Go Go Ah Ah’ that were uploaded to YouTube in mid-2018 and both videos have been viewed over 50,000 times.
The cast spent a month in rehearsal and workshopping the show which was performed to full houses over two nights at The Other Palace with the audience asked to complete and return feedback cards to help with the analysis of what worked and what needed to change. Over 150 cards were returned which highlighted the most popular songs and where the story needed to be developed further
Based on audience feedback, Tony started work on a brand new script and new songs during 2019, with the intention of working towards a further production on stage. However, as the year ended, the world was about to change for all of us.
Although 2020 is remembered as the year of Covid 19, it was another busy year in the development of Twist and Turn – The Musical with ten new songs recorded remotely with Tony in England, Sandy Jones in Scotland and vocals added by singers in Scotland and Australia! The new songs have been well received with ‘The Perfect Glove’ streamed over 100,000 times on Spotify with radio play around the world.
And of course, 2020 also marked the arrival of Vincent Danks as a member of the team whose illustrations for the graphic novel have been earning well deserved praise.
Life definitely is full of twists and turns. Who could have predicted that we would be seeing a graphic novel of Twist and Turn – The Musical back in 2015?
FREE 18 page preview of the graphic novel with 6 x podcasts and chart topping songs when you sign up for the newsletter – no payment required