Biography

Chris was brought up in rural Lincolnshire, in a musical family, and after playing the recorder at school, was first taught piano (reluctantly) by his sister. At age 9 he was forced/bullied into having ‘proper’ lessons but really began to enjoy music a lot more. He went to the local historic Caistor Grammar School and started playing clarinet, quickly joining the county Youth Orchestra with concerts in the local area plus tours to Europe. He was also heavily involved in school concerts, playing the ‘Warsaw Concerto’ with the school orchestra! Chris also played for various theatre groups (on clarinet), and at age 14 was accompanist for a pantomime group, taking over as musical director when only 16.

Chris went to Reading University to study Physics and Music, and, as usual, he was busy outside his studies; in jazz bands (Berkshire Youth Jazz), chamber music (with concerts throughout the south of England with the wind chamber group ‘Sweet Harmony’) and theatre productions (especially a production of Threepenny Opera which saw him playing in London for a short summer run). He played in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, providing incidental music for a production of a Picasso play. Within his music studies, he won the Composition Prize in his final year, and his pieces have been performed in the annual Reading Festival.

Graduating with a 2:1, Chris moved to the West Midlands in 1983, working at Aston University as a research assistant. He quickly joined a jazz workshop (playing sax!) at the Triangle Arts Centre (conveniently next to the ‘Sacks Of Potatoes’ pub!) and played in the University orchestra. He decided that jazz piano was much more fun, and attended jazz summer schools where he was taught by some of the top jazz players in Britain. After his contract expired at Aston, he found himself a job in I.T, wrestling with a different keyboard altogether!

Apart from playing with occasional ‘function’ bands (exploring the countless social clubs across the Midlands) Chris became a mainstay of the jazz ‘jam’ sessions at the Cannonball pub (Digbeth) and developed his arranging and composition skills with bands such as ‘Kibosh’, ‘Detour Ahead’ and ‘Plan 9 (From Outer Space)’. In 1988 he was asked to arrange and direct a new ‘big band’ titled ‘Svengali’ as a tribute to the jazz arranger Gil Evans who had died that year. The band won many prizes at the Musicians’ Union Big Band Contest through the 1990's, where Chris won the Arranger’s prize eight times in succession! Svengali has performed at the Birmingham International Jazz Festival, and the arrangements feature many top Midlands musicians. 

It was in 1992 that Chris was persuaded to meet Bournville M.T.C, who had lost their M.D. with only a few weeks to go to their production of ‘South Pacific’. Taking the M.D. ‘reins’ for the first time since university, he was quickly asked by other societies to direct further productions (one of which was a memorable ‘West Side Story’ for ‘Stage Door Theatre Company'). 

In the next few years, Chris became involved in Latin American music with the formation of ‘Como-No?’ a 12 piece salsa band, which toured successfully the length & breadth of the UK, including appearances on BBC, ITV and a live Radio 3 New Years Eve concert from Ronnie Scotts (Birmingham). In 1996 the band toured South Africa with the main concerts at the Grahamstown Festival (the southern hemisphere equivalent to Edinburgh Festival). Chris also got a chance to study with the Cuban maestro Chucho Valdez, one of the world’s greatest latin-jazz pianists.

In jazz, Chris has worked as a solo pianist, with small ensembles featuring some of the Midlands’ top players, and performed some memorable concerts with international jazz soloists (Arturo Sandoval, Guy Barker, Andy Sheppard, Orlando ‘Maraca’ Valle, Miguel ‘Anga’ Diaz).

Coming up to date, Chris has been arranger/MD for many productions, including Shirley Bassey and Liza Minnelli tribute concerts, and numerous charity functions (including gala nights titled ‘Moonlight & Music’ at the Highbury Hall in Moseley).

His current mainstay is musical theatre (highlights being 'West Side Story', ‘Cabaret’ (twice!), ‘How To Succeed’, and Bournville’s amazing ‘Chess’), working as M.D. with Argosy MTC, Arcadians, Bournville MTC, Highbury Players, Imaginary Friend Theatre Company, BMOS Youtheatre, YouthOnStage and RJ/RA Productions. He is featured in the ‘pit’ for many other societies (Tinker’s Farm, Solihull MTC, St Augustines, Queensbridge, Bilston, Brierley Hill, BMOS, Quinton, Northfield, Brownhills, Tudor, Manor Operatic, Wolverhampton Youth Theatre etc etc).

In the last few years Chris has been proud to work as orchestrator and M.D. with Euan Rose's latest musical '3 SUMMERS' - the first production at the studio theatre within the new Library Of Birmingham. Also recently he was M.D. for the U.K premiere of a new musical 'The Guide To Being Single' in the Norbury Theatre, Droitwich and the Tabard Theatre, London. The production has been repeated again in Birmingham in 2017.

More recently, he was musical director for the first staged production in 2019 of 'TESS - The Musical' written by Michael Davies and Michael Blore. This was in conjunction with 'Night Project Theatre' and took place at the 'RSC's The Other Place' in Stratford-Upon -Avon. 

Despite an enforced break for the 2020 pandemic, 2021 will continue with new theatre work to the fore, and more gigs from his established band, the 'Chris Corcoran Collective' plus awaiting a revival in interest in 'Svengali'. He is also working on transcriptions and musical scores for a number of new ventures to be taken into theatre workshops in 2021

List Of Musical Productions as M.D.

* - Nomination for NODA Best Show In Region

# - Winner, Best Show In Region

$ - Award Winner, BFAME Awards

Bournville MTC

1992 South Pacific 

1993 Carousel, Autumn Concert

1994 Fiddler On The Roof, Autumn Concert

1995 Calamity Jane, Autumn Concert

1996 Hello Dolly, Autumn Concert

1997 My Fair Lady, A Century Of Song And Dance

1998 Merry Widow, Music Round The World

1999 Guys & Dolls, The Best Of Times

2000 Blockbuster Musicals, Anything Goes

2001 London To New York

2002 South Pacific, Musical Express

2003 Cabaret, Musical Express

2004 Carousel#, Musical Express

2005 Me & My Girl, Musical Express

2006 Oklahoma, Musical Express

2007 Follies#, Musical Express

2008 Seven Brides For Seven Brothers#$, Musical Express

2009 Chess*$, Musical Express

2010 Fiddler On The Roof*, Musical Express

2011 Guys & Dolls*$, Musical Express

2012 Sweet Charity*$, SHOW 90

2013 The Producers, A Whole New World

2014 Anything Goes*$, Divas & Legends

2015 Kiss Me Kate*$, Divas & Legends II

2016 Jekyll & Hyde#, Through The Decades

2017 The Pajama Game, Hollywood To Broadway
2018 Legally Blonde, Best Of British

2019 Oliver*, BMTC Musicals Showcase

2020 The Wedding Singer

2021 Hello Dolly 

Birmingham Youth Theatre

2010 Hello Dolly, Sleeping Beauty

2011 Anything Goes*, Sinbad The Sailor

2012 Les Miserables

2013 Miss Saigon, From Screen To Stage

2014 Return To The Forbidden Planet, The Snow Queen

2015 Bugsy Malone*, Cinderella*

2016 Sweet Charity*#, Sleeping Beauty*#, 
2017 30th Anniversary/Little Mermaid, Aladdin

2018 Back To The 80's, Snow White

2019 Guys & Dolls, Alice In Pantoland

2020 SHREK The Musical

Night Project Theatre

2013 Musical Of Musicals - The Musical!

2015 Sweeney Todd, The Last 5 Years 

2016 Dracula - The Musical

2019 TESS - The Musical

Starbuck Theatre Company

2016/7 The Guide To Being Single (UK Premiere), Next Thing You Know
2017 Sister Act

2018 Anything Goes

Jigsaw Players

2016 Fiddler On The Roof

2017 Les Miserables(Youth), Musical Express

2018 Guys & Dolls

2019 The Sound Of Music

2021 Something's Afoot

Script Youth TC

2015 Joseph And His Technicolour Dreamcoat, A Christmas Carol

2016 Fame

2017 Bugsy Malone, Godspell

2018 Wizard Of Oz, High School Musical

2019 Oliver

2020 Shrek The Musical

2021 Grease

Third From The Right Productions

2016 SHOUT!

2017/2018 Disenchanted!

2019 Soho Cinders

2021 The Who's TOMMY

Coleshill Operatic

2017 Acorn Antiques - The Musical

2019 JAck And The Beanstalk

'IF' (Imaginary Friend) Theatre

2011 I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

2012 The Last Five Years

2017 Spring Awakening

2020 Ordinary Days

Norbury Players

2018 Jekyll & Hyde

2019 Annie

Highbury Players

2007 Little Shop Of Horrors

YouthOnStage

2012 Copacabana

2014 High School Musical

Old Joint Stock Theatre Company

2013 Rent

Brownhills MTC

2012 Whistle Stop, West End!

2014 Brownhills Goes To Broadway

Worcester On Stage

2015 Little Shop Of Horrors, HMS Pinafore

Madcap Theatre Productions

2015 Postcards From The Seaside

Knowle MS

2015 The Addams Family Musical

2016 Sweet Charity

Stage Door Theatre Company

1993 West Side Story*, Best Little Whorehouse In Texas

1994 Sweet Charity, Bells Are Ringing

1995 Seven Brides For Seven Brothers*

1996 Guys & Dolls

Arcadians 

1994 South Pacific

2005 Oklahoma

2006 My Fair Lady

2008 Annie Get Your Gun

Lynwode Players

1998 Cinderella

1999 Ali Barber & The 4 Tea Leaves

2000 Aladdin

2001 Jack & The Beanstalk

2002 Dick Whittington

2003 Mother Goose

2004 Cinderella

2005 Snow White & The Seven Dwarves

2006 Aladdin

Argosy MTC

2001 Hello Dolly, Music From The Movies

2002 Anything Goes, Around The World In 80 Minutes

2003 Oklahoma, A Year Of Celebrations

2004 Orpheus In The Underworld, That’s Entertainment!

2005 Fiddler On The Roof, A Musical A to Z

2006 Crazy For You, From West End To Broadway

2007 Kiss Me Kate, Broadway Blockbusters

2008 Singing In The Rain, The Great Songwriters

2009 Disco Inferno, A World Of Musicals

2010 Calamity Jane, A Century Of Musicals

2011 Return To The Forbidden Planet*, By Special Request

2012 THIS is Entertainment!

2013  Musical Mayhem!, Little Shop Of Horrors

2014 A Musical A-Z, Godspell

RJ/RA Productions

1998 How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying*

2004 Cabaret*

Charity and Other Concerts

2006 'Minelli Sings Minnelli' - Geri Minelli

2008-2010 Cabaret Concerts - Applause

2010 Evening Of Musical Splendour - In memory of Phil Garner

2007-2011 'Moonlight And Music' - for Breakthrough Breast Cancer