Channel 4 says 'I Do' with Our Gay Wedding: The Musical

5 March 2014

On Saturday 29th March 2014, same-sex marriage will become legal in England and Wales and Channel 4 is marking this historic milestone by offering viewers front row seats at one of the first gay weddings. But this will be an extraordinary ceremony in more ways than one. Grooms Benjamin Till and Nathan Taylor are writing and staging their entire wedding as a musical – with sung vows, sung readings and show-stopping ensembles featuring the whole congregation of family, friends and special guests.

Stephen Fry will introduce and commentate on Our Gay Wedding: The Musical, which will also feature appearances and songs from some very special surprise guest stars and showbiz legends plus messages sung and spoken from around the world. 

This extraordinary TV musical is not only a celebration of Benjamin and Nathan’s relationship, but also bears witness to a major step forward for gay rights that will see more personal parts of the service interwoven with songs about the historical journey to this point, tributes to the other gay and lesbian couples getting married at the first opportunity and reminders of the struggles faced by those in countries where homosexuality is still a crime. 

Benjamin is the composer of several documentary musicals including Channel 4’s ‘A1: The Road Musical’ and Nathan is a musical theatre performer and veteran of many West End shows.  They’re composing this, their most ambitious work to date, especially for the day.

Benjamin and Nathan said: “We’ve been together for nearly 12 years, and never thought we’d get the chance to get married, for real.  Doing what we both do for a living has meant that we’ve spent our entire lives expressing emotion through song, so getting married in a musical, particularly one that we’re writing ourselves, felt like the most natural thing in the world."

John Hay, Commissioning Editor, Arts, said: “We are proud to be marking a huge milestone for gay rights – a cause that has long been close to Channel 4’s heart. I’m enormously grateful to Benjamin and Nathan for sharing their day with us, and for the talent, creativity and generosity they’re bringing to this amazing piece of work.”

Our Gay Wedding: The Musical is a 1x60’ Wingspan Productions film commissioned by John Hay, Arts Commissioner at Channel 4. It will be executive produced by Sean Murphy and Archie Baron.

ENDS.

Production Information:

Executive Producer: Archie Baron, Sean Murphy

Production Company: Wingspan Productions

Commissioning Editor, Arts: John Hay

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Biographies

Benjamin Till

Multi-award-winning filmmaker and composer Benjamin Till has had a twenty-year career focused on the genre of the through-sung musical film documentary.  Films include A1: The Road Musical (Channel 4 - Grierson Nomination), A Symphony for Yorkshire (BBC - winner of 3 regional RTS Awards), 100 Faces (BBC), Coventry Market: The Musical (BBC), Songs from Hattersley (BBC).  He is the composer of The London Requiem (a setting of inscriptions from gravestones found across London) and is his new musical, Brass, will be performed by the National Youth Music Theatre this Summer.  A keen supporter of gay rights, his Four Colours EP (written with his partner Nathan Taylor, and performed by Jodie Prenger), was released last year, to raise money for the Kaleidoscope Trust.

 

Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor has worked as a performer in Musical Theatre for nearly twenty years, having trained at the Guildford School of Acting (Cameron Mackintosh Scholarship).  He has performed extensively in the West End, and around the UK and Europe.  West End credits: Miss Saigon, Martin Guerre, The Rocky Horror Show, the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Steve Strange in Boy George’s Taboo, Les Misérables, the World premiere cast of Mary Poppins, and the original London cast of Spamalot.  He played Brad Majors in the UK tour of The Rocky Horror Show, and Frank N’ Furter in the European touring production of the same show.  Nathan wrote the lyrics for the Four Colours EP (music by Benjamin Till), to raise money for the Kaleidoscope Trust, and has been a campaigner for equal rights for as long as he can remember.