John Danbury from performer to producer
Since training at London drama school Mountview, John Danbury’s career has been an eclectic one filled with the highs and lows that any jobbing artist has. He has now using all this hard earned knowledge and is turning his hand to producing a variety of theatrical experiences including Cabaret shows.
Trained – Musical Theatre – Mountview
As an actor I performed in Pantomime, small scale theatre shows (my favourite as the voice of the plant in Little shop of horrors at the Landor Theatre London) and large scale musical & Dance shows in the UK and abroad including “hold tight it’s 60’s night” first tour of number ones in Holland. Then did two years in the show Pop in the Parc singing Elvis, Buddy Holly and David Essex numbers.
When theatre was short I spent some time ‘resting!’ by earning a living working in department stores where I was asked to cover the lunch break of the magician. This is where I learnt the trade I applied between theatre work and that ultimately took over my performance career.
This year I celebrate 23 years as a professional magician and have been very lucky and have mainly performed in the corporate sector. As well as the usual close up and cabaret work I have also worked in theatres, on trade shows all over the world (3 years launching products for Procter & Gamble), Been involved in multiple product launches, worked the cruise ships, major sporting events and the holiday parks. For a number of years while London based I was the resident magician at The London Hilton, park lane and on the orient express but the highlight will have to be performing firstly for HRH Prince William & Prince Harry for the Diana Memorial concert at Wembley and then subsequently at a private party for HRH Prince Charles & The Duchess of Cornwall at Highgrove.
While working in London as a corporate magician I also ran an after theatre cabaret restaurant in Covent Garden called ‘Centre Stage’ where all the stars of the west end theatres would come and sing in intimate cabaret while the clients had supper. I booked the acts and compered the shows nightly for 6 years. Acts that appeared included Micheal Ball, Dame Judy Dench, Petula Clarke, Dora Bryan, Ruthie Henshall, Helen Hobson, Alison Jiear and many many more. For a short period I also worked at the Green Room at The Café Royal working with Selina Jones, Katrina & The Waves, Rose Royce and Bill Fredricks from the Drifters amongst other headline acts.
On moving to Yorkshire I have continued to spend my life touring the UK and the world and decided it was time to bring all my skills together and do the one thing I had always wanted to do, produce theatre and variety.
There are many projects in the pipe line for the next two years and beyond but the first show to go live has been Sunday Night @ The Victoria Theatre Halifax which is a mixture of traditional and modern day variety acts sourced locally and a west end singer as the headline act. This seems to be a great formula for live entertainment and the season is building a strong following.
Amongst all this I have also been on the committee for the British Music Hall Society for many years and am the organiser of their annual ball.
