Sony Music Masterworks, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, has announced a new venture with Roast Productions, the London-based live entertainment company that focuses on producing theatre, concerts, and family entertainment.
Roast Productions Founders Bonnie Royal and Michael Stevens will continue to lead the company's day-to-day operations and collaborate with Masterworks on the development of a range of new productions, working in partnership with Masterworks President Mark Cavell and Ollie Rosenblatt, founder and CEO of Senbla, a U.K. producer-promoter.
Sony Music Masterworks President Mark Cavell said in a statement, “I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Bonnie and Michael to the Sony Music Masterworks family. Their creativity and expertise will further support our endeavors in securing and creating new quality and original live productions that will captivate and entertain audiences across the globe, and provide first-class content for our other partners to promote and market.”
Roast's Royal and Stevens added, “It is an absolute honor to join Sony Music Masterworks and develop new work and new markets together. The strength of its vision and values makes it the ideal partner for us as we develop a diverse body of work in the U.K. and internationally.”
Roast's recent and current shows include the Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma-led Macbeth, playing in Liverpool, Edinburgh, London, and Washington, D.C.; the West End's 2:22 A Ghost Story, also touring in the U.K. and Australia; the Christmas variety show Christmas Actually; the West End run of Vanya, starring Andrew Scott; the new musical Cowboy Bob at Houston's Alley Theatre; and the 2024 U.K. tour of The 13-Story Treehouse. The company will also offer production, general management, and marketing services in the West End and beyond.
Roast has also announced agreements with National Theatre Productions and Various Productions, as co-producer for Standing at the Sky's Edge (opening in February at London's Gillian Lynne Theatre), and with Ambassador Theatre Group, as creative producer of the inaugural Wimbledon Children's Festival, launching this summer at the New Wimbledon Theatre.
Sony Music Masterworks' agreement with Roast Productions is the latest in a series of partnerships and acquisitions advancing its growth as an entertainment business operating in more than 30 countries.
