- February 2023
Celebrating their 25th birthday, CUMTS brings you the gift of Gala: two evenings of musical theatre magnificence. With a dazzling cast of Cambridge’s finest musical theatre talent, accompanied by a full orchestra, Gala will be an extravaganza of all of your favourite musical theatre classics and latest hits. Dressed to the nines and brimming with glitz and glamour, these wonderful performers invite you into the world of big ballads, stunning harmonies, kick-lines and jazz hands.
- February 2023
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
- February 2023
we choose who we invite / through the front door of our life
Sky, a precocious but quiet teenager, gets caught smoking a zoot and is sentenced to live with their teacher, Miss Court. Between Miss Court's caution to maintain boundaries and Sky's disinterest in interacting at all, neither of them is expecting the other to be anything except a housemate. But a badly-timed Covid-19 infection forces the two to spend a fortnight with no social options except one another.
What emerges from the ashes of this explosion of misfortune could either be a beautiful gift, or a disaster...
An original musical about friendship, trust, identity and weed.
- February 2023
'White: a blank page or canvas. His favourite – so many possibilities.'
George is an artist in search of his masterpiece - battling with his friends and his critics - he navigates his relationships and the everyday world around him to create something truly special that he's been planning for years.
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, based on the life of the French artist Georges Seurat and his fictional great-grandson George, we see eight-time Tony Award winner Stephen Sondheim (Company, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods) and three-time Tony winner James Lapine at their best, in this stunning collaboration that will make you question the world around you and leave you amazed.
- January 2023
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
- January 2023
"I think that I could be in love with someone like you..."
Jamie and Cathy’s relationship is over five years after they first met. Both have their stories to tell from meeting to breaking up, but while Jamie follows the events chronologically, Cathy traces the relationship backwards. With alternating songs, the pair meet only once in this sung-through musical, exploring themes of marriage, career ambitions and what it means to be in love.
Humorous yet poignant, at times heart-warming and at times heart-breaking, The Last Five Years encourages us to see the complexities within modern relationships, and ultimately consider whether we are right to do the things we do for love.
Accompanied by a powerful score, the Last Five Years moves between hilarious comedy songs and tender, emotional ballads to produce a whirlwind picture of Jamie and Cathy’s relationship, told through both their lenses
- January 2023
In just 24 hours, CUMTS will create and perform a brand new musical. A theme will be announced to some of Cambridge's sparkiest new writers and composers, who will then put their heads together for 24 hours of creative madness. A troupe of CUMTS performers and musicians will be on hand to bring their work to life, in what will be a whirlwind celebration of new writing. There will be sleeplessness. There will be coffee. Who knows what the final product will be? All we know, is that it will be unmissable.
- November 2022
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
This time round, we want to hear you step out of your comfort zone and sing something you ordinarily wouldn’t choose to sing- in the words of the great Cole Porter… anything goes!
- November 2022
Field of Folk invites you to enter the psychedelic dreams of one aspiring musician, meeting his own mind on his tortured quest to find Truth. Led through his mind by Imagination, his dreams — a mix of the childlike fantasies of Lewis Carroll and 60s psychedelia — set him on a winding path to rediscover his own voice, even in a world which has lost its song.
- November 2022
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
This time auditions are open exclusively to freshers. Good luck!
- November 2022
At the height of the Cold War, a loutish American Grandmaster and an earnest Russian champion clash amongst the influence of lovers, governments, and nations.
With music by ABBA legends Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and lyrics by Sir Tim Rice, Chess features international hits such as 'I Know Him So Well' and 'One Night In Bangkok'
- October 2022
'I feel something in the air / inside my mind / but I can't find / the words quite yet'
In a fictionalised version of Edwardian academic England, Rosa, a fiery student with a drive to make things better, gets sent to Saint Frederick's School for Troublesome Girls. An imminent visit from the School Inspector leaves Professor Oakshot on edge as he struggles to control the newly radical student population. While tensions rise, the appointment of a new English teacher threatens to mark the end of the order they know so well...
A sung-through, student-written musical, FULL MARX is a story of queer love and BME joy, a refreshing new take in the musical theatre scene, presented in front of a live audience for the first time as a rehearsed reading. With an irreverent political sensibility, a multi-ethnic, folk-inspired score, and a scathing critique of 'academic' culture, FULL MARX promises to be a show like no other.
- October 2022
Approaching thirty, Johnny is a struggling theatre composer, waiting tables at the local diner and watching his New York life tick by. His best friend is making corporate money and his girlfriend wants to leave the city, but he just can’t give up on his stagnating dream of writing the next great American musical.
This semi-autobiographical musical explores Jonathan Larson’s life before ‘Rent’, both the culture and pressures that culminated in his Tony Award winning legacy, and brings a fresh performance following the 2021 hit film.
- October 2022
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
- August 2022
We're back, and we're going to the Camden Fringe!
It’s 1932, prohibition has swept New York, and Tony Morino owns a small underground speakeasy in the Bronx, selling bathtub gin so steeped in ethanol it could easily kill you. Business is terrible, so along with three friends, he hatches a plan – take out life insurance on the drunken, good-for-nothing new employee at his bar, Michael Malloy. The crew successfully take out $68,000 of insurance on Malloy’s life, and the three get to work on murdering their target, with freedom from financial worry surely around the corner. However, it seems some people are far more difficult to kill than others…
The Man Who Wouldn’t Be Murdered is a new comedy musical full of murder, jazz and drink, based on the true story of Michael Malloy and his infamous life, and death.
- August 2022
When her grandmother dies, Cece spirals into a quarter-life crisis. Lost, lonely, and looking for purpose, she finds support from some unexpected house guests: the Seven 'Deadly' Sins.
As Cece goes on a journey of self-discovery, she begins to question if living with sin is not so deadly after all...
From the company that brought you SIX comes a new musical seducing us all to try a little sin.
- August 2022
SLEEPOVER is a coming of age story about four 2nd gen immigrant daughters on the eve of their first year at university. Jenny, the oldest daughter from a Jamaican Chinese family, is hosting their first and only sleepover to celebrate the end of high school. She’s prepared snacks, movies, and of course, the most important thing of all - 142 questions about sex. Join Jenny, Adya (Tamil, queer), Nina (mixed Korean-British), and Ruth (Jewish) as they dive into the world of sex, discussing everything from masturbation and dating apps to sexuality and gender. Don’t forget to bring a sleeping bag!
- June 2022
A cabaret style collaboration between Cambridge University Sinfonia, Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society and members of Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra, presenting a selection of show tunes and songs from Broadway, the West End and beyond. Featuring music from Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein and more.
- June 2022
‘I’ve looked at all that - marriages and all that - and what do you get for it? What do you get?’
On the night of his 35th birthday, Bobby struggles to think of anything he wants, as a lone bachelor surrounded by his married friends. Over a series of dinner parties, weddings and cocktails, he starts to confront why he is so afraid of being alone, surrounded by a world of ‘crazy’ heteronormativity.
Featuring some of his most iconic songs like The Ladies Who Lunch, Not Getting Married Today, You Could Drive A Person Crazy and Being Alive, Company is one of Sondheim’s groundbreaking musicals - a funny, heartbreaking and poignant look into marriage, vulnerability, loneliness and what it means to be alive.
- May 2022
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
- May 2022
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
- May 2022
In the face of lost rights, missing actors and broken lights, a show's technical team - the Blue Workers - must learn to work together to save their flagging production. Can they overcome their differences before the play opens house?
Join the Blue Workers as they bring the backstage to the forestage in this toe-tapping musical extravaganza!
- February 2022
The CUMTS gala night is a one-hour show all-singing, all-dancing celebration of musical theatre! With the band on stage we perform polished choreo with stunning vocals. We will select a range of classic MT songs, songs from lesser known productions, and some student-written numbers
- February 2022
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
- February 2022
Loosely based on Puccini’s opera La Bohème, RENT is a Putlizer Prize and four-time Tony Award musical that follows a year in the life of a group of struggling young artists living in Manhattan’s East Village. Mark, an aspiring filmmaker, struggles to find his place in the world; his roommate Roger, an HIV-positive musician, wonders how he will leave his mark before he dies. Mimi and Angel look for true love as they face the harsh reality of life when HIV-positive, while the lawyer Joanne seeks loyalty from her flirtatious performance artist girlfriend Maureen. The group’s dreams, losses, and love stories weave through the musical’s narration to paint a stunningly raw and heart-breaking portrait of the gritty bohemian world of New York City in the late 1980s, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
- January 2022
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
- January 2022
After a year long hiatus, CUMTS 24 Hour Musical is back!
On a cold January night, performers, composers, directors and choreographers will be tasked with putting together a 1 hour musical in 24 hours based on a yet to be revealed theme!
Come one come all at 9pm on Tuesday 18th of January to watch the culmination of the most exciting day and night of cambridge musical theatre hit the stage !!
- November 2021
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
This week is our final Bar Night of Michaelmas term, and it's a classic theme: MISCAST!! Come and belt out that song that you've never had the chance to show to anyone outside your shower, or just come and watch for a wonderfully confusing night of MT!
- November 2021
After an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Fringe, 'On Your Bike' is coming home!
Delivering food you don’t get to eat is hungry work. Outside a chicken shop, a group of delivery riders wait for orders, trying to figure out life and love while they do. Threatened by nosy landlords, angry exes and even their own employer, Eatsaroo, they realise they have to group together and take the battle to the bosses. But fighting a billion-dollar algorithm isn’t that easy. From the award-winning company who brought you SiX and Rust comes this toe-tapping new musical about love, labour and leftover pizza.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Theatre Weekly
"Thoroughly engaging"
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Musical Theatre Review (Awarded their Best Live Musical Award 2021)
"James and Venable are a writing partnership to watch out for [...] tomorrow's stars are right here".
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Binge Fringe
"This show is a stunning achievement. Raucously witty to its core and heartfelt at its best. The music is a triumph and the story is deeply emotionally intelligent."
Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society, responsible for previous Edinburgh Fringe shows such as Six, Rust and Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area, is proud to present On Your Bike, a new musical by Ben James and Cambridge Footlight Joe Venable. James and Venable’s work has previously been described as “ambitious and surprising” and "remarkably unique” (TCS), blending musical genres and using lyrical innovation to create an exciting new style.
- November 2021
It’s 1932, prohibition has swept New York, and Tony Morino owns a small underground speakeasy in the Bronx, selling bathtub gin so steeped in ethanol it could easily kill you. Business is terrible, so along with three friends, he hatches a plan – take out life insurance on the drunken, good-for-nothing new employee at his bar, Michael Malloy. The crew successfully take out $68,000 of insurance on Malloy’s life, and the three get to work on murdering their target, with freedom from financial worry surely around the corner. However, it seems some people are more difficult to kill than others…
The Man Who Wouldn’t Be Murdered is a new comedy musical full of murder, jazz and drink, based on the true story of Michael Malloy and his infamous life, and death.
(CN: death, violence/murder, alcoholism)
This exciting production is an original student-written show! With a cast and crew entirely made up of freshers/ those new to theatre, it's the perfect introduction to Musical Theatre at Cambridge, and of course, the magic of CUMTS.
- November 2021
‘Ships are safe in harbour. But that’s not what ships are for.’
Astrid has never set foot on solid ground: as the first and only child born in space, she faces her whole life on board the spaceship Mara. But when an asteroid strike decimates their oxygen supply, she and the crew of the ship must abandon the mission and return home before it’s too late.
From the award-winning, five-star writing team behind Rust and Life With You, this original musical explores what it means to know who you are. Set against the breathtaking and deadly backdrop of space, Astrid and the others travelling on the Mara grapple with life, friendship, and loss.
When it really matters, we risk everything to make it back to the only home we truly know: Earth.
- November 2021
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
This week is our second Bar Night of Michaelmas term, and it's time for the FRESHERS! Get on down to the ADC Bar for a night of fabulous performances from the freshest talent in Cambridge Theatre.
- October 2021
Three times a term, we host a night where people can come along and sing a musical theatre song for a smaller audience in a less intimidating venue (the ADC bar). The atmosphere is always friendly and uplifting, and the performances are always of a top quality.
The most wonderful thing about these shows is that the more intimate setting allows for those less confident performers to feel more comfortable in their singing and eventually move onto principal roles in bigger shows. You never know, any Bar Night participant might just go on to be the next big star of the stage! Not only that, but also the range of performers means that there is always a range of songs and dynamics to fit every audience member's needs. Whether you're into comedy or you're a hopeless romantic, there'll be something for you!
This week is our first Bar Night post covid, and it's an OPEN THEME!
- August 2021
SAVE THE DATE! The flights are booked, the speeches are written, the dress is ready; but are you?
'Hen Night: The Musical!' follows the journey of 6 women (bride Lucy and her hens, duh) the night before they fly off to a destination wedding. Think 'Bridesmaids', meets 'Fleabag', meets Agatha Christie in this hour long whodunnit, comedy, female-led musical! Brought to you by Footlights Harriet Fisher & Lottie Elton, and harvard graduate musical extraordinaire Mateo Lincoln.
Till death do us part? We'll see about that.
- August 2021
Delivering food you don’t get to eat is hungry work. Outside a chicken shop, a group of delivery riders wait for orders, trying to figure out life and love while they do. Threatened by nosy landlords, angry exes and even their own employer, Eatsaroo, they realise they have to group together and take the battle to the bosses. But fighting a billion-dollar algorithm isn’t that easy. From the award-winning company who brought you SiX and Rust comes this toe-tapping new musical about love, labour and leftover pizza.
- June 2021
In a dingy flower shop on Skid Row, Seymour’s discovery of a rare and exotic plant, Audrey II, turns his world upside down. The plant’s survival and his rise to fame and fortune however come at a cost: his own flesh and blood. Set to the sound of 1960s Rock n Roll and a backdrop of dark humour, we watch Seymour grapple with a blossoming love, a masochistic dentist and an avaricious boss as he struggles to do the right thing. Will his trials and tribulations end with Audrey somewhere that’s green, or will the monstrous flora have other plans?
Content Warnings
Abusive Relationship (prolonged, mentions of and shown)
Death (frequent, on stage, often comedic tone)
Blood (Simulated with plots/set dressing)
Torture (Brief comedic mention in song, character shown to enjoy inflicting pain without anaesthesia)
Guns (visual prop, no gunshot sound)
Dentist (scenes of wishing to inflict teeth damage but nothing explicitly shown, dental drill sounds)
Implied Self Harm (brief)
Implied/Accidental Suicide (both staged)
Drugs (addiction to nitrous oxide, overdose)
Flashing lights (used throughout certain songs)
