Bill Kenwright

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Bill Kenwright CBE (born 4 September, 1945, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England) is an actor and producer.

He attended Booker Avenue County Primary School, and then Liverpool Institute High School 1957 to 1964 and appeared in school productions (including Shylock in Merchant of Venice) on the stage in the Mount St. building (predecessor to LIPA. He was also treasurer of the Christian Union at school.

As a young man, he became an actor. He was not spectacularly successful, though he did hold down a role in Coronation Street for almost a year, as Gordon Clegg, from April 1968 to March 1969, after brief stints in other shows, such as The Villains and The Liver Birds. It is said that Gordon Clegg is the only role he would ever act again, out of love for Coronation Street and its cast.

Kenwright is now a successful theatrical producer, best known for the long-running West End hit Blood Brothers and the record breaking tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Other recent productions have included West End runs of Whistle Down The Wind at the Palace Theatre, Festen in London, on a UK tour and now on Broadway, The Big Life, Elmina's Kitchen, Scrooge - The Musical, The Night Of The Iguana, A Few Good Men, A Man For All Seasons alongside UK tours of Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, Whistle Down The Wind, Tell Me On A Sunday, Scrooge - The Musical and This Is Elvis.

He produced the London revival of Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre in September 2006, starring Anna Maxwell Martin, James Dreyfus and Sheila Hancock.

In the year 2000 he was awarded the CBE for his services to film and theatre. He is currently linked with British actress Jenny Seagrove.

In 2004 he became Chairman of Everton, the football club he has supported all his life, succeeding Sir Phillip Carter in the role, who stepped down from his second stint as Everton Chairman, a position he had regained after Kenwright's takeover of the club in 1999.

In 2007 Kenwright was a judge in the BBC1 television series "Any Dream Will Do."

Current Productions

• Blood Brothers - Phoenix Theatre (London) and on UK National Tour, starring Helen Hobson and Steven Houghton
• The Letter - Wyndham's Theatre (London), starring Jenny Seagrove and Anthony Andrews
• Cabaret - Lyric Theatre (London), starring Kim Medcalf, James Dreyfus and Honor Blackman
• The Glass Menagerie - Apollo Theatre (London), starring Jessica Lange and Ed Stoppard
• Treats - Garrick Theatre (London), starring Billie Piper, Laurence Fox and Kris Marshall
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - Adelphi Theatre (London), with Andrew Lloyd Webber

• The Unexpected Guest - UK National Tour, starring Simon Macorkindale and Dean Gaffney
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - UK National Tour
• Hay Fever - UK National Tour, starring Stephanie Beecham

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