Josephine and I
Joe's Pub, Public Theater, February - April 2015
- Written and performed by Cush Jumbo
- With Joseph Atkins at the piano (Musical Direction and Arrangements)
- Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Winner of the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show.
New York Times Critics' Pick
...fluid accompaniment by the pianist Joseph Atkins
- Ben Brantley, The New York Times. Read the full review here.
Joseph Atkins is great support at the piano.
- The Huffington Post
The show is helped immeasurably by the very enjoyable piano accompaniment by Joseph Atkins. Atkins is also responsible for the show's musical direction and arrangements.
- The Epoch Times
Bravo to the man behind the music and the piano, Joseph Atkins. Delightful.
- New York Theatre Guide
...expertly accompanied on piano throughout by musical director Joseph Atkins
- Curtain Up
...the excellent pianist/music director/arranger Joseph Atkins
- thebroadwayblog.com
Pat Kirkwood is Angry
59E59 Theaters, Brits Off Broadway, June 2014
- Written and performed by Jessica Walker
- With Joseph Atkins at the piano
- Directed by Lee Blakeley
New York Times Critics' Pick
Ms. Walker is accompanied by the show's musical director, Joseph Atkins, a superb and sensitive pianist.
- Charles Isherwood, The New York Times. Read the full review here.
She also gets stellar support from her musical director, Joseph Atkins.
- Lighting and Sound America
Accompanied by the seriously talented Joseph Atkins who makes his upright sound like a baby grand, Walker delivers the goods... Begin The Beguine is steeped in pathos so deep you can feel it all the way down to your toes.
- www.frontrowcentre.com
A Berlin Kabaret
Sphinx Theatre, Brighton Fringe 2014
Winner of Best Cabaret, Brighton Fringe 2014
Winner of an Argus Angel Award for
Outstanding Achievement
The huge strength lies in the performers, the delivery, and the
music itself, invoking darker times with humour and emotional
power. Highly recommended.
- Fringe Review
It is made enjoyable by the extremely talented singers and
brilliant live accompaniment by Joseph Atkins on the piano and
accordion.
- A Younger Theatre
The sole accompanist played piano and accordion. The four
singers/performers were exceptional and each carried the powerful
stage presence necessary to make this kind of satire effective.
Their voices were strong, their diction clear, their ensemble
singing precise... an inspired production.
- The
Argus
The Girl I Left Behind Me
Original cast recording, released December
2013
Nominated for a 2014 Broadway World
Album Award (Best New UK Musical Cast Album)
For the album, Joseph Atkins provides fun and fanciful
accompaniment on the piano. He and Jessica Walker, who were
digitally recorded for the record on September 7, 2013 at PPI
Studios in New York City, play well off one another and take tempo
and key change cues from each other. Together, the duo brings life
to these music hall hits of yesteryear. From the opening chords of
the overture, Joseph Atkins provides vigorous accompaniment that
bounces with tangible and interesting energy... Jessica Walker
sings with skill and Joseph Atkins plays with precision, making
each track enjoyable to hear.
-
www.broadwayworld.com
...the album features the sprightly and careful work of Joseph
Atkins (who played U.S. shows at New York's 59E59 Theaters' British
festival). He contributed arrangements for three bonus tracks.
These items are especially attractive, like a dessert after the big
main course.
- www.talkingbroadway.com
Josephine And I
Bush Theatre, July - August 2013
- Written and performed by Cush Jumbo
- With Joseph Atkins at the piano (Musical
Direction and Arrangements)
- Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Winner of the Evening Standard Award
for Emerging Talent
Nominated for the 2014 Olivier Award
for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ - Sunday
Express
★ ★ ★ ★ - The Times, The
Financial Times, The Telegraph, The
Sunday Times, Independent on Sunday,
Evening Standard and What's On Stage.
[With] sympathetic keyboard from Joseph Atkins, this is a
sparkling show with a light touch and a big reach.
- The
Financial Times
A dazzling tour-de-force.
- The Observer
[Cush Jumbo] makes the most of the jazzy music of the period
(with pianist Joseph Atkins playing a blast) and of Baker's oddly
angular, rhythmic, often comic, dancing style. Jumbo captures this
(on the evidence of film clips) to a t.
- The
Stage
As the pianist behind the ragtime accompaniment, Joseph Atkins
is the silent engine behind the play's period character.
-
A Younger Theatre
A live piano accompaniment adds to the smoky back-bar feel of
the stage.
- Exeunt Magazine
[Cush Jumbo's] final rendition of The Times They Are
A-Changin', recreating Baker's own unlikely triumph,
reclaims both Baker and Dylan for 2013.
- The
Londonist
The Girl I Left Behind Me
59E59 Theaters, Brits Off Broadway, April - May
2013
- Written and Performed by Jessica Walker
- With Joseph Atkins at the piano
- Directed by Neil Bartlett
New York Times Critics' Pick
Ms. Walker and Mr. (Neil) Bartlett... together with the show's
musical director, Joe Atkins, a stylish pianist, bring ardent
affection and a sprinkling of sociology to their engrossing tour
through the lives and careers of these pioneering performers...
she has... a bright soprano of such melting beauty I think I could
listen to it forever.
- The New York Times. Read
the full review
here.
The songs are a pleasure, Walker's singing is impeccable, and
Joe Atkins' piano accompaniment is first-rate.
- Lighting
and Sound America
Joe Atkins plays the piano and the two work together
beautifully... It would be tragedy for me not to acknowledge a
beautiful encore. Ms. Walker and Mr. Atkins did a fantastic job on
Take Me Home - a little heard Tom Waits number...
performed in a manner that left me a little breathless. Bravo.
- Reviews Off Broadway
Indian Summer
Theme and Variations for solo guitar
Written for and recorded by Antonis Hatzinikolaou (
NMC Records)
What matters most, is that Antonis Hatzinikolaou reveals a
restless mind that opens a path of awakening and reconnecting with
the classical works of the 20th Century's guitar repertoire
together with new composers, such as his colleague Joseph Atkins,
who wrote Indian Summer (a composition of lustrous
clarity), for Hatzinikolaou.
- Nikos Vatopoulos,
Kathimerini Newspaper (Article, written upon release
of Antonis' album Music of Memory, which includes
Indian Summer, August 2013)
Victor/Victoria
Southwark Playhouse, 2012
They are strongly supported by the admirable seven-piece
band.
- The Telegraph
Joseph Atkins' orchestrations [...] are perfectly attuned to
this nightclub milieu.
- The American
The splendid band under musical director Joe Atkins produces a
great sound really evoking the period...
- British
Theatre Guide
Mancini's music is at times beautiful, and musical director Joe
Atkins' lovely new arrangements also deserve a mention.
-
A Younger Theatre
...excellent band (and what fantastic arrangements).
-
West End Whingers
The orchestrations by Joseph Atkins are out of this world.
-
Mellowdaylondon
Joseph Atkins' 8-piece orchestra deliver numbers that are at
times almost "big-band" and their interpretations of Mancini's
melodies are a delight.
- What's Hecuba to
Him?
Story Shakespeare: All's Well That Ends
Well
Year Out Drama Company, Edinburgh Fringe 2012
Many scenes are supported and enhanced by the fine singing of
the company, with both popular songs and Shakespeare's lines set to
music, arranged by composer and musical director Joseph Atkins.
The Soldier's Song, created by Atkins and the company,
is particularly rousing, amusing and well performed.
-
Edinburgh Spotlight
Me and Juliet
Finborough Theatre, 2010
...the company upholds great energy with... delightful
harmonies; thanks to musical director Joseph Atkins who alongside
his superb accompaniment, plays a sideline acting part.
-
The Public Reviews
Story Shakespeare: King Lear
Year Out Drama Company, Edinburgh Fringe 2010
The original compositions by Joseph Atkins are beautiful to the
point of hair-raising and are very finely sung by the cast from
varying places within the venue.
- Edinburgh
Spotlight
Singin' in the Rain
Catford Broadway Studio, 2010
Joseph Atkins should be highly praised for his excellent musical
direction and his wonderful stamina as the sole musical
accompaniment...
- Fringe Review
Cry Apples
Song Cycle for Voice, Cello and Piano
Premiered by Sarah Gabriel and the composer at the
Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2008
...delighted the audience with the premiere of Cry
Apples, a setting of six Jonathan Swift poems... a range of
emotion, drama, astringent harmony and wit.
- Stratford
Herald