About Us

About Us

Global Musicals is a small company run by husband-and-wife team Andy and Wendy Barnes. Andy and Wendy started working together in 2006 when they produced a showcase of new British musicals which formed the foundations of their non-profit company Perfect Pitch. Their passion is to support the development and production of contemporary and innovative musicals by lesser-known British writers and composers. They’re keen to support work that will connect with a new, more diverse generation of theatregoers. In 2017 they launched Global Musicals as a commercial production company to work both independently and alongside Perfect Pitch. That same year they spotted ‘SIX’, a new, British musical by young first-time writers, as a student production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and felt it would be perfect as Global's inaugural production and they were thrilled that writers Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow welcomed them on board.
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ANDY Barnes - EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

In 2000 Andy produced his first show, The Wiz at Hackney Empire, whilst off-work recovering from a broken wrist sustained doing his day job as a police detective. Standing at the back of the buzzing Empire listening to Sharon D Clarke sing ‘If You Believe’, he made up his mind to quit the day job and try something new. He saved for two years to make the break and having left school with just a handful of GCSEs he blagged a place on the Creative Producing course at Central School of Speech & Drama, citing life experience as his main qualification!

In his graduating year Andy produced Dreams Come Out to Play at Birmingham Rep and new musical Dr Foster at the Menier Chocolate Factory, co-producing with fellow CSSD graduate Rebekah Jones.

His next production was a showcase of new writing in 2006 at Upstairs at the Gatehouse which led to the creation of Perfect Pitch as an outlet to source and develop new musicals for production, and the project was also the start of his working relationship with wife and co-producer Wendy.

Andy and Wendy went on to produce Lift at Soho Theatre featuring Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo, Through the Door at Trafalgar Studios, From Up Here at South Hill Park and The Great British Musical at the Criterion Theatre hosted by Stephen Fry.

With Perfect Pitch, they developed The Go-Between winning the UK Theatre Award for ‘Best Musical’ and were associate producers on the West End transfer to the Apollo Theatre, starring Michael Crawford and Pieces of String at Mercury Theatre, Colchester which was nominated for UK Theatre Award for ‘Best Musical’.

Andy co-programmed a venue dedicated to musical theatre for two years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and produced numerous new musicals there including the world premiere of Departure Lounge by Dougal Irvine in 2008. He returned ten years later to launch SIX, which he first saw in a hotel conference room the year prior

Andy and Wendy founded Global Musicals in 2017 to commercially produce more new musicals in the West End and internationally with SIX being the inaugural production for the company.

SIX was nominated for 5 Olivier Awards in 2019 and won the Whatsonstage.com Best Musical Award in 2020 voted for by audiences. The production has played around the world including West End, Broadway and Sydney Opera House.

Andy is a proud member of the Society of London Theatre and was an early recipient of the Stage One new producer’s bursary. He was previously Chair of the MTA drama school and has recently been honoured as a Leader in Residence at the University of Central Lancashire.

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Wendy Barnes - CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Wendy studied BA Performing Arts (music major) at Middlesex University.  As a student, with ambitions to work in music and theatre, she trained in violin, piano, drama and voice and her degree included composition, orchestration and classical music analysis.

She worked as an actor-musician in fringe productions, theatre in education and cabarets for around 8 years. Wendy first met Andy in 2005 when she was hired as a musician for a student showcase that he was producing as part of his M.A. in creative producing. They discovered a common interest in discovering lesser known musicals (remembering in 2005 the landscape of new writing in the UK was not as flourishing as it fortunately is today!) Andy set the wheels in motion for an event that was to become the inaugural Perfect Pitch Showcase of new musicals and when the submissions started to flood in in their hundreds Wendy stepped in to assist Andy in putting the showcase together, she had only planned to help out for the one showcase (!) but instead she parted ways with her agent and worked with Andy to grow the company together.

Today Andy and Wendy are married, running the two companies and bringing up two school age children. In recent years Wendy works predominantly from home enabling her and Andy to juggle producing and parenting as best they can!

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DEBBIE HICKS - PRODUCER

Debbie is an award-winning Producer and General Manager working independently and on behalf of other practitioners to deliver exceptional new musicals, plays, and immersive theatre shows to audiences across the United Kingdom. She has extensive experience of developing and mounting small-scale to first-class touring, West End, off-West End, and international work, and providing management and business development support to arts companies in both the commercial and subsidised sectors. She’s been a proud member of the Global and Perfect Pitch family since 2019.

Alongside her work as a theatre-maker Debbie is completing a DPhil in Literature and Arts at the University of Oxford.

www.debbiehicks.co.uk

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Josh Bird - DIGITAL PRODUCER

Josh manages the social media accounts and digital content creation for Perfect Pitch and Global Musicals shows, including SIX, which has become the most followed West End Musical on Instagram ever. 

He created the screen design for SIX’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent, BBC Children in Need and the 2019 Olivier Awards. 

After interning in 2014, he has worked for Perfect Pitch for over 7 years. 

He is also a composer and Stiles & Drewe Best New Song award finalist. His composer credits include Game Theory, Club Wonderland  and Elf Spies