Birmingham Hippodrome’s New Musical Theatre department have today (Thu 5 Apr) announced their first full production The Jingleclaw, a festive family musical created for 3–7 year olds.

The production will open at the Hippodrome’s Patrick Studio on Thursday 12 December 2024, running until Saturday 4 January 2025.

Written by Robyn Grant and Tim Gilvin, The Jingleclaw is set in a cosy village in the snowy mountains, telling the story of young musician Astrid and the mischievous forest creature The Jingleclaw.

Robyn Grant said: “We’re so excited to be one of the first teams working with this incredible New Musical Theatre department as the Hippodrome continues to grow as a beacon of new British Musical Theatre. Tim and I are both incredibly passionate about bringing new audiences to musical theatre so who better to start with than the next generation of budding stars and theatre goers! The Jingleclaw is a silly, joyful, magical show in which we’re creating our very own winter monster in a format which feels fresh, vibrant and funny. We’re packing the show with amazing puppets and props, audience interaction, larger than life characters and tunes you’ll be singing all the way home. 

Tim Gilvin added: “Having spent my university years in beautiful Birmingham, it’s a total joy to be returning to the city and bringing an array of eclectic, fun, festive bangers to tell the story of The Jingleclaw. Expect balladeering bats, choral carols and a good old dose of festive rock and roll that will have our audiences dancing in their seats.”

Chris Sudworth, Creative Director at Birmingham Hippodrome said: “The Jingleclaw is our first full musical theatre commission and marks a really exciting moment in the Hippodrome’s commitment to developing new musicals and new work in the West Midlands. Robyn and Tim are two of the brightest talents in UK musical theatre. We supported their step up from the Fringe with Unfortunate in 2019, and they bring their characteristic joy, playfulness, naughtiness, lyrical and musical invention – but for a family audience – to The Jingleclaw.”

The Jingleclaw will be the first in a series of musicals for children produced by Birmingham Hippodrome under the My First Musical banner.

Deirdre O’Halloran, Head of New Musical Theatre at Birmingham Hippodrome added: “We’ve been thinking about the future of musical theatre, and it felt natural for our first production to be creating something special for our youngest audiences. While there are lots of fantastic children’s shows produced each year with music in them, few are designed specifically as an introduction to musical theatre, and so the idea of “My First Musical” was born! We hope that productions under this banner, starting with The Jingleclaw, will provide those magical goosebump moments for young audiences that lead to a life-long love of musical theatre.”

Since establishing the UK’s first in house New Musical Theatre Department in 2023, the Hippodrome has produced workshop performances of This Is A Love Story and launched the Musical Theatre Writers Group, a developmental programme which offers five writing teams the opportunity to develop a new musical over the course of 12 months.

The Jingleclaw is suitable for ages 3+ and will play at Birmingham Hippodrome’s Patrick Studio Thursday 12 December 2024 – Saturday 4 January 2025. Tickets are on sale to Friends of Birmingham Hippodrome at 11am on Thursday 11 April and on general sale at 11am on Friday 12 April.

 The Jingleclaw is produced by Birmingham Hippodrome, written by Robyn Grant and Tim Gilvin with General Managers Grace Dickson and Ameena Hamid for HD General Management.