Sunday for Sammy 2026
Project: Sunday for Sammy 2026
Role: Choreographer
Venue: Utilita Arena, Newcastle
Production Overview
Sunday for Sammy is one of the North East's most beloved and extraordinary entertainment institutions — a biennial charity extravaganza held in memory of the late actor Sammy Johnson, raising funds to support creative young talent from the region. First held in 2000, the show is famous for its unpredictability, its deep roots in Geordie culture, and its tradition of surprise guests that have included some of the biggest names in British entertainment.
The 2026 edition was the largest in the show's history, filling the Utilita Arena in Newcastle with over 5,500 people across two performances. True to form, the night delivered its share of unforgettable moments — with surprise appearances from Sting, Lewis Capaldi and patron Matty Healy among the highlights that brought the house down.
Alongside the star turns, space is always made for the next generation of North East talent — and it was in that spirit that the students of SA Performing Arts took the stage, alongside the cast of Gerry & Sewell returning home following their West End run.
Choreography
I was invited to choreograph two pieces for the 2026 show.
Closing the first half, the students of SA Performing Arts performed a full ensemble medley from Our House — the Madness musical — featuring Our House, It Must Be Love and Baggy Trousers. The challenge here was creating something that felt genuinely celebratory and high-energy for a 5,000-seat arena, while giving a group of emerging performers the confidence and the stage presence to own a moment of that scale. The Madness catalogue lends itself beautifully to physical storytelling — it's playful, rhythmically driven and full of character — and watching these students deliver it on that stage was one of the highlights of the project.
Opening the second act, I choreographed an excerpt from Gerry & Sewell, the production that had just completed its West End run at the Aldwych Theatre and was returning home to the city where it began. The centrepiece was the show's signature sequence set to I Write the Songs — the Busby Berkeley-inflected, deliberately over-the-top showgirl number that became one of the most talked-about moments of the West End production. Bringing that back to Newcastle, in front of an arena audience, with the original cast — Jack Robertson, Dean Logan and Chelsea Halfpenny — was a genuinely special experience. The sequence landed exactly as it should: full of joy, self-aware spectacle, and a knowing wink to a hometown crowd who had followed this production from a 60-seat pub theatre above a bar in Whitley Bay all the way to the West End and back.
