Francis is renowned for crafting expansive musical arrangements tailored to intimate productions. Specialising in boutique ensembles of live musicians, Francis excels in producing rich backing tracks with top-tier virtual instruments. Committed to delivering an unparalleled realistic auditory experience, Francis provides meticulously prepared sheet music and superior audio quality for every performance.
"All credit to the arranger Francis Goodhand… for drawing such a hearty noise from a skeletal band that, I am told, is actually located three floors upstairs in the wardrobe department."
Clive Davis, The Times, Top Hat, The Mill at Sonning
“Jule Styne’s indomitable score might be stripped of some of its definitive brass-heavy sound, but Francis Goodhand’s musical arrangements lose none of its energy."
Paul Vale, The Stage, Gypsy, The Mill at Sonning
“Musical director Francis Goodhand oversees dynamic arrangements for an assured off-stage quartet, complemented by a trio of actor-musicians who parade here and there like travelling players.”
Clive Davis, The Times, Gypsy, The Mill at Sonning
Originally from Ipswich, Suffolk, Francis studied music at The University of Liverpool.
musical director
Gypsy, Top Hat and Singin' In The Rain (The Mill at Sonning); Carousel and Cats (Kilworth House Theatre); Tell Me On A Sunday starring Jodie Prenger (national tours); Jersey Boys (UK & Ireland tour); Mrs Henderson Presents (Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto); The Hurly Burly Show (Duchess Theatre, West End); An Evening With David Hasselhoff (indigO2); Judy & Liza (national tour); George’s Marvellous Medicine (Birmingham Stage Company, national tour) and Women On The Verge Of HRT (national tour).
album
Lights, number one in the UK Easy Listening Album Charts, December 2020.
composing commissions
Ten Minute Musical Challenge and Thirty Minute Musical (Greenwich Theatre); Coat Tales (Elixr Festival, Sadler’s Wells); Celtic Journey (Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury and Churchill Theatre, Bromley); Harrison & The Big Church and The Lighthouse (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds); The Soul Bird (Rose Theatre, Kingston Music Service); and Robinsons Panto Karaoke.
incidental music & songs
Holes, Hansel & Gretel, The Tempest and Restoring The Repertoire (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds); Bleak Expectations and Coral (Nuffield Theatre, Southampton); A Daughter Of The Aurora (Proteus & Bodyjam Theatre Companies); George’s Marvellous Medicine (Birmingham Stage); Showstopper (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds and Jermyn Street Theatre); The Importance Of Being Earnest and Centenary Gala (Harrogate Theatre); Mouse & Mole (Tiebreak); The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Starlight - The Dreamcatchers and The Borrowers (Snap); and The Wonkey Donkey (Blunderbus).
arranger/transcriber
Top Hat (The Mill at Sonning); The Hurly Burly Show (Duchess Theatre, West End); So This Is Christmas (Flying Music); Little Belter (Madame Jojo’s and national tour); Viva La Drag - The Supreme Fabulettes (national tour); Orchid (Pleasure Garden, Miami); Chandelier (Celebrity Cruises); The Fly Boys and The Kat Pack.
pantomimes
Aladdin (Manchester Opera House), Peter Pan, Beauty & The Beast, Cinderella and Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen) for Qdos; Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (Sheffield Lyceum) for Evolution; Peter Pan (Bristol Hippodrome and New Wimbledon Theatre), Cinderella (Liverpool Empire, the city’s capital of culture pantomime starring Cilla Black, and New Victora, Woking) and Aladdin (Theatre Royal, Brighton) all for First Family Entertainment; Robinson Crusoe, Beauty & The Beast, Robin Hood and Cinderella (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds); Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin (Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple) for Hiss & Boo; and Jack & The Beanstalk (Harrogate Theatre).
television
Musical supervisor for David Hasselhoff on Piers Morgan Life Stories and This Morning (itv1).
practitioner
Creative Team Events and People Activation: Composer in Residence, Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds; visiting musical director for National Youth Music Theatre, Youth Music Theatre UK, Arts Educational School, Guildford School of Acting, Italia Conti, Laine Theatre Arts, London School of Musical Theatre, Mountview, Musical Theatre Masterclass and The Urdang.