'1816': From student musical to independent production

Rich Mandal, second year Music student at King’s, has recently recorded and produced a cast album for 1816: The Year Without a Summer, a student musical that debuted at the Camden Fringe in August 2025. Selected by the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society, 1816 represented the University at the festival. Since then, the show has gone on to sell out runs in London, Cambridge and Brighton, earning both enthusiastic audiences and great reviews.

It’s Byron and Shelley as you've never seen them before in this Friends meets Frankenstein comedy-drama musical. 1816 is the ultimate origin story of the first modern vampire novel and Frankenstein, where a group of five Romantics get trapped for a summer they'd rather forget in their storm-swept villa by Lake Geneva.

As music director, pianist and cast album producer for the show, Rich has been closely involved with the show’s progression from a student musical to an independent production, led by a group of Cambridge students and alumni. Following the positive reception of the show in 2025, Rich set out to record and produce a recording of the show’s songs. He is deeply involved in the Cambridge theatre scene as musical director and composer and has enjoyed producing the 1816 cast album, with a live string band of two violins and a cello, a piano, and a five-piece cast.

1816 continues to flourish beyond the student theatrical scene, with an upcoming run in Southwold in October. Fellow King’s student Wilf Offord will feature as central character John Polidori during this run.

Find out more about 1816 here.