In This Biography

Kit Hesketh-Harvey Bio, Career, Family, Spouse, and Net Worth

Who is Kit Hesketh-Harvey?

Christopher John ”Kit” Hesketh-Harvey was a popular British professional musical performer, translator, composer, and screenwriter.

Kit Hesketh-Harvey Career

Hesketh-Harvey served for 6 years as a staff producer for the BBC-TV Music and Arts Department, leaving to write the script for Merchant Ivory’s Maurice (1987). He earned the 1988 Vivian Ellis Award for musical theatre writers. Kit then studied with Stephen Sondheim, who had been appointed to the Cameron Mackintosh visiting professorship in Contemporary Theatre at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. He worked on the Vicar of Dibley series for the BBC. Kit then wrote Full Throttle, starring Rowan Atkinson, and Hans Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale (Hallmark).

He later co-wrote the screenplay for Tim Walker’s movie The Lost Explorer. Kit’s first detective novel, For The Shooting, was published in October 2017. He then wrote and sang with pianist Richard Sisson for more than 30 years, a s a musical comedy pair Kit and The Widow. The duo had a number of West End and Broadway theatre runs and international tours, notably with the late Joan Rivers. They also had their own series on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and 2 TV specials on Channel 4. Kit starred in the 1996 production of Salad Days at the Vaudeville Theatre, and in Tom Foolery (Jermyn Street and national tour). He then co-devised and starred in the original production of the Sondheim revue Putting It Together.

2011-2012

Kit starred in Cowardy Custard (national tour) alongside Dillie Keane in 2011. He then co-starred alongside Tim Minchin in the first BBC Comedy Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, the same year: the last time that he and the Widow appeared on stage together. Kit starred yearly in pantomime at Guildford, always playing the baddie. Hesketh-Harvey then made occasional appearances on many BBC Radio 4 series, including Just a Minute and Quote Unquote. Additionally, he presented one-off documentaries on off-beat subjects for Radio 4.

Hesketh-Harvey’s musicals written with composer James McConnel consist of Writing Orlando (Barbican 1988) and Yusupov (Bridewell Theatre). Kit adopted the English version of Jacques Offenbach’s La Belle Helene (2006) directed by Laurent Pelly for the English National Opera. Kit’s translation of The Bartered Bride for Charles Mackerras at the Royal Opera House was Grammy nominated, and he translated numerous other operas. The original libretti consist of Varjak Paw (composer Julian Phillips). Kit then adapted and produced ‘The Caribbean Tempest’, starring Kylie Minogue, in Barbados and Sydney in 2000. He then co-produced Shadwell Opera’s Magic Flute at the Rosslyn Chapel, Edinburgh, (Herald Angel Award 2009). In 2011, he collaborated with Gifford’s Circus, writing the lyrics to War And Peace.

2012-2023

Kit’s plays comprise Five O’Clock Angel at the Hampstead Theatre. Hesketh-Harvey also wrote regularly for Country Life magazine (2009 IPC’s Writer of the Year). His radio play A La Villa Bab Azzoun, produced by Moving Theatre earned the 2009 Prix Europa. Kit’s service for military charities took him to the conflict in Kabul, and also Saudi, Africa, and the Far East. His translation of The Merry Widow was in Opera North’s 2010/11 season, transferring in July 2011 to the Sydney Opera House. The same year, he directed for Merry Opera his own version of La belle Helene, Troy Boy, and in 2012, his version of La Traviata. Kit then wrote and co-directed their production of The Magic Flute at the Riverside Studios, London, in 2013.

His version of The Magic Flute was revived in 2012-13 in the Scottish Opera’s production, directed by Sir Thomas Allen. Kit translated Salvatore Sciarrino’s The Killing Flower (Royal Opera) for Music Theatre Wales in 2013. Harvey’s libretto to Anthony Bolton’s The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko earned its first staging at Grange Park Opera in July 2021. His updated adaptation of Donizetti’s comic opera Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali, entitled by him Viva la Diva, was performed as part of the Buxton International Festival in July 2022. Kit served as a performer and lyricist alongside James McConnel, the pair performed regularly at London cabaret venues as Kit and McConnel.

How old is Kit Hesketh-Harvey?

Christopher John “Kit” Hesketh-Harvey died at the age of 65, on February 1, 2023. He was born on April 30, 1957, in Malawi and shared his birthday with popular people such as Gal Gadot, Kirsten Dunst, Ana de Armas, Travis Scott, Sam Heughan, Drew Seeley, Stephen Harper, Lloyd Banks, Ellie Harvey, many others.

Kit Hesketh-Harvey Family

Who are Kit Hesketh-Harvey’s parents?

Christopher John “Kit” Hesketh-Harvey was born to his parents in Nyasaland (now Malawi), Rhodesia, and Nyasaland. His family was a Foreign Office family, but not much is known about it.

Does Kit Hesketh-Harvey have siblings?

He was born together with one sibling, a sister named Sarah Sands. She is the former editor of the London Evening Standard and the Today program on BBC Radio 4.

Kit Hesketh-Harvey Education

Hesketh-Harvey joined and studied at Canterbury Cathedral as a senior chorister and then moved to Tonbridge School in Kent. He then attended Clare College in Cambridge, where he studied under John Rutter, after receiving an Exhibition in English Literature and a choral scholarship.

Kit Hesketh-Harvey Spouse

Hesketh-Harvey was married to his beautiful and loving wife Catherine Rabett, an actress and academic. The couple was married from 1986 to his death in 2023 and have two children together, and lived in Norfolk and Cornwall.

Kit Hesketh-Harvey Children

He and his loving spouse have two children together in their marriage. Their children are named Augusta Grace Hesketh-Harvey and Rollo Constantine Rabett Hesketh-Harvey.

Kit Hesketh-Harvey Height

Hesketh-Harvey had a well-built, muscular, and energetic body with a height of 5 ft 10 in (1.77 m) and a weight of 70 kg (154 lbs).

Kit Hesketh-Harvey Net Worth

British professional musical performer, translator, composer, and screenwriter Hesketh-Harvey was active from the 1980s to 2023. He had gathered an accumulative net worth of approximately $5 million as of his death in 2023.