INITIAL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR
MEL BROOKS AND THOMAS MEEHAN’S
THE PRODUCERS
AT THE MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY
As public booking opens for Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan’s The Producers, the Menier Chocolate Factory today announce initial casting. Tony Award winning director for Leopoldstadt, Patrick Marber directs Andy Nyman (Fiddler on the Roof – Menier, Hello Dolly – London Palladium and creator of Ghost Stories), Marc Antolin (The Band’s Visit – Donmar Warehouse, and Emma Rice’s Romantics Anonymous), Harry Morrison (Beetlejuice – international tour, and The Third Man and Assassins for the Menier) and Joanna Woodward (The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical – Apollo Theatre, and Merrily We Roll Along for the Menier), with Charis Alexandra, Michael Franks, Matt Gillett, Leah Harris, Hana Ichijo, Esme Kennedy, Josh Kiernan, Alex Lodge, Kelsie-Rae Marshall, and Chloe Saunders.
The production opens on 9 December, with previews from 26 November, and runs until 1 March 2025.
Full casting for the production will be announced shortly.
THE PRODUCERS
Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan
Music and Lyrics by Mel Brooks
Direction by Patrick Marber; Choreography by Lorin Latarro; Set Design by Scott Pask; Costume Design by Paul Farnsworth; Lighting Design by Richard Howell; Sound Design by Niamh Gaffney & Terry Jardine for Autograph; Musical Supervision by Gareth Valentine; Musical Direction by Matthew Samer; Orchestrations by Larry Blank & Mark Cumberland
The first major London revival of Mel Brooks’ musical adaptation of The Producers will be staged at the Menier this winter by Tony Award-winning director Patrick Marber and Broadway choreographer Lorin Latarro.
Based on the classic cult film of the same name, the original Broadway production won a record twelve Tony Awards, and skewers Broadway traditions, taking no prisoners as it proudly proclaims itself an “equal opportunity offender!”
Marc Antolin plays Leo Bloom. His theatre credits include I Wish You Well (Edinburgh Fringe/ Criterion Theatre), Quiz (UK tour), The Band’s Visit (Donmar Warehouse), Murder on the Orient Express, Amadeus, Taken at Midnight, Singin’ in the Rain, The Music Man (Chichester Theatre), The Magician’s Elephant (RSC), Camelot (The Watermill Theatre), Romantics Anonymous (Bristol Old Vic/Sam Wanamaker Playhouse/US tour), Cry Havoc (Park Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, Hello Dolly (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Edinburgh Festival, Bristol Old Vic, Shakespeare’s Globe), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), Peter Pan (National Theatre), Taken at Midnight (Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Trial (Young Vic Theatre), From Here to Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre), Matilda (RSC/Cambridge Theatre), Bells are Ringing, Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi (Union Theatre), Billy Liar (UK tour) and Imagine This (New London Theatre). His television credits include The Outlaws, Keeping Faith, Caerdydd and More Than Love; and for film, London Road, Hunky Dory and Love Actually.
Harry Morrison returns to the Menier to play Franz Liebkind – he previously appeared in The Third Man and Assassins. His theatre credits include Beetlejuice (international tour), Come From Away (Phoenix Theatre/Abbey Theatre), Half a Sixpence (Chichester Festival Theatre/Noël Coward Theatre), Guys & Dolls and Kiss Me, Kate (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Wizard of Oz (Theatre Royal, Northampton), Checkley & Bush (Soho Theatre), Oliver! (Larnaca International Festival/ Sheffield Crucible), Crazy For You (Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park/Novello Theatre), The Sound of Music (Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park) and All The Town’s Men (Theatre on the Fly). His television credits include Mongrels and Doc Martin.
Andy Nyman plays Max Bialystock. He is an award-winning actor, director and writer who has earned acclaim from both critics and audiences for his work in theatre, film and television. His work for the Menier includes Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof (also at the Playhouse – Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical), Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins, Abigail’s Party (also Wyndham’s Theatre) and Terrible Advice. Other theatre work includes Hello, Dolly! (The London Palladium), Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen (Wyndham’s Theatre/Broadway), and the original production of Ghost Stories (Duke of York’s Theatre/Arts Theatre) which he starred in, co-wrote and co-directed with Jeremy Dyson – later adapted into a film, in which he also starred. His extensive television credits include Hanna, Wanderlust, The Eichmann Show, Campus, Crooked House, Dead Set as well as his highly acclaimed performance as Winston Churchill in Peaky Blinders. Nyman’s extensive film credits include Jungle Cruise, Judy, The Commuter, Death at a Funeral, Kick-Ass 2, Black Death, The Brother’s Bloom, Severance and Shut Up & Shoot Me, for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cherbourg Film Festival in 2006. In addition, he has collaborated with Derren Brown for almost 20 years, co-writing and co-creating much of Brown’s early TV work. He has also co-written and directed six of Brown’s stage shows, winning the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for Derren Brown – Something Wicked This Way Comes and a New York Drama Desk Award for Best Unique Theatrical Event 2017 for Derren Brown – Secret.
Joanna Woodward plays Ulla. She previously appeared at the Menier in Merrily We Roll Along (also at the Pinter Theatre). Her theatre credits include The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical (Apollo Theatre), Pretty Woman: The Musical (Savoy Theatre), Confessions, Zombies: The Musical (The Other Palace theatre), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre), The Life (Southwark Playhouse), Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Lost Boy (Finborough/ Charing Cross Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (Kilworth House Theatre), The Adventures of Jason and the Argonauts (Scoop Amphitheatre), Medea and Pages: Promised Land (Union Theatre).
As a director, Patrick Marber’s work includes Habeas Corpus (Menier Chocolate Factory), Leopoldstadt (Wyndham’s Theatre and Broadway – Tony Award for Best Director of a Play and Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Play), Travesties (Menier Chocolate Factory/Apollo Theatre/Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre, NYC), Steve Coogan/John Thompson in Characters (Edinburgh/Purcell Room/Touring), and his own plays Dealer’s Choice (National Theatre/Vaudeville Theatre), Closer (National Theatre/Lyric Theatre/Broadway), Howard Katz and Three Days In the Country (both National Theatre). Other productions include 1953 (Almeida Theatre), Blue Remembered Hills (National Theatre), The Old Neighborhood (Royal Court at Duke of York’s Theatre), The Caretaker (Comedy Theatre) and I Remember (devised piece at Royal Court). For television, he directed After Miss Julie and The Curator (both for the BBC). As a writer, his other work includes The Musicians (NT Connections) After Miss Julie, Don Juan in Soho (Donmar Warehouse/Wyndham’s) and The Red Lion (National Theatre). For television, his work includes: co-writer of The Day Today, Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge, Paul Calf Video Diaries, The Curator, Natural Born Quizzers (all BBC); for film, The Critic (dir. Anand Tucker), Closer (dir. Mike Nichols), Notes on a Scandal (dir. Richard Eyre) and Love You More (dir. Sam Taylor-Wood); and for radio, Hoop Lane (BBC Radio 3) and Bunk Bed with Peter Curran (BBC Radio 4).
Lorin Latarro choreographed Broadway’s recent Once Upon a Mattress (currently at the Hudson Theatre), The Who’s Tommy, The Heart of Rock and Roll, Oliver!, Into The Woods, Waitress, Mrs. Doubtfire (also in the West End), Les Liaisons Dangereuse, Waiting For Godot. Her other theatre work includes Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout); Assassins; Fanny and God Bless You, Mr Rosewater (New York City Center Encores); La Traviata and Rigoletto (The Metropolitan Opera); Chess (The Kennedy Center); Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street for “This American Life” (Brooklyn Academy of Music); The Visitor (The Public Theater); Twelfth Night; The Odyssey (Public Works, Delacorte Theater) and A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theatre).
LISTINGS INFORMATION
MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY
THE BAKER’S WIFE
Until 14 September
THE CABINET MINISTER
21 September – 16 November
THE PRODUCERS
26 November – 1 March 2025
Box Office: 020 7378 1713 (£2.50 transaction fee per booking)
Website: www.menierchocolatefactory.com (£1.50 transaction fee per booking)
Tickets: Prices vary, as below from discounted preview tickets to premier seats. With the emphasis
on ‘the sooner you book, the better the price’:
Please note at this time the restaurant is unable to open due to circumstances beyond the company’s control.
www.menierchocolatefactory.com
Twitter: @MenChocFactory
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