Brian Capron & Vicky Entwistle Join Mark Williams in Tour of Doctor Dolittle * Fairy Powered Productions

BRIAN CAPRON & VICKY ENTWISTLE JOIN

MARK WILLIAMS IN THE NEW STAGE PRODUCTION OF LESLIE BRICUSSE’S

DOCTOR DOLITTLE

UK & IRELAND TOUR OPENS ON 9 NOVEMBER 2018

NATIONAL PRESS NIGHT ON THURSDAY 17 JANUARY 2019

Brian Capron, Vicky Entwistle, Mollie Melia-Redgrave and Patrick Sullivan are confirmed to join Mark Williams, who plays Doctor Dolittle, in the UK & Ireland Tour of Doctor Dolittle. Brian will play Albert Blossom/Straight Arrow, Vicky will play Polynesia, Mollie Emma Fairfax and Patrick Matthew Mugg. Mark Williams and Brian Capron will play the first ten venues on the tour – Bromley, Salford, Oxford, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, Hull, Aberdeen, Northampton, Nottingham and Sheffield. The others will play the entire tour. There will be a national press night on Thursday 17 January 2019 at the Oxford New Theatre.

This new production of Doctor Dolittle, with book, music and lyrics by double Academy Award-winner Leslie Bricusse, will be part of the 50^th anniversary celebrations of the original film starring Rex Harrison and will feature the same songs, including the Academy Award-winning Talk To The Animals. Featuring stunning visual puppetry, this new production, with the book reworked by Leslie Bricusse, will be directed by Christopher Renshaw.

Also in the cast will be Femi Akinfolarin. Erica Jayne Alden, Lydia Bannister, Joel Bayliss, Evonnee Bentley-Holder, Jane Cranshaw, Emily Essery, Jacob Fisher, George Hankers, Catherine Hannay, Evan James, Leon Kay, Emma Lloyd, Ross Meagrow, Owen McHugh, Tom Norman, Emily Ann Potter, Ellie Seaton and Richard Vorster. The role of Tommy Stubbins will be shared by Harry Cross, Elliot Morris, Quillan O’Meara McDonald, Louis Parker, Elliott Rose and Thomas Ryan.

Mark Williams’s screen credits include The Fast Show, Father Brown, 101 Dalmatians, The Borrowers, Shakespeare in Love and seven of the Harry Potter films. His many theatre credits include Fanshen at the National Theatre, Doctor of Honour for Cheek by Jowl, Moscow Gold, Singer, A Dream of People and As You Like It for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Art in the West End, Toast at the Royal Court and Tartuffe at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Brian Capron is probably best known for his role as Richard Hillman in Coronation Street, for which he won a clutch of awards, including a record-breaking five at The Soap Awards. Other well-known television roles include Mr Hopwood in Grange Hill and Ozias Harding in Where The Heart Is. His theatre credits include James in Harper Regan at the National Theatre, Nathan Detroit in The Donmar/West End/UK Tour of Guys and Dolls, Geoffrey in Stepping Out (MEN Award nomination for Best Actor in a touring show) and Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show in the West End/UK Tour. He can currently be seen in the Channel 5 series Celebrity 5 Go Caravanning. He is most proud that he was a finalist in Celebrity Masterchef!

Vicky Entwistle is probably best known for her role as Janice Battersby in Coronation Street. Other television credits include Father Brown and Sandra in Ackely Bridge. Her theatre credits include East is East for Northern Stage, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Madame Thenardier in the West End production of Les Misérables and the UK tour of The Vagina Monologues.

Mollie Melia-Redgrave appeared in Drew McOnie’s production of On the Town at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and the UK & Ireland Tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for Music & Lyrics. Patrick Sullivan can currently be seen as Blake in Bat Out Of Hell the Musical at the Dominion Theatre, a role he created in the original Manchester Opera House/London Coliseum production.

Eccentric Doctor Dolittle embarks on an extraordinary adventure to find the Giant Pink Sea Snail that holds the secret of life and makes the world a happier place. Helped by his human companions and an exotic menagerie of animal friends, including the Pushmi-Pullyu and trusty sidekick Polynesia the parrot, the larger-than-life Doctor Dolittle teaches us not only to talk to the animals but to listen to them as well!

Leslie Bricusse has written the book, music and/or lyrics for more than 40 musical films and plays. Stage musicals include Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, Pickwick, Harvey, Goodbye, Mr Chips, Scrooge and Victor/Victoria, while films (songs and/or screenplays) include Scrooge, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Goodbye, Mr Chips, Superman, Victor/Victoria, Home Alone 1 & 2, Hook, Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, The Last Emperor and various Pink Panthers. His songs include What Kind of Fool Am I?, My Old Man’s A Dustman, Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, On A Wonderful Day Like Today, The Candy Man and Oompa-Loompa-Doompa-Dee-Doo. As well as winning two Oscars, he has won a Grammy and eight Ivor Novello Awards.

The new stage production of Doctor Dolittle will be directed by Christopher Renshaw (Le Grand Mort, Zorro, Taboo, We Will Rock You, The King and I), with choreography by Josh Rhodes (Carousel and Sweeney Todd at the London Coliseum, Company starring Neil Patrick Harris for PBS, and Cinderella and Bright Star on Broadway), design by Tom Piper (Associate Designer at the RSC from 2004 to 2014, and designed the installation for the Tower of London poppies installation and subsequent tours – original concept and Poppies by Paul Cummins), puppet design by Jimmy Grimes, lighting by Chris Davey, sound by Ben Harrison, and musical supervision by Mike Dixon (most recent theatre includes Mrs Henderson Presents, Oh What A Lovely War, Bodyguard, Taboo, Hair, Zorro, Never Forget and We Will Rock You).

Doctor Dolittle is based on the Doctor Dolittle stories by Hugh Lofting and the Twentieth Century Fox film.

Doctor Dolittle is performed by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Ltd.

The UK & Ireland Tour of Doctor Dolittle is produced by Music & Lyrics Limited, the producers behind the highly successful recent tours of The Addams Family, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, High Society and The King and I, in association with Churchill Theatre Bromley.

Website: www.doctordolittlemusical.com

Facebook: Doctor Dolittle The Musical

Twitter: @DolittleMusical

TOUR SCHEDULE

9 – 24 November 2018 Churchill Theatre Bromley* 020 3285 6000 www.churchilltheatre.co.uk

11 December – 5 January 2019 The Lowry Salford* 0843 208 6000 www.thelowry.com

15 – 26 January Oxford New Theatre* 0844 871 3020 www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-theatre-oxford

29 January – 9 February Wolverhampton Grand Theatre* 01902 42 92 12

www.grandtheatre.co.uk

12 – 23 February Newcastle Theatre Royal* 0844 811 2121

www.theatreroyal.co.uk

26 February – 9 March Hull New Theatre* 01482 300 306 www.hulltheatres.co.uk