CHARLOTTE D’AMBOISE JOINS JESSE TYLER FERGUSON
IN JAY PRESSON ALLEN’S TRU
AT THE MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY
With The Producers about to complete its West End run, the Menier Chocolate Factory, in association with Seaview, OHenry Productions, and Mickey Liddell & Pete Shilaimon,today announces that Charlotte d’Amboise will join multi-award-winning Jesse Tyler Ferguson in Jay Presson Allen’s play Tru. Directed by the award-winning Rob Ashford, Tru opens on 27 September, with previews from 19 September, and runs until 14 November, following the production’scritically acclaimed New York run earlier this year.
Drawn entirely from Capote’s own words, Tru was originally staged in 1989. Ashford, Ferguson and d’Amboise collaborated on this new production in March at House of the Redeemer’s Library in New York City.
The Menier Chocolate Factory presents
in association with Seaview, OHenry Productions, Mickey Liddell & Pete Shilaimon and A Dog Named Beckett Productions
TRU
By Jay Presson Allen
19 September – 14 November 2026
Cast: Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Charlotte d’Amboise
Director: Rob Ashford; Set Designer: Paul Farnsworth; Costume Designer: Jaimal Odedra;
Lighting Designer: Jamie Platt; Sound Designer: Adam Cork; Associate Director/Swan Walking Cover: Kate Tydman
It’s December 1975 and Truman Capote is alone in his New York apartment, reeling from a crisis that cost him friendship of the elite social circle he adored. Drawn entirely from Capote’s own words, this funny and heartbreaking play is an unflinching portrait of an artist at his breaking point, confronting the consequences of his most scandalous work.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson is a Tony-Award winning actor, author, producer and host known not only for his creative work but, for his ongoing advocacy in the LGBTQIA+ community. On stage, Ferguson is currently playing King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar at The London Palladium; and recently made his West End debut starring in Stephen Sondheim’s final work, Here We Are, at the National Theatre. This past summer he helped reopen NYC’s famed Delacorte Theatre in Central Park with a star-studded production of Twelfth Night. For his turn as accountant Mason Marzac in the revival of Richard Greenberg’s Tony-winning play Take Me Out, he earned a Tony Award in the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play. The acclaimed performance also earned him the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama League Distinguished Performance Award nomination.
Ferguson currently serves as producer and host of the podcast Dinner’s on Me, now in its third season from Sony Music Entertainment. He was featured in Universal’s Cocaine Bear directed by Elizabeth Banks, and his scripted podcast Gay Pride & Prejudice was released exclusively on Spotify. Ferguson also produced the documentary Broadway Rising which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022. In addition, Ferguson served as an executive producer on David France’s BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated documentary, Welcome to Chechnya, based on the anti-gay purges in Chechnya of the late 2010s. Ferguson also released his first cookbook in 2021, Food Between Friends.
Ferguson starred as the widely beloved character Mitchell Pritchett on the award-winning ABC comedy Modern Family, which ran for an impressive 11 seasons. The show earned five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, a Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and four Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Ferguson has also received five Emmy Award nominations and four People’s Choice Award nominations on behalf of the show.
Ferguson made his Broadway debut at the age of 21 as Chip in George C. Wolfe’s revival of On the Town. He later went on to originate the role of Leaf Coneybear in the Tony Award—winning Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He has also worked extensively with The New York Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park in various notable productions.
A longstanding advocate for marriage equality and LGBTQIA+ rights, Ferguson co-founded Pronoun, previously known as Tie the Knot, in 2012 with his husband Justin Mikita. The organization has proudly raised over $1.5 million and has supported important and impactful LGBTQIA+ organisations across the nation.
Charlotte d’Amboise has been working on Broadway stages for decades. Since making her Broadway debut in Cats, she has been nominated for two Tony Awards for her performances as Cassie in the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway(multiple roles). She has also won numerous Fred Astaire Awards for her roles as Fastrada in Pippin, Charity in Sweet Charity, and Lola in Damn Yankees. She was recently seen on Broadway as Roxie Hart in Chicago, which has earned her the LA Ovation Award, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award. She has also appeared in the Broadway casts of Company, Contact, Carrie(also at the RSC in Stratford)and Song and Dance. Her screen credits includeThe In Crowd, American Blue Note, Just Off the Coast, The Preacher’s Wife, Every Little Step, Frances Ha, Law & Order and One Life to Live.
Jay Presson Allen (1922-2006) was a playwright, novelist and screenwriter. Her first novel, Spring Riot, was published in 1948. Her plays include The First Wife which was turned into the 1963 film Wives and Lovers; and for television, Family and Hothouse. Her adaptations include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – produced in the West End, on Broadway and on screen with Maggie Smith winning the Oscar for her role; Forty Carats – for which Julie Harris won a Tony Award and was later filmed; Travels With My Aunt directed by George Cukor and starring Maggie Smith; the film version of Cabaret, directed by Bob Fosse for which she received an Academy Award nomination; Marnie directed by Alfred Hitchock. She also wrote the screenplay for Funny Lady. She adapted her 1969 novel Just Tell Me What You Want for film director Sidney Lumet. They also collaborated on her adaptation of Robert Daley’s novel Prince of the City, for which she was nominated for an Oscar, and the screen adaptation of Ira Levin’s play Deathtrap.
Director Rob Ashford is an award-winning director and choreographer. London credits include The Winter’s Tale, Romeo & Juliet, The Entertainer, Harlequinade, Macbeth, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and the Olivier Award-winning productions of Anna Christie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Parade. Broadway credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Frozen; How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Promises, Promises; Evita; Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award for Best Choreography); Shrek; Cry-Baby (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Choreography); Curtains and The Wedding Singer. He directed and choreographed NBC’s Sound of Music Live! and Peter Pan Live!. He directed and choreographed Carousel, Carmen, and The Barber of Seville for Chicago Lyric Opera and Houston Grand Opera and choreographed Candide at La Scala, ENO, and the Châtelet in Paris. He choreographed and staged the 2009, 2013, 2014, and 2015 Academy Awards, winning an Emmy for his work on Baz Luhrmann’s 2009 production number featuring Hugh Jackman and Beyoncé. He has staged the Tony Awards for eight years and has also staged tributes at The Kennedy Center Honors for Barbra Streisand, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jerry Herman, Barbara Cook, Tom Hanks, Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep. Films include choreography for Disney’s Cinderella, Beyond the Sea, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Ted 2, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY
TRU
19 September – 14 November
MENIER ELSEWHERE
THE PRODUCERS
Garrick Theatre
Until 19 September
Box Office: 020 7378 1713 (£2.50 transaction fee per booking)
Website: www.menierchocolatefactory.com (£1.50 transaction fee per booking)
www.menierchocolatefactory.com
Instagram: @menierchocolatefactory