Thomas Hopkins
Craig Haffner & Sherry Wright, SAMS Entertainment
are proud to announce
EastEnders’ Matthew James Morrison
will join Wendi Peters
in the 20th anniversary UK tour
of the hit West End comedy
Glorious!
Full casting and additional tour dates announced
Matthew James Morrison direct from EastEnders, after more than three years playing Felix Baker and his alter ego “Tara Misu” – the first drag queen to appear as a regular character in a British soap opera – is today announced as joining Wendi Peters in the 20th anniversary UK tour of the critically acclaimed West End hit comedy, Glorious! as Cosme McMoon.
Glorious! is the true story of American socialite Florence Foster Jenkins (Peters), dubbed ‘the worst singer in the world’, who staged and starred in classical recitals in major venues including Carnegie Hall.
Mocked, for her flamboyant performance costumes and poor off key singing, she nonetheless became a cult-figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and celebrated composer and songwriter Cole Porter and classical conductor Sir Thomas Beecham were among her dearest celebrity fans.
Glorious! follows Florence’s journey as she prepares for her biggest ever sold-out recital at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall, building an unlikely friendship with her accompanist, Cosme McMoon, and defying her army of critics to follow her dreams.
The Olivier nominated comedy is by Peter Quilter, whose Olivier and Tony-nominated West End and Broadway play End of the Rainbow became the hit movie, Judy, starring Renée Zellweger – her performance as Judy Garland winning her the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe Award, SAG Award, BAFTA Award and Critics’ Choice Movie Award.
Stage and screen star Wendi Peters is best known for her long-running role as Cilla Battersby in the hit ITV soap Coronation Street and most recently was a regular on the BBC show Doctors as Nina Bulsara. Her many other TV credits include Midsomer Murders, Hetty Feather, Hacker Time and Sadie J. Wendi has also competed on various shows including Soapstar Superstar, Celebrity Mastermind, Celebrity Masterchef and Celebrity Sewing Bee for Children in Need, which she won. Wendi was most recently seen as Mother Superior in the UK Tour of Sister Act. Her other theatre credits include: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (UK Tour), You Are Here (Southwark Playhouse), BIG The Musical (West End), The Game (Northern Broadsides) and White Christmas (West End, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, The Lowry, Salford).
The cast also features West End leading ladies, Caroline Gruber (Leopoldstadt and Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution, London County Hall, 2000 Years – National Theatre) as Florence’s long-suffering maid, Maria and society busybody Mrs Verrinder-Gedge; and Sioned Jones (Thirteen, Women Beware Women, All’s Well That Ends Well – all National Theatre) as Florence’s best friend and biggest fan, Dorothy. Sioned will also Cover the role of Florence Foster Jenkins, as she did 20 years ago alongside Dame Maureen Lipman in the original West End production.
Completing the cast are Ella-Maria Danson as ASM/Cover Maria/Dorothy and Mrs Verrinder-Gedge and Ryan Hall as ASM/Cover Cosme McMoon.
Glorious! will be screeching around the UK from February – June 2026.
The tour celebrates the show’s 20th anniversary. Glorious! wowed audiences in its original long-running West End production starring Dame Maureen Lipman in 2005, before coming to the silver screen, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant in what critics simply called “Glorious!”. The show has since been seen by millions of people around the world, translated into 25 languages, and performed in 36 countries to date. The current production, directed by Kirk Jameson (Song From Far Away, Madagascar the Musical) premiered at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre.
The 20th anniversary tour of Glorious! is produced by Thomas Hopkins (on Broadway – Liberation ,Two Strangers Carry A Cake, West End – This Bitter Earth, Rose, UK tour – The Talented Mr Ripley) with co-producers Craig Haffner & Sherry Wright (Tony Award-winning producers, This Bitter Earth – Soho Theatre, Midnight In Garden of Good and Evil – pre-Broadway and West End and Plaza Suite – Broadway and Savoy Theatre) and Sams Entertainment (Tony Award winning producers, The Talented Mr Ripley – UK Tour, on Broadway – Merrily We Roll Along, Our Town)
Creative Team
Director Kirk Jameson
UK Tour Casting Director JJ Bee
Musical Supervision Nick Barstow
Scenographer and Costume Designer Ingrid Hu
Lighting Designer Mike Robertson
Sound Designer Mark Goggins
Wig Designer Helen Keane
Italian Translation & Dialect Coach Judith Blazer
Associate Costume Designer Lorraine Parry
General Management & Tour Booking: Thomas Hopkins Productions
Marketing: Dressing Room Five
PR: Kevin Wilson Public Relations
Glorious! 2026 UK tour dates
10 – 14 February
Poole
The Lighthouse
lighthousepoole.co.uk
17 – 21 February
Eastbourne
Devonshire Park Theatre
eastbournetheatres.co.uk
24 – 28 February
Derby
Derby Theatre
derbytheatre.co.uk
2 – 7 March
Ipswich
New Wolsey
wolseytheatre.co.uk
16 – 21 March
Windsor
Theatre Royal
theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk
23 – 28 March
Liverpool
Epstein Theatre
epsteintheatre.com
31 March -4 April
Barnstaple
Queen’s Theatre
queenstheatre-barnstaple.com
6 – 11 April
Malvern
Malvern Theatre
malvern-theatres.co.uk
13 – 18 April
Oxford
Oxford Playhouse
oxfordplayhouse.com
21 – 25 April
Basingstoke
Basingtoke Haymarket
anvilarts.org.uk
27 April – 2 May
Cheltenham
Everyman Theare
everymantheatre.org.uk
5 – 9 May
Guildford
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
yvonne-arnaud.co.uk
12 – 16 May
Darlington
Darlington Hippodrome
darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk
18 – 23 May
Coventry
Belgrade Theatre
belgrade.co.uk
26 – 30 May
Mold
Theatr Clwyd
theatrclwyd.com
1 – 3 June
Tunbridge Wells
Assembly Hall Theatre
assemblyhalltheatre.co.uk
4 – 6 June
Exeter
Exeter Northcott Theatre
exeternorthcott.co.uk
Show website
www.gloriousplay.com