INITIAL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR
WEST END TRANSFER OF
OLIVIER AWARD WINNING, CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SMASH-HIT
INTO THE WOODS
With Original Cast Members Returning including
Kate Fleetwood, Jo Foster, and Gracie McGonigal
Jamie Wilson Productions, Kevin McCollum and New Ventures Entertainment today announce the initial casting for the West End transfer of multi-award-winning Bridge Theatre production of Into The Woods. Sondheim and Lapine’s iconic production marks the first West End transfer for The Bridge Theatre and the first time Into The Woods has been in the West End since 1991. Jordan Fein’s production opens at the Noël Coward Theatre, a Delfont Mackintosh Theatre, on 7 October 2026, with previews from 22 September, running until 9 January 2027.
Joining the previously announced Kate Fleetwood (The Witch), are Valda Aviks (Grandmother/Giant), Geoffrey Aymer (Cinderella’s Father), Jo Foster (Jack), Jennifer Hepburn (Cinderella’s Stepmother and Alternate Witch), Hana Ichijo (Lucinda), Julie Jupp (Jack’s Mother), Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson (Florinda) and Gracie McGonigal (Little Red Ridinghood), with Jacob Fowler and Sophie Linder-Lee as Standbys. Full casting to be announced.
The production opened late last year at the Bridge Theatre, going on to win Best Ensemble or Cast and Best Designer at the Critics’ Circle Awards, and Best Musical Revival and Best Lighting Design at the Olivier Awards.
For tickets, please visit intothewoodsonstage.com
intothewoodsonstage.com
@intothewoodsonstage
Jamie Wilson Productions, Kevin McCollum and New Ventures Entertainment
The Bridge Theatre Production of
INTO THE WOODS
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and Book by James Lapine
Cast includes: Valda Aviks (Grandmother/Giant), Geoffrey Aymer (Cinderella’s Father), Kate Fleetwood (The Witch), Jo Foster (Jack), Jennifer Hepburn (Cinderella’s Stepmother and Alternate Witch), Hana Ichijo (Lucinda), Julie Jupp (Jack’s Mother), Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson (Florinda), Gracie McGonigal (Little Red Ridinghood) and Jacob Fowler and Sophie Linder-Lee as Standbys.
Director: Jordan Fein; Set and Costume Designer: Tom Scutt; Musical Supervisor: Mark Aspinall; Orchestrations by: Jonathan Tunick; Sound Designer: Adam Fisher; Lighting Designer: Aideen Malone; Video Designer: Roland Horvath; Movement Director: Jenny Ogilvie; Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Designer: Sam Cox; Puppetry Design: Cheryl ‘Chuck’ Brown, Max Humphries & Tom Scutt; Musical Director: Alex Beetschen; Casting Director: Stuart Burt CDG CSA; Production Manager: Chris Hay; Associate Director: Georgia Green; Scenic Associate: David Allen; Associate Musical Director: Cat Beveridge; Associate Sound Designer: Ollie Durrant; Associate Lighting Designer: Lucy Adams; Associate Costume Designer: Lucy Martin; Associate Video Designer: Hayley Egan; Wigs, Hair & Make-Up Supervisor: Charlie Watson; Costume Supervisor: Lydia McDonald; Props Supervisors: Jonathan Hall & Chris Marcus for Marcus Hall Props; Orchestral Management: Andy Barnwell & Rich Weeden for BW Musicians
Noël Coward Theatre 22 September 2026 – 9 January 2027
Why would you go into the woods?
To sell the cow
To visit mother
To see the king
To lift the spell
In Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s dazzling musical, the Baker, the Baker’s Wife, the Witch, Jack, Little Red Ridinghood, Cinderella and Rapunzel take us beyond happy ever after to discover what really matters.
Sondheim and Lapine’s second collaboration after Sunday in the Park with George brilliantly weaves together four Grimms’ fairy tales. On its Broadway debut in 1986, Into The Woods won Tony Awards each for Sondheim (Best Original Score) and Lapine (Best Book). In London it has had productions by Richard Jones (Phoenix Theatre, 1990), John Crowley (Donmar, 1998) and Timothy Sheader (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, 2010). This is its first major London production since 2016 and its first West End production in 30 years.
Valda Aviks returns as Grandmother/Giant. Her theatre credits include The Addams Family (UK Tour), On The Twentieth Century (Union Theatre), Into the Woods (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), The Full Monty (English Theatre, Frankfurt), Mary Poppins (UK Tour), Blithe Spirit (English Theatre, Vienna), Caroline or Change, Jerry Springer: The Opera (National Theatre), The Witches of Eastwick (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), When Florence met Isadora (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Beauty and the Beast (Dominion Theatre), Oliver! (London Palladium), Sweeney Todd (Curve, Leicester), The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), Les Miserables (Palace Theatre), and Cats (New London Theatre). Her screen credits include Doctor Who, Bad Penny, Little Britain, Words of Love, and Nightbreed.
Geoffrey Aymer returns as Cinderella’s Father. His theatre credits include Hamlet, The Taxidermist’s Daughter (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Crucible (Sheffield Theatres), Romeo and Juliet (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Wizard of Oz (Curve, Leicester and London Palladium), Clutch (Bush Theatre), Jitney (The Old Vic, Headlong, Leeds Playhouse), The Color Purple (Curve, Leicester Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Young Vic), To Kill a Mockingbird (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Barbican), The Lightning Child, and Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe). His screen credits include Mr Winner, Guerrilla, Club Class, The A Force, The Real McCoy, Ragtag, Sket, and Wicked.
Kate Fleetwood returns as the Witch. Her theatre work includes My Master Builder (Wyndham’s Theatre), A View From the Bridge (Theatre Royal Haymarket), 101 Dalmatians (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Absolute Hell, Ugly Lies the Bone, King Lear, London Road – Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, Love’s Labour’s Lost (National Theatre), Bug (Found111), Medea (Almeida Theatre), High Society (The Old Vic), Life is a Dream, Hecuba (Donmar Warehouse), Macbeth – Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Chichester Festival Theatre, Gielgud Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Broadway), Twelfth Night (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Winter’s Tale, Pericles (RSC), Othello (Northampton Theatre Royal), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bristol Old Vic). For television, her work includes Big Mood, Mary and George, Rain Dogs, The Wheel of Time, Fate: The Winx Club Saga, Brave New World, Victoria, Harlots, War and Peace, The People Next Door, The Widower, Way to Go, Touch of Cloth, Sarah Jane Adventures, Hustle and After Thomas; and for film, Scoop, Choose or Die, Beirut, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, London Road, Philomena, Les Miserables, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Macbeth, The Golden Age, 77 Beds, Vanity Fair, A Changed Man and Beautiful People.
Jo Foster returns as Jack. Their theatre credits include Four Play (DEM Productions), The Frogs (Southwark Playhouse), Why Am I So Single? (Garrick Theatre), Just For One Day: The Live Aid Musical (The Old Vic), & Juliet (Shaftesbury Theatre), Legally Blonde (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Hex (National Theatre), and Rent (Hope Mill Theatre).
Jennifer Hepburn returns as Cinderella’s Stepmother and Alternate Witch. Her theatre credits include The Buccaneer (Finborough Theatre), Moonshadow (Anders Albien/Chris Nightingale), Jekyll and Hyde (UK tour), Opening Night (Gielgud Theatre), Mamma Mia! (Novello Theatre), Corbyn: The Musical (Waterloo East), Van Winkle: A Folk Musical (SimG), Taboo (End of the Pier Productions), A Tale of Two Cities (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Anything Goes (New York City), Les Miserables (Queens Theatre), and Cats 25th Anniversary Tour (Live Nation).
Hana Ichijo returns as Lucinda. Her theatre credits include The Baker’s Wife, The Producers (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Sound of Music (Chichester Festival Theatre), George Takei’s Allegiance (Charing Cross Theatre), A Christmas Carol (The Old Vic), Anyone Can Whistle (Southwark Playhouse), Little Women (Park Theatre), and The Pirate Queen (London Coliseum).
Julie Jupp returns as Jack’s Mother. Her theatre credits include A Christmas Carol, The American Clock, Groundhog Day (The Old Vic), La Cage Aux Folles (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Jack and the Beanstalk (Hackney Empire), Man of La Mancha (English National Opera), Thor+Loki (Vicky Graham Productions), Urinetown (St James Theatre/Apollo Theatre), Richard III (Trafalgar Studios), Merrily We Roll Along (Harold Pinter Theatre), Finding Neverland (Curve, Leicester), and Road Show (Menier Chocolate Factory). For television, her credits include Silent Witness, Unforgotten, Friday Night Dinner, and Serious & Organised.
Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson returns as Florinda. Her theatre credits include Dorian: The Musical (Southwark Playhouse), Identical (Nottingham Playhouse, The Lowry, Salford), Pippin (Charing Cross Theatre), The Boy Friend (Menier Chocolate Factory), 42nd Street (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), and Billy Elliot: The Musical (Victoria Palace). Her feature film credits include Cats.
Gracie McGonigal returns as Little Red Ridinghood. Her theatre credits include The Little Foxes (Young Vic), Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith), The Phase (VAULT Festival), The Little Big Things (@sohoplace), The Crucible (National Theatre, Gielgud Theatre), Cinderella (Theatre Royal Stratford East), and Aladdin (Lyric Hammersmith). For television, her credits include The Power, Father Brown, and Bridgerton – as series regular Hazel.
Jacob Fowler returns as Standby. His theatre credits include The Addams Family (UK Tour), Heathers the Musical (UK Tour, The Other Palace), [title of show], Before After (Southwark Playhouse), Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Hope Mill Theatre), Dreamboats and Petticoats: Bringing on Back the Good Times (UK Tour), Vanara (Hackney Empire) and In Pieces (Turbine Theatre). Concert credits include his New York debut solo show Jacob Fowler: Direct From London (The Green Room 42), Cool Rider (London Palladium), Comparing Notes with Edward Seckerson, Jacob Fowler: Intimate and Live, Scott Alan (Crazy Coqs), Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize (Hackney Empire) and Kings of Broadway (Palace Theatre). His television credits include in 2020, Jacob won the BBC One show Little Mix: The Search with his band Since September. The band subsequently supported Little Mix on their sold-out 2022 UK arena tour, Confetti, and released three singles.
Sophie Linder-Lee returns as Standby. Her theatre credits include Muriel’s Wedding (Curve), Magic Mike Live (Hippodrome), Biography Girl (Finborough Theatre), Big Fish (Other Palace), Rocky Horror Show (UK Tour, Playhouse Theatre), Wicked (Apollo Victoria), Silence the Musical (Barons Court Theatre) and Mamma Mia! (Prince of Wales). TV credits include Royal Variety Performance, Dancer in The Slammer and Top of the Pops. Recordings include Voiceover in Magic Mike Live TV/Radio Commercials and Vocalist in Don’t Stop Believing (UK Tour).
Into The Woods
Listings
Noël Coward Theatre, 85-88 St Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4AP
22 September 2026 – 9 January 2027
Box Office: delfontmackintosh.co.uk / 0344 482 5151
Access booking on 0344 482 5137 (lines open Monday to Saturday 10am – 7.30pm)
Access Performances:
Audio Described Performance: Friday 9 October 2026 7.30pm
Captioned Performance: Monday 9 November 7.30pm
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Tickets from £15