The Olivier Awards will stage a very special concert next year featuring a host of acclaimed West End stars to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

The Oliviers In Concert will take place at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 25 January, as well as being broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 for anyone who can’t make it to watch the evening of stellar entertainment.

Marking the beginning of the hugely prestigious annual award ceremony’s 40th year, the concert promises to be a not-to-be-missed chance for theatre fans and will feature an illustrious line-up of soon to be announced theatre stars.

The company will perform a selection of songs from celebrated musicals accompanied by the renowned BBC Concert Orchestra. The audience will have the further privileged of seeing the hugely popular orchestra conducted by its Principal Conductor Keith Lockhart.

The Oliviers In Concert joins the previously announced Curtain Up! exhibition as part of the milestone celebrations, with the exhibition that looks at the unique relationship between the West End and Broadway opening at the V&A in February prior to its New York run at the Lincoln Center.

Organised by the Society of London Theatre, the Olivier Awards were established in 1976 and have subsequently become the most respected theatre award in the UK.

The list of winners who have collected one of the coveted bronze statuettes over the past 40 years reads like a Who’s Who of theatre, with many of the world’s best loved performers and theatre makers previous recipients, from actors Judi Dench, Angela Lansbury, Kevin Spacey and Mark Strong to writers and theatrical legends Peter Hall, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joan Littlewood and Gillian Lynne.

You can ensure you are at the Royal Festival Hall to witness the evening of theatre history by buying tickets here.

ALMEIDA GREEKS FESTIVAL: MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS 

The ALMEIDA GREEKS FESTIVAL is now underway.  Throughout the summer an eclectic mix of Ancient Greek inspired performances, events, talks and readings are taking place at the Almeida and beyond to compliment the theatre’s main stage productions of Oresteia, Bakkhai and Medea.   

Festival highlights for August, September and October include three special one-off music performances.  Trailblazing female ensemble Gaggle bring their contemporary retelling of Aristophanes’ classic comedyLysistrata to the Almeida with Charlotte Church amongst the cast.  Bakkhai composer Orlando Goughcurates an eclectic day of musical Dionysia with music from across Europe and Early Opera Company are joined by Ciara Hendrick as they perform Bernier’s cantata Médée and excerpts from Charpentier’s opera of the same name.
GAGGLE: LYSISTRATA

A new play with music
Written & directed by Deborah Coughlin

Friday 7 & Saturday 8 Aug 10.30pm
Almeida Theatre
Tickets £15

Gaggle bring their new music theatre version of Lysistrata, written and directed by Deborah Coughlin, to the Almeida Greeks Festival for two late nights of raucous after-hours revelry.   Charlotte Church takes an acting role alongside Scarlett Lassoff, Katy Menczer, Jamie-Rose Monk, Roberta Morris and Lauren La Rocque.  Music will be performed by a chorus made up from Gaggle’s critically acclaimed all-girl group.

Aristophanes’ biting comedy is reimagined against a backdrop of contemporary political struggle as Gaggle bring to vivid new life the story of a gang of vigilante women committed to changing the world. Injected with new and existing music from Gaggle, this timely new play with music will be performed on the Almeida’s main stage after Bakkhai.  

All-female ensemble Gaggle were named as one of NME’s Future 50 most innovative groups and have gone on to create boundary-breaking works across Europe’s festivals, on radio, in galleries and online. Their releases include Make Love Not War, From the Mouth of the Cave (2012, Transgressive) and their reworking of forgotten opera The Brilliant and the Dark Live at the ICA (2011).  Gaggle’s recent work includes comedy sketch show The Gag Show at the Etcetera Theatre and Yap Yap Yap performed during their recent residency at the ICA as part of Fig-2 season.   They have also released a choir app called Gagglephone, made a 3 minute film for Channel 4’s Random Act and created a pop-up shop and gallery in an abandoned shop in New Cross.

Deborah Coughlin is Founder and Director of Gaggle. She was included in NewWork Network’s Top Emerging Visual Artists in 2001 and more recently Huck Magazine’s 50 Inspirational Doers. Deborah currently writes, directs and produces all of Gaggle’s activities as well as writing for BBC Radio, The Guardian, The Independent and Vice. She was previously editor of The Feminist Times.

Radio One’s Gemma Cairney will DJ in the Almeida bar after the performance on 7 August.

ORLANDO GOUGH: THAT FEELING

Sun 13 Sep 4 – 8pm
Almeida Theatre
Tickets £25 (£20 concs)

In the spirit of Dionysos, Bakkhai composer Orlando Gough curates an eclectic day of musical Dionysia at the Almeida.

Highlights include wild urban folk music by Çiğdem Aslan, rising star of the Greek Rebetiko scene; an improvised performance by musical innovators Peter Wiegold, Martin Butler and classical jazz bandNotes Inégales; traditional folk music and dance from Southern Italy performed by London’s first Tarantella and Pizzica ensemble Amaraterra and a bespoke piece created with Orlando Gough and five members of the Bakkhai chorus.  The day will be contextualised with talks from Orlando on the tension between Dionysus and Apollo in music, and an exploration of ecstatic religions and their music – taking inspiration from Voodoo, Qawwali and Gnaoua traditions.

Orlando Gough writes music for operas, plays and dance, as well as creating large-scale site specific work.  He is currently composing the music for Bakkhai at the Almeida where his previous credits include Mr. Burns.  His recent opera work includes Imago (Glyndebourne), Road Rage (Garsington Opera), Foghorn Requiem (Souter Lighthouse, South Shields) and Stemmer (Bergen Festival).

EARLY OPERA COMPANY: MÉDÉE FURIEUSE

Sun 4 Oct 7.30pm
Almeida Theatre
Tickets £30 (£27 concs)

Inspired by the Almeida’s upcoming production of Medea, Olivier-Award nominated Early Opera andChristian Curnyn will be joined by mezzo soprano Ciara Hendrick to perform Bernier’s cantata Médée and excerpts from Charpentier’s magnificent opera of the same name.

Throughout history the story of Medea has fascinated composers, never more so than in France in the 17th and 18th centuries.  In this special event for the Almeida Greeks Festival, Early Opera Company’s ensemble of strings, lute and harpsichord will take audiences on an operatic journey through the French Baroque, exploring one of world drama’s most infamous characters.

Rachel Cusk’s new version of Medea, directed by Rupert Goold, runs at the Almeida from 25 September.   Kate Fleetwood will make her Almeida debut in the title role.

Founded by music director Christian Curnyn, Early Opera Company is one of Britain’s leading early music ensembles.  Their recent work with The Royal Opera has included Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Roundhouse and Cavalli’s L’Ormindo at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, for which they were nominated with them for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. Other highlights include many performances at Wigmore Hall and Iford Festival, St George’s Bristol, BBC Proms, Buxton Festival, Snape Proms and Linbury Studio.  Their award-winning Handel opera recordings on Chandos include Serse, Alceste, Partenope,Semele and Flavio, and Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno on Wigmore Live.  Upcoming work includes a performance at York Early Music Festival this summer with Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Charpentier’s Acteon, a staged opera in London with The Royal Opera and a much-anticipated concert performance at St John’s Smith Square.

For the full festival line-up please see www.almeida.co.uk/greeks

THE CURRENT GREEK SEASON AT THE ALMEIDA…

BAKKHAI
Euripides
a new version by Anne Carson
directed by James Macdonald

23 July – 19 September 2015
Press Night 30 July, 7pm

James Macdonald returns to the Almeida to stage Anne Carson’s new version of Euripides’ hedonistic, visceral tragedy. Ben Whishaw makes his Almeida debut as Dionysos alongside Bertie Carvel as Pentheus and Kevin Harvey as Kadmos. Using three actors and a chorus, this new production will echo the original Ancient Greek performance model.

Pentheus has banned the wild, ritualistic worship of the god Dionysos. A stranger arrives to persuade him to change his mind.  Euripides’ electrifying tragedy is a struggle to the death between freedom and restraint, the rational and the irrational, man and god.

The Bakkhai includes Amiera Darwish, Eugenia Georgieva, Kaisa Hammarlund, Helen Hobson, Hazel Holder, Melanie La Barrie, Elinor Lawless, Catherine May, Louise Mills and Belinda Sykes.

Design is by Antony McDonald, with light by Peter Mumford, sound by Paul Arditti, composition byOrlando Gough and musical direction by Lindy Tennent-Brown. Choreography is by Jonathan Burrowsand Gillie Kleiman. Casting is by Anne McNulty CDG.

Anne Carson is a poet, essayist, translator, playwright, and classicist who frequently references, modernises, and translates Greek mythology. Anne’s translation of Sophocles’ Antigone, starring Juliette Binoche and directed by Ivo van Hove, recently played at the Barbican having premiered at Théâtre National du Luxembourg earlier this year.

James Macdonald’s work at the Almeida includes The Triumph of Love, Judgement Day and A Delicate Balance. He was Associate Director of the Royal Court from 1992 to 2007 premiering works by Sarah Kane, Caryl Churchill and Martin Crimp.  More recently at the Royal Court he has directed The Wolf From the Door,Cock and Love and Information.  His other credits include Roots (Donmar Warehouse), #aiww: The Arrest of Ai Wei Wei, And No More Shall We Part (Hampstead Theatre), King Lear, The Book of Grace, Top Girls(Broadway), Dido, Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Exiles (National Theatre),Dying City (Lincoln Center), Drunk Enough to Say I Love You (Public Theater) and Glengarry Glen Ross(West End).
MEDEA
Euripides
a new version by Rachel Cusk
directed by Rupert Goold

25 September – 14 November 2015
Press Night 1 October, 7pm

One of world drama’s most infamous characters is brought to controversial new life in this production by Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold and feminist writer Rachel Cusk. Kate Fleetwood makes her Almeida debut in the title role.

Medea’s marriage is breaking up. And so is everything else. Testing the limits of revenge and liberty, Euripides’ seminal play cuts to the heart of gender politics and asks what it means to be a woman and a wife.

Design is by Ian McNeil, costume by Holly Waddington, composition and sound by Adam Cork and choreography by Scott Ambler. Casting is by Julia Horan CDG.

Rachel Cusk was selected by Granta as one of their Best Young British Novelists in 2003. Author of seven novels and three works of non-fiction, she won the Whitbread First Novel Award for Saving Agnes, a Somerset Maugham Award for The Country Life, and was shortlisted for the 2007 Orange Prize for Arlington Park. Her latest novel, Outline, was shortlisted for the Folio Prize and the Goldsmiths Prize.

The Almeida Greeks production of Medea is supported by the Onassis Foundation.

King Charles III

A new play by Mike Bartlett
Directed by Rupert Goold with Whitney Mosery 

Following critically acclaimed sell-out runs at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, King Charles IIIembarks on a UK tour this autumn. Robert Powell will take on the role of King Charles.

The production opens at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and then visits Richmond Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Milton Keynes Theatre, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Canterbury Marlowe Theatre, Malvern Festival Theatre, Guildford Yvonne Arnaud, Edinburgh Festival Theatre,Bath Theatre Royal, Chichester Festival Theatre and Plymouth Theatre Royal.

The Queen is dead: after a lifetime of waiting, Prince Charles ascends the throne.  A future of power.  But how to rule?

Mike Bartlett’s play explores the people underneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain’s most famous family.

Directed by the Almeida Theatre’s artistic director Rupert Goold with Whitney Mosery, King Charles III is designed by Tom Scutt, with music composed by Jocelyn Pook, lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Paul Arditti.

The King Charles III tour is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, Stuart Thompson Productions, Tulchin Bartner Productions, Charles Diamond and the Almeida Theatre in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and by arrangement with Lee Dean.

King Charles III will also open on Broadway this October at the Music Box Theatre. Tim Pigott-Smith will reprise the role of Charles as performed at the Almeida Theatre and in the West End, alongside Oliver Chris, Richard Goulding, Adam James, Margot Leicester, Miles Richardson, Tom Robertson, Sally Scott, Tafline Steen and Lydia Wilson.

The production was first produced by the Almeida Theatre and was subsequently co-produced at the Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End of London by Sonia Friedman Productions and Stuart Thompson Productions in association with Lee Dean and Charles Diamond and Tulchin Bartner Productions. This yearKing Charles III has been awarded the Olivier Award, Critics Choice and South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Play.

UK TOUR LISTINGS:

4 – 19 September 2015
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2EP
Box Office: 0121 236 4455
www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/

21 – 26 September 2015
Richmond Theatre
Little Green, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1QJ
Box Office: 0844 871 7651
www.atgtickets.com/venues/richmond-theatre/

28 September – 3 October 2015
Newcastle Theatre Royal
100 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6BR
Box Office: 0844 811 2121
www.theatreroyal.co.uk/

5 – 10 October 2015
Nottingham Theatre Royal
Theatre Square, Nottingham NG1 5ND
Box Office: 0115 989 5555
www.trch.co.uk/

12 – 17 October 2015
Milton Keynes Theatre
500 Marlborough Gate, Buckinghamshire MK9 3NZ
Box Office: 0844 871 7652
www.atgtickets.com/venues/milton-keynes-theatre/

19 – 24 October 2015
Cambridge Arts Theatre
6 St. Edward’s Passage, Cambridge CB2 3PJ
Box Office: 01223 503333
www.cambridgeartstheatre.com/

27 – 31 October 2015
Canterbury Marlowe Theatre
The Friars, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2AS
Box Office: 01227 787787
www.marlowetheatre.com/

2 – 7 November 2015
Malvern Festival Theatre
Grange Rd, Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 3HB
Box Office: 01684 892277
www.malvern-theatres.co.uk/

9 – 14 November 2015
Guildford Yvonne Arnaud
Millbrook, Guildford, Surrey GU1 3UX
Box Office: 01483 440000
www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/

16 – 21 November 2015
Edinburgh Festival Theatre
13-29 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9FT
Box Office: 0131 529 6000
www.edtheatres.com/

23 – 28 November 2015
Bath Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal Bath, Sawclose, Bath BA1 1ET
Box Office: 01225 448844
www.theatreroyal.org.uk/

30 November – 5 December 2015
Chichester Festival Theatre
Oaklands Park, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 6AP
Box Office: 01243 781312
www.cft.org.uk/

7 – 12 December 2015
Plymouth Theatre Royal
Royal Parade, Plymouth PL1 2TR
Box Office: 01752 267222
www.theatreroyal.com/

 

One of the greatest musicals of all time, The Sound of Music, returns to the stage in a new production which opened at Leeds Grand Theatre this week to standing ovations.

Playing the iconic role of Maria von Trapp is Danielle Hope, who captured the hearts of the country when she won BBC Television’s Over the Rainbow and made her professional debut as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium. Danielle has since played Eponine in Les Misérables in London’s West End and Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

 

Captain von Trapp is played by much-loved stage and television star Steven Houghton. The Sheffield-born actor – who trained here in Leeds at Northern School of Contemporary Dance – is well-known for his longstanding television roles in Coronation Street and London’s Burning. Olivier-Award nominated actor Steven has taken on leading roles in Spend Spend Spend, Blood Brothers, White Christmas, Martin Guerre and Grease.

 

Joining Danielle and Steven are West End stars Jan Hartley (Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story) andSarah Soetaert (Chicago) who will play the Mother Abbess and Baroness Elsa Schrader, respectively, withHoward Samuels as Max, Grace Chapman as Liesl, Luke George as Rolf, Kate Milner Evans as Frau Schmidt and Martin Dickinson as Admiral Von Schreiber.

 

Produced by Bill Kenwright, directed by Martin Connor, choreographed by Olivier Award winner Bill Deamer, musical direction by David Steadman, this wonderfully lavish new staging of the classic musical coincides with the 50th anniversary of the film version – the most successful movie musical in history.

 

It all began with the story of the Trapp Family Singers and Baroness Maria von Trapp’s 1949 autobiography, which inspired Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse to create a Broadway musical in 1959. The Sound of Music tells the true story of the world-famous singing family, from their romantic beginnings and search for happiness, to their thrilling escape to freedom as their beloved Austria becomes part of the Third Reich at the start of WWII.

 

The unforgettable score features some of the most memorable songs ever performed on stage, including Edelweiss, My Favourite Things, Do-Re-Mi, Climb Ev’ry Mountain, So Long, Farewell and of course, the title song, The Sound of Music.

 

The Sound of Music is at Leeds Grand Theatre until Saturday 1^st August.

 

Tickets are on sale now priced from £18.50 too £42.

 

Book online at www.leedsgrandtheatre.com or call box office on 0844 848 2700.

 

Grand Theatre, Leeds – 21 July 2015

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens, as the saying goes, are favourite things.  Well my favourite things are well acted performances and well sung musicals and The Sound of Music certainly managed this.

This latest offering in what appears to be a Kenwright season at the Grand is maybe the best show so far.  This glorious new production, directed by Martin Connor, hasn’t cut any corners for this tour.  Clever set design and scene changes transported us to an Alpine haven where, at least in the beginning, life was untouched by the Nazi menace threatening Europe at the time

‘But how did they solve the problem of Maria?’ I hear you cry.  Well, in Danielle Hope they have a courageous postulant nun, struggling tunefully with her conscience over whether to follow the God or Captain Von Trapp.  Anyone who thinks reality TV shows aimed at finding stars of the future are a nonsense would certainly reconsider after seeing Hope exercise her amazing vocal range in this production.  Her victory in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Over The Rainbow was just the start of this wonderfully talented actress.

Local boy, Steven Houghton takes on the role of Captain Von Trapp. A handsome, aloof disciplinarian, whose barriers are broken down by his encounter with Maria and by music. There is a real spark between Maria and the Captain that helps take the story beyond the sugar coating that most people associate with The Sound of Music.

And as for those children, they are superb, once more the heart and soul of this most tireless of musicals.  Grace Chapman as oldest child Liesl was convincing in her role as the big sister of the brood, genuinely seeming to care for the little ones in her charge.  And the many other children who play the Von Trapps are outstandingly talented for ones so young

There are moments of sorrow, joy and some genuine humour but its the singing that powers this show.  The rhapsodic nuns in The Sound Of Music are lead by Jan Hartley as the Mother Abbess. Hartley’s Abbess is one of the best I’ve seen and her Climb Every Mountain was as uplifting and inspirational as you could hope for.  Closing both first and second half of the show.  The end of the first was a truly breathtaking performance but the end of the second, as the family escaped over the Mountains into Switzerland, brought tears to the eyes.

The Sound of Music is a musical that transcends all ages and the audience at the Grand reflected that, from children right through to the elderly. It may not be edgy or modern, but watching The Sound of Music is like slipping on a comfortable pair of slippers and indulging in one of your favourite things

At Leeds Grand until Saturday 1st August 2015

 

 

 

 

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Live Theatre is involved with five productions at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, including Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, the world premiere of a new play by Lee Hall; bursary-winning play The Soaking of Vera Shrimp; the Fringe debut of all-female sketch group Your Aunt Fanny; Key Change, a play made with female prisoners in association with Open Clasp, and bite-sized music based comedy Mixtape.

 

The World Premiere of Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour by Lee Hall (The Pitmen Painters, Billy Elliot), is co-presented by Live Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland and directed by former NTS artistic director Vicky Featherstone. Based on Alan Warner’s cult Scottish coming-of-age novel Our Ladies… is a funny, sad and raucously rude production about singing, sex and Sambuca.  At the Traverse from Tuesday 18 to Sunday 30 August for the Festival Fringe, the play will then tour Scotland and has its English Premiere at Live Theatre from Thursday 1 to Saturday 24 October.

Your Aunt Fanny, the all female sketch group, featuring some of the most talented members of Live’s Youth Theatre, make their Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut at Just the Tonic from Wednesday 19 to Saturday 29 August. The original sketches that celebrate everything that is funny and inappropriate are written by two of the North East’s most exciting writers, Laura Lindow (Rendezvous) and Lee Mattinson (Donna Disco). The show, suitable for audience members aged 16 and over, contains strong language and strong women. Your Aunt Fanny have an Edinburgh Festival preview at Live Theatre on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 August as part of Our World Live Theatre’s 16^th Annual Youth Theatre Festival.

The Soaking of Vera Shrimp, written by former Traverse 50 writer Alison Carr, also makes its Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut and can be seen at Attic, The Pleasance Courtyard between Wednesday 5 and Monday 31 August. This compelling, moving and funny solo-show about a girl with a remarkable gift is presented by Rosie & Me in association with Live Theatre. The play was the winner of Live Theatre/The Empty Space’s Bursary Award 2013 and was developed at Live Theatre, previewing at the venue in 2014.

 

Key Change presented by Open Clasp Theatre Company in association with Live Theatre will be at Northern Stage at Summerhall between Saturday 8 and Sunday 30 August. Devised with women from HMP/YOI Low Newton Prison, Key Change is a raw and illuminating portrayal of women in prison and was originally toured to male prisons. The show had its theatre debut at Live Theatre last year and will return to Live Theatre on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 September.

 

After a succession of sell-out shows at Live Theatre, Mixtape make their Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut taking their part theatre show and part music quiz to the Underbelly from Thursday 6 to Sunday 30 August. The Fringe Preview of their unusual bite-sized sketches inspired by music can be seen at Live Theatre on Friday 24 July. Currently based at Live Theatre, the Mixtapers, as the performers are known, also include several members of Live Theatre’s staff.

 

Max Roberts, Artistic Director, Live Theatre said;

“Whilst it is great to have a high profile show such as Our Ladies… at the Traverse, our co-production with National Theatre of Scotland, I’m delighted that we have been able to support a number of shows developed at or with Live Theatre to find at platform at this years’ Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It takes a lot of energy to take a show to the Festival and I admire their ambition and tenacity and recommend that they all are worth watching if you are in Edinburgh this August.”

For more information on the Live Theatre shows going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe see http://www.live.org.uk/live-theatre-productions-on-tour.

Dusty, a multi-media show celebrating the musical icon Dusty Springfield, has announced an extension to its run at the Charing Cross Theatre with bookings now being taken up to 21st November 2015. The revised press night will take place on Monday 7th September 2015.

With original music by the legendary artist Dusty Springfield, audiences see and hear Springfield on stage using the most up-to-date 3-D technology and digital media. Combined with a musical theatre format of live performance, music and dance, Dusty follows the highs and lows of Springfield’s rise from middle class suburban London to the recording of her seminal album Dusty in Memphis.

The current cast comprises Ellie Ann-Lowe (Mary O’Brien), Francesca Jackson (Nancy), Stewart McCheyne (DJ Dave Dean), Ben Tolley (Johnny Franz), Leo Elso (Dion O’Brien/Tom Springfield), Joe Vetch (Douggie Reece), Joan Walker (Kay O’Brien), Graham Kent (Gerard ‘OB’ O’Brien), Tristan Pate (Vic Billings), Allyson Ava Brown (Martha Reeves), Danielle Kassarata (Maddie), Arabella Rodrigo (Norma) and ensemble members Danielle Harrison, Bex Leung, Cleo Jaeger and Marianna Neofitou.

Written by Kim Weild and Duncan Sibbald with dramaturg Jack Bradley, Dusty is directed by Ben Woolf with set designs by Phil Lindley, lighting by Richard Williamson, choreography by Lyndon Lloyd and sound by Paul Gavin and James Nicholson. Musical direction is by Dean Austin.

Dusty is produced in the West End by Freddie Madden, Patrice Wilson and Darren DeVerna with Andrew Green as Executive Producer and Paul Howes as Associate Producer.

Evie Hone and Lizzie Wells will join Anna-Louise Knight and Lara McDonnell in the title role of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical from Tuesday 15 September 2015. Joining the four actresses will be Michael Begley (Mr Wormwood), Miria Parvin (Miss Honey) and Rebecca Thornhill (Mrs Wormwood). Craige Els will continue in the role of Miss Trunchbull.

Capturing the imagination of young and old alike, Matilda The Musical has now received 50 awards in Stratford-upon-Avon, London and New York, and has been seen by over three million people worldwide. The London and Broadway productions of Matilda The Musical have been joined by the US tour which opened in Los Angeles in May. Next month the Australian premiere will take place in Sydney on 20 August at the Lyric Theatre.

Michael Begley’s recent theatre credits include After Electra directed by Samuel West (Theatre Royal Plymouth & Tricycle Theatre), Mrs Lowry and Son (Trafalgar Studios), Sweet Bird of Youth (Old Vic), If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Bush Theatre), Rhinoceros (Royal Court Theatre), The Arsonists (Royal Court Theatre), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Royal Exchange Manchester) and Pravda (Chichester Festival Theatre and Birmingham Rep). In addition to his roles on stage, Michael has appeared on screen in Foyle’s War, Being Human and Doctor Who. Michael’s film credits include the co-lead with Timothy Spall in Vacuuming Completely Nude In Paradise directed by Danny Boyle for BBC Films.

Miria Parvin recently starred in the West End production of Once (Phoenix Theatre). Miria made her professional debut in 2006 playing the leading role of Pearl in the UK Tour of Starlight Express and has since gone on to play Ariel in Footloose (West End & Tour) and Sarah in Our House (UK Tour) before starring as Sophie in Mamma Mia! (International Tour). Miria’s additional theatre credits include The Magic Flute (Finland Tour) and productions with the Finnish National Opera.

Rebecca Thornhill is an Olivier Award-nominated actress with an illustrious musical theatre background. Rebecca’s previous stage credits include lead roles in From Here To Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre and USA Tour), Chicago (Adelphi Theatre), Ragtime(Piccadilly Theatre), Witches of Eastwick (Prince of Wales and UK Tour), South Pacific (UK Tour),Beauty and the Beast (Dominion Theatre) and Les Misérables (Palace Theatre and Denmark). In addition to her credits in the West End, Rebecca has appeared at the National Theatre in Singin’ in the Rain (for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award) and played Gertie in Trevor Nunn’s production ofOklahoma! opposite Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipman.

The young performers who will play the roles of Bruce, Lavender, Amanda, Nigel, Eric and the other pupils at Crunchem Hall from September are as follows: Leo Ayres, Charlie Barnard, Thomas Berry, Fifi Bloomsbury-Khier, Tilly Cook, Bronte Cosgrave, Ellie Dadd, Connor Deeks, Carla Dixon, Dayna Dixon,Denzel Eboji, Keyaan Hameed, Hannah Hague, Darcy Hillhouse, Caoimhe Judd, Sophie Keaveney, Demi Olawovin, Ben Perkins, Max Reader, Jason Rennie, Joe Sheridan, Jacob Smith, Eva Trodd, Harrison Vaughan and Jamie Wilding.

The adult cast includes Fabian Aloise, Robbie Boyle, John Brannoch, Oliver Brooks, Jonathan Cordin, Olly Dobson, Demi Goodman, Elliot Harper, Will Hawksworth, Kate Kenrick, Rachel Moran, Tom Muggeridge, Matt Serafini, Biancha Szynal, Charlotte Scott, Laura Tyrer and Sharlene Whyte.

Inspired by the incomparable Roald Dahl’s beloved book, Matilda The Musical premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in November 2010, before transferring to London’s West End in October 2011. In 2014 Matilda The Musical celebrated its 1000th performance in London and tickets are now on sale until May 2016 at the Cambridge Theatre.

Having swept the board at the 2012 Olivier Awards, winning a record-breaking seven awards, Matilda The Musical has gone on to take Broadway by storm winning four Tony Awards® and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater for each of the four girls sharing the title role. The New York production ofMatilda The Musical, produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Dodgers, opened in March 2013 at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre. The Australian premiere of Matilda The Musical will take place in Sydney on 20 August at the Lyric Theatre.

Matilda The Musical is produced in the West End by the Royal Shakespeare Company with André Ptaszynski and Denise Wood as Executive Producers. The production was developed with the support of Company Dramaturg Jeanie O’Hare and the RSC Literary Department.

Matilda The Musical is written by playwright Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by comedian, musician and composer Tim Minchin, and direction by Matthew Warchus. The production is designed by Rob Howell, with choreography by Peter Darling, orchestrations, additional music and musical supervision by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and the special effects and illusions are by Paul Kieve.

Listings Information

MATILDA THE MUSICAL
Cambridge Theatre, Earlham Street, WC2H 9HU
Booking until 29 May 2016
Tuesdays 7pm
Wednesday – Saturday 7:30pm
Wednesday & Saturday 2:30pm
Sundays 3pm

Extra matinee performances – Thursday 30 July & Thursday 29 October

Box Office: Cambridge Theatre 0844 412 4652 / RSC Ticket Hotline 0844 800 1110

To book online visit: www.matildathemusical.com