REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE ANNOUNCES
DREW McONIE’S INAUGURAL SEASON
- UK PREMIERE OF BROADWAY HIT SHUCKED, BOOK BY ROBERT HORN, MUSIC & LYRICS BY BRANDY CLARK AND SHANE McANALLY, AND DIRECTED BY JACK O’BRIEN
- MALORIE BLACKMAN’S NOUGHTS & CROSSES, ADAPTED BY DOMINIC COOKE AND DIRECTED BY TINUKE CRAIG
- DREW McONIE DIRECTS LERNER & LOEWE’S BRIGADOON, IN A NEW ADAPTATION BY RONA MUNRO
- RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S DREAM BALLETS: A TRIPLE BILL, CHOREOGRAPHED BY JULIA CHENG, SHELLEY MAXWELL AND KATE PRINCE
- RETURN OF FAMILY MUSICAL, ROALD DAHL’S THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE
- FOUR OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVALS THROUGHOUT THE SEASON ACROSS FAMILY, DANCE, COMEDY AND MUSIC
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre today announce Drew McOnie’s inaugural season, opening with the much-anticipated UK premiere of musical comedy Shucked (10 May – 14 June 2025), following its acclaimed run on Broadway and a US tour. Ben Joyce (Back to the Future the Musical)plays Beau, Sophie McShera (Downton Abbey) plays Maizy, and Georgina Onuorah (Hamilton) plays Lulu.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Dream Ballets: A Triple Bill (19 – 22 June 2025) will see award-winning musical theatre choreographers Julia Cheng, Shelley Maxwell and Kate Prince re-imagine the dream ballets from Allegro, Oklahoma! and Carousel, with new arrangements by Simon Hale and live accompaniment by Sinfonia Smith Square.
This is followed by the stage adaptation of Malorie Blackman’smuch-loved novel, Noughts & Crosses (28 June – 26 July 2025), adapted by Dominic Cooke, and directed by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director, Tinuke Craig.
The season continues with Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon (2 August – 20 September 2025) with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. In a new adaptation by acclaimed Scottish playwright Rona Munro and directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie, the captivating Scottish Highlands come to the magical outdoor setting of Regent’s Park in this major London revival for the first time in over 35 years. Danielle Fiamanya (Mandela) plays Fiona, and Louis Gaunt (Bridgerton) plays Tommy.
Playing during the daytime for those aged 3+ and their families is the wickedly funny musical based on Roald Dahl’s, The Enormous Crocodile (15 August – 7 September 2025), with book & lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra, music by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab and additional music and lyrics from Tom Brady. Developed and directed by Emily Lim, with co-direction and puppetry design by Toby Olié, the production returns to Regent’s Park following its successful 2024 run.
The 2025 summer season also features four Open Air Theatre Festivals, including family, dance and comedy takeover days, and a week-long music takeover that will close the season, presented in partnership with Communion ONE. Further details will be announced in the spring.
Also launching this year is The Theatre Dance Lab, a new artist development programme that will offer early-career musical theatre choreographers a paid residency at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, culminating in a showcase performance of their in-development work on our main stage. Further details and application information will be announced later this spring.
Beyond Regent’s Park, the Open Air Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roofwill, following its sold-out run in 2024, transfer to the Barbican Centre for a strictly limited 8-week season (24 May – 19 July 2025) ahead of a 20-week tour of the UK & Ireland.
This summer, the re-imagined version of the 2022 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre musical production of Dodie Smith’s classic book 101 Dalmatians will play a limited 6-week engagement (18 July – 30 August 2025) at London’s Eventim Apollo; and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar continues its tour of Australia through to the end of July 2025.
Drew McOnie, Artistic Director said today, “After what has without doubt been one of the most thrilling incubation periods of my creative career, I am so proud of the season we are now able to announce. Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre offers its own unique opportunity to engage with stories under a shared sky and my ambition is to honour that legacy as we move into this new artistic chapter. Every member of the Regent’s Park team and the many artists that are coming together to share their imaginations with us, will put our audiences, both new and returning, at the centre of their process and it’s an honour to work alongside them in delivering my debut season for this much-loved venue.”
James Pidgeon, Executive Director said today, “Following the huge success of our 2024 season, which saw record-breaking audience figures of over 180,000 people, we are delighted to now be launching our 2025 season of exhilarating live performance. I am particularly thrilled that we have been able to continue our commitment to £15 tickets (36,000 of which will be available throughout the season), and that our productions continue to reach audiences across the world as we tour more of our work than ever before. Heartfelt thanks, as ever, to our staff, stakeholders, producing partners and funders for their valuable support.”
Full creative teams and casting for all productions to be announced.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Memberships are now on sale, and Members’ priority booking for the 2025 summer season opens at 12pm today, with public booking opening at 11am on Thursday 6 February 2025.
Visit www.openairtheatre/membership for more information.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre presents
SHUCKED
Book by Robert Horn
Music & Lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally
Creatives include Lucy Adams (Associate Lighting Designer); Myles Brown (Associate Choreographer); Nathanael Campbell (Associate Director); Ben Davies (Associate Set Designer); Aundrea Fudge (Voice & Dialect Coach); Jill Green CDG (Casting Director); Tilly Grimes (Costume Designer); Carol Hancock (UK Wigs, Hair & Makeup Designer & Supervisor); Jason Howland (Music Supervisor, Orchestrations & Arrangements); Olivia Laydon (Casting Associate); Ingrid Mackinnon (Intimacy Support); Caity Mulkearn (Associate Costume Designer); Mia M Neal (Original US Hair & Wig Designer); Jack O’Brien (Director); Sarah O’Gleby (Choreographer); Scott Pask (Set Designer); Michael J Passaro (US Production Supervisor); Greg Pink (Associate Sound Designer); Katy Richardson (Musical Director); Tom Shiels (Casting Associate); John Shivers (Sound Designer); Japhy Weideman (Lighting Designer).
Saturday 10 May – Saturday 14 June 2025
‘Corn, yes, we said corn,
Just as sure as the day that you were born.’
Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shucked makes its much-anticipated UK premiere, landing at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre for 5 weeks only, following an acclaimed run on Broadway and a US tour.
Featuring a book by Tony Award winner Robert Horn (Tootsie), a score by the Grammy Award-winning songwriting team of Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, and directed by Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien (Hairspray), this corn-fed, corn-bred American musical is sure to satisfy your appetite!
Maizy and Beau are getting hitched, when the corn that protects their small community starts to die. The town needs answers. But who will dare to venture beyond the borders of Cob County?
Including the knockout songs ‘Woman of the World’, ‘Somebody Will’ and ‘Independently Owned’, this Broadway hit about an unlikely hero, an unscrupulous con artist, and a battle for the heart and soil of a small town, is not to be missed.
Presented in association with Mike Bosner, Jason Owen, AEG Presents/Jay Marciano, and Michael Harrison.
Cast includes Monique Ashe-Palmer (Storyteller 1); Ben Joyce (Beau); Sophie McShera (Maizy); Georgina Onuorah (Lulu); Keith Ramsay (Peanut); Matthew Seadon-Young (Gordy); Steven Webb (Storyteller 2).
Robert Horn | Book
Theatre includes: Shucked, Tootsie, Disney’s Hercules, 13 the musical, Moonshine The Musical, Lone Star Love, Dame Edna: Back With A Vengeance (Broadway).
TV includes: Designing Women; Living Single, High Society (CBS); Football Book Club; The Jenni Rivera Show; Partners; Bette Midler’s Divine Intervention tour; RuPaul Christmas Special (BBC).
Film include: 13 The Musical (Netflix); Teen Beach Movie, Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure, Wildlife (Disney); Good Advice (Emmett/Furla Films).
Robert is a two-time Tony nominee, two-time Drama Desk nominee, two-time Outer Critics nominee, winner of the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards.
Brandy Clark | Music & Lyrics
Theatre includes: Shucked (Broadway).
Music includes: Dear Insecurity, A Beautiful Noise (performed by Brandi Carlile and Alicia Keys); Follow Your Arrow (performed by Kacey Musgraves).
Brandy won Best Americana Performance at the 66th Grammy Awards and Song of the Year at the 2024 Americana Honors & Awards with her acclaimed song, Dear Insecurity, featuring 11x Grammy-winner Brandi Carlile. Brandy also won Outstanding Music at the 67th Drama Desk Awards and was nominated for Best Original Score at the 76th Tony Awards, where Shucked received nine nominations overall.
Shane McAnally | Music & Lyrics
Theatre includes: Shucked (Broadway).
Music includes: Fancy Like (performed by Walker Hayes).
TV & Press includes: Songland;NYTimes; Billboard; Rolling Stone; The LA Times; The Kelly Clarkson Show; NPR Tiny Desk.
Shane McAnally has received three Grammy Award wins (with 11 total nominations), been nominated for more CMA Awards than any other songwriter in history, and been named ACM’s Songwriter of the Year twice. He received Billboard’s Trailblazer Award for his work both in country music and in championing voices in the LGBTQ community. In 2012 McAnally founded SMACKSongs and is co-president of Monument Records, a joint venture with Sony Music.
Jack O’Brien | Director
Lincoln Center Theater includes: Ghosts, Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem, The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award), The Invention of Love (Drama Desk Award; Tony nom.), Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award), Macbeth The Nance, Henry IV (Tony Award), Pride’s Crossing, The Little Foxes, Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nom.).
Broadway includes: The Roommate; Shucked (Tony nom.); Hairspray (Tony Award); Carousel; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; The Front Page; It’s Only a Play; Dead Accounts; Catch Me If You Can; Impressionism; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nom.); The Full Monty (Tony nom.); How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Porgy and Bess (Tony nom.); Imaginary Friends; Getting Away With Murder; Damn Yankees.
National and Global tours include: The Sound of Music; Hairspray; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Opera includes: Il Trittico (Metropolitan Opera); Porgy and Bess.
Other NY theater includes: Guys and Dolls (Carnegie Hall); Much Ado About Nothing (The Public).
UK theatre includes: Hairspray; The Full Monty; His Girl Friday (National Theatre); Love Never Dies.
TV includes: Becoming Mike Nichols (HBO, Emmy nom.); American Playhouse Great Performances.
Memoirs include: Jack Be Nimble, Jack in the Box (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).
Jack is a Theater Hall of Fame inductee, Artists Director of The Old Globe Theatre (1981–2007) and received the 2024 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Monique Ashe-Palmer | Storyteller 1
Training: Bird College.
Theatre includes: Standing at the Sky’s Edge (Gillian Lynne Theatre); £1 Thursday’s (Finborough Theatre); SIX (Vaudeville Theatre); Waitress (U.K. Tour); Waitress (The Adelphi Theatre); Associate Choreographer on Madagascar the Musical (U.K Tour); Madagascar the musical (U.K./International Tour); Pinocchio (Bradford Alhambra); Sleeping Beauty (Camberley Theatre).
TV includes: Emmerdale (ITV).
Commercials include: Boots (2019 Campaign); Matalan (2021 Campaign); BT (2024 Campaign).
Ben Joyce | Beau
Training: Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (First Class BA (Hons), 2021).
Theatre includes: Back to the Future (Adelphi Theatre); Jersey Boys (Trafalgar Theatre).
Workshops include: Catch Me If You Can; The Little Big Things.
TV includes: The Power (Sister Pictures/Amazon Prime).
Ben was nominated for Best Takeover at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards for Back to the Future and Best Performer in a Musical and Best West End Debut at the 2022 The Stage Debut Award for Jersey Boys.
Sophie McShera | Maizy
Theatre includes: The Entertainer (The Garrick, London); Jerusalem (The Apollo Theatre); Annie (West End); The Goodbye Girl (No 1 Tour); A Month In The Country (Salisbury Playhouse); Cinderella (West Yorkshire Playhouse).
TV includes: The Gallows Pole (ITV Studios Limited for BBC One); The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix); London Kills (Acorn TV); Porters 2 (Dancing Ledge for Dave); Timewasters (ITV2/Big Talk); Murdered for Being Different (BBC); Drunk History (Comedy Central); A Job Lot (Series 1-3, Big Talk Productions); Inside No.9 (BBC); Survivors (BBC); Galavant (Series 1-2, ABC); Downtown Abbey (Series 1-5, Carnival for ITV); Harry and Paul (BBC One); Waterloo Road (Shed Productions/BBC); Doctors (BBC); Emmerdale (Yorkshire TV).
Film includes: Downton Abbey: A New Era (Universal Pictures, Carnival Film & Television); Downtown Abbey (Castle Pictures Limited); David Copperfield (GEM Entertainment, FilmNation Entertainment); Cinderella (Walt Disney); Highway to Dhampus (Fifty Films).
Georgina Onuorah | Lulu
Training: ArtsEd where she was awarded the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Scholarship.
Theatre includes: Little Shop Of Horrors (Sheffield Crucible); Kiss Me, Kate (Barbican); Hamilton (Victoria Palace Theatre); Oklahoma! (Wyndham’s Theatre); Dick Whittington (National Theatre); Bad Cinderella (Gillian Lynne Theatre); MILLENNIALS (The Other Palace); The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium).
Workshops include: The Children’s Inquiry (National Theatre Studio); The Enormous Crocodile (Roald Dahl Story Company); Mandela (The Young Vic).
Film includes: Wicked: Part 2 (Universal Pictures).
Keith Ramsay | Peanut
Training: Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Theatre includes: The Play That Goes Wrong (Duchess Theatre); Eve: All About Her (Soho Theatre); Young Frankenstein (English Theatre Frankfurt); Preludes (Southwark Playhouse); Amour (Charing Cross Theatre); The Cereal Cafe (The Other Palace); Portia Coughlan (Old Red Lion); Julius Caesar (Shakespeare’s Globe); Doctor Scroggy’s War (Shakespeare’s Globe); Lost In Yonkers (Watford Palace Theatre); Billy (Union Theatre); Peter Pan (Qdos).
TV includes: Shetland; Dylan Moran’s “The Awkward Age”; Pistol; New Tricks; Doctors; Casualty.
Keith won The Stage Edinburgh Award for Acting Excellence & David Johnson Award for Emerging Talent for Eve: All About Her.
Matthew Seadon-Young |Gordy
Theatre includes: The Baker’s Wife (Menier Chocolate Factory); Rockets and Blue Lights (National Theatre, Royal Exchange Theatre); Death of a Salesman (Young Vic / Piccadilly Theatre, West End); Company (Gielgud Theatre, West End); Assassins (Gate Theatre, Dublin); Big Fish (The Other Palace); Beautiful (Aldwych Theatre, West End); Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace, West End); Sweeney Todd (London Coliseum); Urinetown (Apollo Theatre, West End); The School for Scandal (Theatre Royal Bath); She Stoops to Conquer (National Theatre); The Architects (SHUNT); Les Miserables (Queens Theatre, West End); The Laramie Project (Wild Oats Productions).
Film includes: Pride; Les Misérables.
Other credits include: BBC Proms 67 (2015); John Wilson Orchestra (Royal Albert Hall); Vocalist for the Les Misérables Ensemble at the 85th Academy Awards ‘Oscars’ (Dolby).
Steven Webb | Storyteller 2
Theatre includes: Here You Come Again (UK Tour, Riverside Studios); Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre); I Want My Hat Back (National Theatre); As Is, Betwixt, Sh*t-Mix (Trafalgar Studios); Secret Theatre, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Aladdin (The Lyric Hammersmith); After the Turn (Courtyard Theatre); The Lakeboat (The Arcola); Dick Whittington (The Lyric Theatre); Sons of York (Finborough Theatre); The Long Road (Soho Theatre); The History Boys (Royal National Theatre, West End); Chatroom/Citizenship (Royal National Theatre); On the Shore of the Wide World (Exchange Manchester/Royal National Theatre); Kes (Exchange Manchester); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sheffield Theatre); The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (Southwark Playhouse); Dark of the Moon (Kings Head Theatre); Oliver! (London Palladium).
TV includes: Beautality; The Inbetweeners; Miranda.
Podcast incudes: Brain Rot: An 80s Horror podcast.
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s
DREAM BALLETS: A TRIPLE BILL
Choreography by Julia Cheng (Allegro), Shelley Maxwell (Oklahoma!)& Kate Prince (Carousel)
Creatives include Simon Hale (Orchestrations & Arrangements); Joshie Harriette (Lighting Designer); Nick Lidster for Autograph (Sound Designer); Yann Seabra (Costume Designer); Sinfonia Smith Square (Orchestra).
Thursday 19 June – Sunday 22 June 2025
‘Then out of my dreams I’ll go
Into a dream with you.’
A timeless celebration of dance and music from three of the UK’s leading musical theatre choreographers, accompanied live on stage by the 26-piece orchestra of the Sinfonia Smith Square, and set to the magical scores of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s dream ballets.
In this enchanting triple bill, the dream ballets are re-imagined for the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre stage by award-winning musical theatre dance makers Julia Cheng (Fiddler on the Roof) who choreographs the rarely performed Allegro, Shelley Maxwell (Get Up Stand Up!) who choreographs Oklahoma!’s dream ballet and Kate Prince (Message in a Bottle, Zoo Nation) who choreographs the dream ballet from Carousel, all with extended new musical arrangements by Tony Award winner Simon Hale (Girl from the North Country).
A unique opportunity to experience Rodgers & Hammerstein’s music brought to life through dance like never before.
Generously supported by The Thistle Trust.
Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
Julia Cheng | Choreographer
Training: Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies (University of Surrey); Dance & Drama (Université Lumière Lyon 2, France).
For Regent’s Park: Fiddler on the Roof (2024).
Theatre/opera/dance work includes: The Legend of 1900 (Shanghai Grand Theatre, China); Cabaret (The Kit Kat Club, West End and Broadway); These Violent Delights (Scottish Ballet); Macbeth (RSC); Untold (Theater Rotterdam, Belgium and Holland); Warrior Queens (for House of Absolute, Sadler’s Wells); The Seven Deadly Sins/Mahagonny Songspiel (Royal Opera House); The Importance of Music to Girls (Kings Place).
Shelley Maxwell | Choreographer
As Choreographer: Starter for Ten (Bristol Old Vic); The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical (Apollo Theatre); The Secret Life of Bees (Almeida); The Ballet Boyz “England on Fire” (Sadler’s Wells); Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical (Lyric Theatre); Equus (Stratford East/Trafalgar Studios); ‘Master Harold’ …and the boys (National Theatre); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith).
As Movement Director: After Life, Hansard, Antony & Cleopatra, Twelfth Night (National Theatre); Nine Night (National Theatre/Trafalgar Studios); Love’s Labour’s Lost and Tartuffe (RSC); Macbeth (Donmar Warehouse/Harold Pinter); Barcelona (Duke of York Theatre); Mlima’s Tale (Kiln); Beneatha’s Place, Untitled F*ck m*ss S**gon Play (Royal Exchange Manchester & Young Vic ); Winter, Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere and Cuttin’ It (Young Vic); Best of Enemies (Young Vic/Noel Coward Theatre); Shifters (Bush/Duke of York Theatre); Alma Mater (Almeida); August in England (Bush); J’Ouvert (Harold Pinter); Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe); King Hedley II (Stratford East); Cougar and Dealing with Clair (Orange Tree); Faustus (Headlong at Lyric & Birmingham Repertory Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire (Nuffield, Southampton); Apologia (English Theatre Frankfurt); Grey (Oval House); Rules for Living (Royal & Derngate/ The Rose, Kingston).
TV & Film includes: Anansi Boys (Amazon); Joan (ITV); The Marvels (Disney); Romeo and Juliet (Sky Arts/PBS/National Theatre); ear for eye (BBC/Fruit Tree Media).
Shelley Maxwell won the award for Best Choreographer at the inaugural Black British Theatre Awards in 2019 for her work on Equus.
Kate Prince | Choreographer
Theatre includes (with ZooNation): Sylvia (Old Vic); Into the Hoods (Novello, West End); Some Like it Hip Hop (Sadler’s Wells Peacock & UK tour); Message in a Bottle (Sadler’s Wells & Universal Music, World Tour); The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (Royal Opera House Linbury Studio & The Roundhouse); Groove on Down the Road (SouthBank Centre).
TV includes: Imagine: Kate Prince – Every Move She Makes (BBC); Strictly Come Dancing; So You Think You Can Dance; The Royal Variety Show; Top of the Pops; CD:UK.
Film includes: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Warp, Film 4, New Regency & Amazon); Message in a Bottle (PBS America); StreetDance 3D (BBC Films & Vertigo); The Holloway Laundrette (writer & co-directed, BAFTA/Channel 4).
Other theatre includes: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible & West End); Ballyturk (National Theatre); Shoes (Sadler’s Wells); I Can’t Sing: the X-Factor Musical (Palladium); A Mad World My Masters (RSC).
Events include: Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations; Beijing Olympic & Paralympic Handover Ceremonies (ZooNation).
Kate is a writer, director and choreographer and the Artistic Director of ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company which she founded in 2002. She is an Associate Artist at both The Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells, where ZooNation is also a Resident Company.
Kate’s work has been nominated for five Olivier Awards, a South Bank Sky Arts Award, a WhatsOnStage Award and three Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards – winning the latter in 2024 for best Mid Scale Dance Company. She has an MA from the University of Edinburgh, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Winchester and an MBE for services to dance.
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
NOUGHTS & CROSSES
Based on the novel by Malorie Blackman
Adapted by Dominic Cooke
Creatives include RC Annie (Fight Directors); Phillippe Cato (Associate Director); Tinuke Craig (Director); Hazel Holder (Voice Coach); Ingrid Mackinnon (Movement & Intimacy Director); Max Pappenheim (Sound Designer); Joshua Pharo (Lighting Designer); Colin Richmond (Set & Costume Designer); Jacob Sparrow (Casting Director); DJ Walde (Composer).
Saturday 28 June – Saturday 26 July 2025
‘All our lives criss-crossing but never really touching.
A world full of strangers living with all that fear.’
Widely considered to be one of the 21st century’s greatest novels, Malorie Blackman’s best-selling Noughts & Crosses, a bittersweet love story with echoes of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, is revived for the London stage in this brand new production.
By a secluded beach Callum and Sephy meet in secret; life-long friends living on separate sides of a divided world. When Callum, from a Nought family, is accepted to Sephy’s prestigious Cross school, will it bring them closer, or will the hate and fear that surrounds them drive them apart?
Dominic Cooke’s ‘excellent adaptation’ (The Independent) of this epic story set against the political backdrop of a deeply divided society, is directed by Associate Artistic Director Tinuke Craig (A Raisin in the Sun) in her Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre debut.
Malorie Blackman | Novel
Malorie is one of the UK’s most popular authors and has written over 70 books for children and young adults, including the Noughts & Crosses series, Thief! and her science fiction thriller Chasing the Stars. The sixth novel in her Noughts & Crosses sequence, Endgame, was published by Penguin Random House Children’s in 2021. In 2023, Noughts & Crosses was named one of The 100 Greatest Children’s Books of All Time in a BBC Culture Poll.
Malorie wrote for the eleventh series of Doctor Who starring Jodie Whittaker, co-writing the episode Rosa with Chris Chibnall which was honoured at the inaugural Visionary Honours Awards for making ‘a positive social impact’. Her work has also been adapted for TV with the six-part adaptation of Pig-Heart Boy winning a BAFTA and a major production of Noughts + Crosses launched by the BBC in 2020. Noughts & Crosses has been adapted for the stage by Dominic Cooke for the RSC and, most recently, by Sabrina Mahfouz for Pilot Theatre. In 2005, Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children’s books. In 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature and, between 2013 and 2015, she was the Children’s Laureate.
Malorie’s autobiography Just Sayin’ – My Life in Words was published by Merky Books in October 2022. Full of life lessons, this is a deeply personal and vividly compelling look at an incredible life which defied expectations and inspired a generation. In November 2023, The British Library opened a free exhibition, Malorie Blackman: The Power of Stories, exploring Malorie’s inspirations and the impact she has had on her readers, and on inclusivity and representation in publishing.
Dominic Cooke | Adaptation
Theatre incudes: Hello, Dolly! (The London Palladium), Medea (@sohoplace); Good, The Corn is Green, The Normal Heart, Follies, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Here We Go, Comedy Of Errors (National Theatre); The Low Road, In The Republic of Happiness, Choir Boy, In Basildon, Chicken Soup With Barley, Clybourne Park, Now Or Later, Aunt Dan And Lemon, The Fever, Wig Out!, Rhinoceros, Plasticine (Royal Court Theatre); A Winter’s Tale, Pericles, The Crucible, As You Like It (RSC).
Stage adaptations include: Noughts And Crosses (RSC); Arabian Nights (Young Vic).
TV & Film includes: The Courier; On Chesil Beach; The Hollow Crown – The Wars Of The Roses.
Dominic is Associate of the National Theatre, Artistic Associate of the RSC and was Associate Director then Artistic Director and CEO of the Royal Court Theatre. In 2014 he was made CBE for services to drama.
Tinuke Craig | Director
Training: LAMDA, National Theatre Studio.
As Director includes: A Raisin in the Sun (Headlong Tour); The School for Scandal (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Big Life (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Blue (ENO, London Coliseum); Trouble in Butetown (Donmar Warehouse); Jitney (Leeds Playhouse 2021 and The Old Vic 2022); Last Easter (Orange Tree Theatre); Crave (Chichester Festival Theatre); Hamlet For Young Audiences (Dorfman and National Theatre Tour 2020 and 2022); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); Vassa (Almeida Theatre); The Color Purple (Leicester Curve/Birmingham Hippodrome and UK Tour); random/generations (Chichester Festival Theatre); I Call My Brothers (Gate Theatre); dirty butterfly (Young Vic).
In 2014, Tinuke won the Genesis Future Director Award. She was the Gate’s Associate Director 2015-2016. From 2021-2023 She was Baylis Director at the Old Vic. Tinuke works extensively with Young People and with emerging artists.
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
Lerner & Loewe’s
BRIGADOON
Book & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
In a new adaptation by Rona Munro
Original dances created by Agnes De Mille
Creatives include Laura Bangay (Musical Director); Basia Bińkowska (Set Designer); Will Burton (Casting Director); Sami Fendall (Costume Designer); Carol Hancock (Associate Wigs, Hair & Makeup Designer & Supervisor) Cory Hippolyte (Associate Director); Hazel Holder (Voice Coach); Jessica Hung Han Yun (Lighting Designer); Nick Lidster for Autograph (Sound Designer); Ingrid Mackinnon (Intimacy Director); Drew McOnie (Director & Choreographer); Ebony Molina (Associate Choreographer); Morag Stark (Dialect Coach); Sarah Travis (Music Supervisor & Orchestrator).
Saturday 2 August – Saturday 20 September 2025
‘Brigadoon, Brigadoon,
There my heart forever lies’
From the writers of My Fair Lady, Camelot and Gigi, let the magical outdoor setting of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre transport you to the captivating Scottish Highlands for this major new production of Lerner & Loewe’s musical classic, Brigadoon.
Crash landed in the Highlands of Scotland, WW2 fighter pilots Tommy and Jeff are searching for a way home, whilst just beyond the hills, sisters Fiona and Jean are preparing for a wedding. Over the course of one chance day in the dreamlike village of Brigadoon, their stories entwine. But can love endure in this enchanting place where everything is not quite as it seems?
Not seen in London for over 35 years, Brigadoon features soaring songs including ‘Almost Like Being in Love’, ‘Waitin’ for My Dearie’ and ‘The Heather on the Hill’. In a new adaptation by leading Scottish playwright Rona Munro (The James Plays (Evening Standard Award), Frankenstein), this revival of a theatrical classic is directed and choreographed by Olivier Award winner Drew McOnie (Jesus Christ Superstar) in his first production as Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
Presented by arrangement with Music Theatre International.
Cast includes Danielle Fiamanya (Fiona); Louis Gaunt (Tommy).
Alan Jay Lerner |Book and Lyricistand Frederick Loewe | Composer
Lerner and Loewe wrote some of the American theatre’s most memorable musicals, including My Fair Lady, Camelot, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, and Gigi. Lerner was born in New York City in 1918 and attended Choate and Harvard. Loewe was born in Berlin in 1901 to Viennese parents, made his piano debut with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at the age of 13 and came to the United States in 1924. The two met in 1942 at the Lambs Club in New York City when Loewe approached Lerner about collaborating on a show. In 1947, they had their first Broadway hit, Brigadoon, followed in 1951 by a second success with Paint Your Wagon. In 1956, My Fair Lady, with Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, opened on Broadway. Often called the “perfect musical,” the show ran for 2,717 performances and the cast album sold more than five million copies. Their 1958 film musical, Gigi, won nine Academy awards and, in 1960, came the last great success of their partnership, Camelot, starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. In 1974, Lerner lured Loewe out of retirement to work on their last venture together: a film version of Antoine de St Exupéry’s The Little Prince. Lerner went on to collaborate with other composers including Burton Lane, Leonard Bernstein, and Andre Previn. He died in 1986 at the age of 67. Loewe died two years later at the age of 86.
Rona Munro | Adaptation
Theatre includes: My Name Is Lucy Barton (Bridge Theatre London and Manhattan Theatre Company on Broadway, New York.); The James Plays trilogy (National Theatre of Scotland, The National Theatre of Great Britain and the Edinburgh International Festival); The Queen of the Fight- James IV (Raw Material and Capital theatres); Mary (Hampstead Theatre); Katherine (Raw Material and Capital theatres); Little Eagles, The Indian Boy (RSC); The Last Witch (Edinburgh International Festival and Traverse Theatre).
TV & Film includes: Oranges and Sunshine (directed by Jim Loach); Ladybird, Ladybird (directed by Ken Loach); Rehab (Antonia Bird); Dr Who (BBC).
Drew McOnie | Director & Choreographer
For Regent’s Park as Director/Choreographer: On The Town (Oliver Award Nominee, Best Musical Revival; What’s On Stage Award Nominee, Best Theatre Choreography).
For Regent’s Park as Choreographer: Jesus Christ Superstar (Evening Standard Award Winner, Best Musical; Olivier Award Winner, Best Musical Revival; Oliver Award Nominee, Best Theatre Choreography), Carousel (What’s On Stage Awards Nominee, Best Theatre Choreography).
For McOnie Company: The Artist (Theatre Royal Plymouth – UK Theatre Award Winner, Best Direction; What’s On Stage Award Nominee, Best Direction, Best Theatre Choreography, Best Regional Production); Nutcracker (Southbank Centre – National Dance Award Winner, Best Independent Company; National Dance Award Nominee, Best Contemporary Choreography); Jekyll and Hyde (Old Vic Theatre – Broadway World Award Winner, Outstanding Achievement in Dance); DRUNK (Bridewell Theatre); Making Midnight (Jermyn Street Theatre and Latitude Festival).
Additional Theatre as Director/Choreographer Includes: King Kong (Broadway Theatre – Broadway); Strictly Ballroom (Piccadilly Theatre – West End – What’s On Stage Award Nominee, Best Theatre Choreography); The Wild Party (The Other Palace); Torch Song Trilogy (Turbine Theatre).
Additional Theatre as Choreographer Includes: In the Heights (Southwark Playhouse and Kings Cross Theatre – Olivier Award Winner, Best Theatre Choreography; Offie Award Winner, Best Theatre Choreography); Hairspray (Broadway World Award Winner, Best Theatre Choreography); Oklahoma (UK National Tour); Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith and UK National Tour); The Lorax (Old Vic Theatre); Sound of Music (Curve Leicester); Chicago (Curve Leicester).
Choreography for Film Includes: Greatest Days – The Official Take That Movie.
Ballets Include: Merlin (Northern Ballet – National Tour); XYZ (Classical Creative Project); Little Red (NYB- Hackney Empire); Old Man of Lochnagar (NYB- Sadlers Wells).
Drew McOnie became the Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in January 2024. He is also the Artistic Director of The McOnie Company.
Danielle Fiamanya |Fiona MacLaren
Training: The Guildford School of Acting.
Theatre includes: Otherland (Almeida Theatre); Macbeth (Wessex Grove); The Secret Life of Bees (Almeida Theatre); Mandela (Young Vic); Frozen, & Juliet (West End); The Color Purple (Curve Theatre, Leicester/ Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre, The Stage Debut Award for Best Actress in a Musical).
TV & Film includes: The Crown (Netflix); Halo (Paramount); Lucid.
Louis Gaunt | Tommy Albright
Training: Laines.
Theatre includes: Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Jack and the Beanstalk (London Palladium); Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre); Piaf (Nottingham Playhouse); Gypsy (Royal Exchange Theatre); Grease (National Tour); The Happy Prince (The Place); Standing at the Sky’s Edge (Sheffield Crucible); Sweet Charity (Nottingham Playhouse); Oklahoma! (Grange Park Opera).
TV includes: Bridgerton (Netflix); The Larkins (ITV).
Originally co-produced by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Roald Dahl Story Company and Leeds Playhouse
The family musical based on Roald Dahl’s
THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE
Book and Lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra
Music by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab
Additional music and lyrics from Tom Brady
Creatives include Phij Adams (Music Technology & Ambleton Programmer); Daisy Beattie (Associate Puppet Designer & Puppet Supervisor); Tom Brady (Orchestrations, Arrangements & Music Supervisor); Fly Davis (Set & Costume Designer); Johnny Edwards (Associate Sound Designer); Aundrea Fudge (Voice Director); Tom Gibbons (Sound Designer); Tash Holway (Associate Director); Jessica Hung Han Yun (Lighting Designer); Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu (Choreographer); Bryony Jarvis Taylor CDG (Casting Director); Emily Lim (Director); Toby Olié (Co-Director & Puppetry Designer); Màth Roberts (Music Director).
Friday 15 August – Sunday 7 September 2025
‘For my lunch today I would like… a nice juicy little child!’
He’s greedy, he’s grumptious, he’s beastly, he’s…BACK!
The Enormous Crocodile is weaving his way back through the jungle to Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre after a hit summer season in 2024 in search of delicious little fingers and squidgy podgy knees… Only the other jungle creatures can foil his secret plans and clever tricks, but they’re going to have to find a large amount of courage to stop this greedy brute.
This mischievous musical based on Roald Dahl’s snappy book has toe-tapping tunes by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab, a rib-tickling book and lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra, and additional music and lyrics by Tom Brady. Developed and directed by Emily Lim, it features a menagerie of puppets by co-director and puppetry designer Toby Olié, with set and costume design by Fly Davis and puppetry co-designed and supervised by Daisy Beattie.
Snap up your tickets today for this wickedly funny musical adventure, perfect for the whole family!
The Enormous Crocodile musical was developed by Emily Lim, Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab, Suhayla El-Bushra, Tom Brady and Roald Dahl Story Company.
Suhayla El-Bushra | Book & Lyrics
Theatre includes: The Suicide (National Theatre); Cuckoo (Unicorn Theatre); Arabian Nights (Lyceum, Edinburgh); The Long Song (Chichester Festival Theatre).
Screen work includes: Ackley Bridge (C4); Becoming Elizabeth (Starz); Bush (Film4).
Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab | Music
Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab is a Sudanese-American composer, producer, singer, songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York. He performs under the moniker Sinkane and has just released his latest album, We Belong, on City Slang Records. Food is his other passion and he loves to freak people out by putting hot sauce on everything… Yes, even ice cream.
Tom Brady | Additional Music & Lyrics
Tom studied at Oxford University and the Royal Academy of Music, where he is recipient of the ARAM award.
Credits as Music Director or Supervisor include: Guys & Dolls (The Bridge); Pinocchio (National Theatre); Show Boat, Caroline or Change (West End); Oklahoma! (Young Vic); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible); Flowers for Mrs Harris, Fiddler on the Roof, Forty Years On (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Magician’s Elephant (RSC); The Empress (RSC & Kneehigh); Romantics Anonymous (Wise Children & Bristol Old Vic/US Tour); Anything Goes (Sheffield Crucible & UK Tour); Floyd Collins (Wilton’s Music Hall); Evita (Festival Ljubljana, Slovenia); Have A Nice Life (Edinburgh, NYC Fringe and Philadelphia).
Tom has also conducted concerts with the Orchestre Nationale d’Lille.
Credits as arranger or additional arranger include: Guys & Dolls (The Bridge); The Empress (RSC & Kneehigh); The Magicians’ Elephant (RSC); Forty Years On (Chichester Festival Theatre); The History Boys (Sheffield Crucible).
Credits as composer include: The Butterfly Lion (Chichester Festival Theatre); Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty (CFYT).
Tom teaches on the Musical Theatre postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music.
Emily Lim | Director
Emily’s work explores theatre making as a form of community building and radical joy.
She is Director of Public Acts at the National Theatre and an Associate Artist at the National Theatre and Company Three. She was the recipient of the inaugural Peter Hall Bursary at the National Theatre from 2016-2018.
Theatre includes: The Odyssey, Pericles, A Declaration From The People (National Theatre); Yoko Ono’s Bells for Peace (Manchester International Festival); We’re Here Because We’re Here (1418 Now, National Theatre & Birmingham Rep); Brainstorm (Company Three, National Theatre & Park Theatre); Everything, The Best Day Ever! A Play About the End of the World (Company Three); Grown Up (Gameshow, Camden People’s Theatre); Wuthering Heights (National Youth Theatre); Things Will Never Be The Same Again (And Other Stories), The Kilburn Passion, The Wardrobe (Tricycle Theatre); Another Fine Mess (Bristol Old Vic); Henry V (Southwark Playhouse).
Toby Olié | Co-Director & Puppet Designer
Toby is a director, designer and puppeteer.
For Regent’s Park: 101 Dalmatians (2022); Running Wild (2016, also UK Tour).
As Director, theatre includes: Neil Gaiman’s The Wolves in the Walls (Little Angel); The Four Seasons: A Reimagining (Gyre & Gimble/Shakespeare’s Globe); The Elephantom (National Theatre/Gillian Lynne); The Hartlepool Monkey (Gyre & Gimble/UK Tour) and associate puppetry director of War Horse (National Theatre/Gillian Lynne).
As Puppetry Designer/Director, theatre includes: Spirited Away (Imperial Theatre, Tokyo & Coliseum, London); Animal Farm (Birmingham Rep/UK Tour); Pinocchio, Peter Pan, The Light Princess (National Theatre); Don Quixote (RSC/Garrick); Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Royal Opera House); Disney’s new staging of The Little Mermaid (Holland/Moscow/Tokyo); A Robot in the Garden, The Boy and the Beast (Shiki Theatre Company, Japan); The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic/Trafalgar Studios); A Christmas Carol, Running Wild, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, Peter Pan (Chichester Festival); Little Shop of Horrors (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Goodnight Mister Tom (Duke of York’s/UK Tour).
As Puppeteer, theatre includes: Hind of Joey in the original production of War Horse (National Theatre) before moving to Joey’s head for the subsequent West End transfer; Venus and Adonis (RSC); National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage (BBC One); The Homeless Polar Bear (Greenpeace short film); Angelo (Little Angel).
BOX OFFICE INFORMATION
Box Office 0333 400 3562* | openairtheatre.com
Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4NU
* Lines open Monday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm. A £1.80 per ticket telephone booking fee applies. 0333 numbers are charged at the same rate as calls to 01 and 02 numbers as regulated by Ofcom. Please check with your provider for further details.
Visit openairtheatre.com for latest ticket prices, concessions and discounts.
#OAT2025 / #Shucked / #DreamBallets / #NoughtsAndCrosses / #Brigadoon / #TheEnormousCrocodile / #OpenAirTheatreFestival
2025 SEASON AT A GLANCE
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre presents
SHUCKED
Saturday 10 May – Saturday 14 June 2025
Access Performances:
BSL Interpreted: Tuesday 10 June, 7.45pm
Captioned: Friday 13 June, 7.45pm
Audio Described: Saturday 7 June, 2.15pm
Age Recommend: 8+
Tickets from: £15
OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL: FAMILY TAKEOVER
Sunday 25 May 2025
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s
DREAM BALLETS: A TRIPLE BILL
Thursday 19 June – Sunday 22 June 2025
Age Recommend: 5+
Tickets from: £15
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
NOUGHTS & CROSSES
Saturday 28 June – Saturday 26 July 2025
Access Performances:
BSL Interpreted: Tuesday 22 July, 7.45pm
Captioned: Friday 25 July, 7.45pm
Audio Described: Saturday 26 July, 2.15pm
Age Recommend: 14+
Tickets from: £15
OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL: DANCE TAKEOVER
Sunday 20 July 2025
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
Lerner & Loewe’s
BRIGADOON
Saturday 2 August – Saturday 20 September 2025
Access Performances:
BSL Interpreted: Tuesday 2 September, 7.45pm
Captioned: Friday 5 September, 7.45pm
Audio Described: Saturday 6 September, 2.15pm
Age Recommend: 8+
Tickets from: £15
Originally co-produced by Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Roald Dahl Story Company and Leeds Playhouse
The family musical based on Roald Dahl’s
THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE
Friday 15 August – Sunday 7 September 2025
Access Performances:
BSL Interpreted: Wednesday 27 August, 2pm
Audio Described: Sunday 7 September, 2pm
Relaxed: Tuesday 26 August, 10.30am & Sunday 31 August, 10.30am
Age Recommend: 3+
Tickets from: £15
OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL: COMEDY TAKEOVER
Sunday 14 September 2025
OPEN AIR THEATRE FESTIVAL: MUSIC TAKEOVER
Tuesday 23 – Saturday 27 September 2025
WEST END/ON TOUR
David Ian for Crossroads Live and Work Light Productions present
The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Australia Tour until July 2025
Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and AF Creative Media
in association with the Barbican present
The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Saturday 24 May – Saturday 19 July 2025
Barbican Centre, London
Followed by a UK & Ireland Tour until December 2025
Runaway Entertainment present
101 DALMATIANS
Reimagined from the 2022 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
Friday 18 July – Saturday 30 August 2025
Eventim Apollo, London
ABOUT REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE
Established in 1932, the multi-award-winning Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is one of the largest theatres in London (at a capacity of 1,304). Passionate about producing popular, enriching and unexpected theatre that provides a lens into the here and now, the scale and ambition of our productions together with our magical outdoor setting, makes us unique in the capital’s cultural landscape. In 2024 we welcomed over 180,000 people to our 27-week summer season.
Drew McOnie assumed the role of Artistic Director in January 2024, and James Pidgeon was appointed Executive Director in 2021.
Over the last fifteen years, our productions have won seven Olivier Awards, ten WhatsOnStage Awards, and four Evening Standard Awards. We were named London Theatre of the Year in 2017 by The Stage, and received the Highly Commended Award for London Theatre of the Year in 2021. Our productions have toured the UK, and have transferred to both the West End and the United States. Our 2016 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar has just finished tours of both the UK and North America and is currently touring Australia. Our 2024 revival of Fiddler on the Roof will transfer to the Barbican Centre this summer, followed by a UK & Ireland tour.
As a registered charity that receives no regular public subsidy, we rely entirely on earned income and charitable contributions. Nevertheless, we have maintained 36,000 tickets at £15 across the whole of 2025’s summer season, our BREEZE scheme enables those aged 18-25 to buy tickets for £10, and we regularly work with local charities. Each year, on average, we subsidise tickets for 6,000 school pupils.
Food and drink plays a significant role in the Open Air Theatre experience, with our in-house bars and restaurants including Covered Dining (certified as a Sustainably Run Restaurant), The Grill and The Pizza Oven. We also have our own picnic lawn and the West End’s longest bar!
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has become one of the most independently sustainable and financially successful producing theatres in the country, and we’re proud to embark on the next stage of our vision with ever-increasing artistic ambition and entrepreneurial spirit.
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