Casting has been announced for One Love: The Bob Marley Musical which will have its première at Birmingham REP.
Written and directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, the production tells the story of a man propelled from a rising reggae star into a global icon. As previously revealed, Kwei-Armah was given unprecedented access to the entire Bob Marley catalogue, with the musical featuring Marley’s greatest songs performed live by the cast.
Mitchell Brunings will make his UK stage debut as Bob Marley. Alexia Khadime will play Rita Marley. Her West End roles include Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon for which she won the 2014 What’s On Stage award for best supporting actress in a musical, Eponine in Les Misérables, Elphaba in Wicked and Nala in The Lion King. She also played Princess Tahlia in Hackney Empire’s 2016 panto Sleeping Beauty.
Eric Kofi Abrefa who was Jim in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, produced by Headlong at Richmond Theatre, will play Bob’s closest friend Pablo. Cat Simmons who took the role of Helene in Neil Simon’s Sweet Charity at Manchester Royal Exchange in 2016 is Bob’s lover Cindy Breakspeare.
Newtion Matthews will play Bunny Wailer, Jacade Simpson is Peter Tosh, Adrian Irvine plays Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley while Simeon Truby is Leader of the Opposition Edward Seaga.
Ricardo Coke-Thomas plays Tony Welsh, Birmingham-born Thomas Vernal is Claudie Massop, Delroy Brown, also from Birmingham, will play Bob’s manager Don Taylor, Alex Robertson is Chris Blackwell and Natey Jones plays Don Letts.
Maria Omakinwa is Judy Mowatt and Shyko Amos returns to the REP where she took the role of Ti Moune in the musical Once On This Island in 2009 to play Marcia Griffiths.
The ensemble includes Taofique Folarin, Martina Isibor, Melissa James, Lemuel Knights, Tanisha Spring, Ellena Vincent and Marcquelle Ward.
One Love: The Bob Marley Musical will be designed by Ultz with musical supervision and arrangements by Phil Bateman and choreography by Coral Messam. Lighting design will be by Tim Lutkin, sound by Richard Brooker, projections by Duncan McLean, orchestrations by Simon Hale and musical direction by Sean Green.
It runs at the REP from Friday 10 March until Saturday 8 April. Press night will be Wednesday 15 March.