It has been announced this week that Alex Jennings will play Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from 19 May.
The star's previous musical credits include My Fair Lady for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Other Oliviers on the Jennings mantelpiece are for Best Actor for Peer Gynt and Best Comedy Performance for Too Clever By Half.
Douglas Hodge has been playing Wonka in this musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children's classic since June last year. The show has a book by David Greig, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman.
For further information and booking visit the show's web site.
This week final casting has also been revealed for the Landor Theatre's season of new musical theatre, From Page To Stage.
Headlining the season are two musicals each of which will have a week–long run.
Opening on 18 February is British work Before The Night Is Through with book and lyrics by Olivia Thompson and music by Chris Whitehead. The cast includes Kate Brennan (West Side Story at the Southbank Centre), Abigail Jaye (Eva Peron in Evita UK Tour), Richard Colvin (The Hired Man), Amelia Adams-Pearce (Spamalot West End), Tom Sankey, Kieran Brown (Love Never Dies), Ian Mowat (Evita UK Tour), Jenny Gayner (Spamalot), Louisa Lydell (Love Never Dies) and James Robert-Moore (Meet Me in St. Louis Landor Theatre).
The Mistress Cycle is a new American musical with book and lyrics by Beth Blatt and music by Jenny Giering which runs from 4 March. Caroline Deverill (Sleeping Beauty Park Theatre), Maria Lawson (Avenue Q West End), Kara Lane (Lend Me a Tenor), Nicola Blackman (Little Shop of Horrors original cast) and Laura Armstrong (A Little Night Music West End) are in the cast.
The story concerns 30-something Tess as she considers the proposition of an older man to “keep her” with the help of women from across different eras and cultures.
From Page To Stage opens on 10 February and runs until 9 March. For further information and booking visit the From Page To Stage web site.
March sees the first musical produced at London's Park Theatre.
Do I Hear A Waltz?—the show about which Stephen Sondheim said he didn’t care enough—doesn't often get an outing, last seen by this reporter at the Landor Theatre almost a decade ago. Unusually Sondheim is responsible only for the lyrics whilst the book was written by Arthur Laurents, Richard Rodgers wrote the music.
Rebecca Seale leads the cast as Leona; her theatre credits include Les Misérables (in the West End) and South Pacific (UK tour). Other cast members include Bruce Graham, Carolina Gregory, Matthew Kellett, Philip Lee, Rebecca Moon, Rosie Strobel and Victoria Ward.
Do I Hear A Waltz? plays the Park 200 space from 5 to 30 March.