Simon Lipkin is to reprise his role as Mr Poppy in Debbie Isitt’s Nativity! The Musical which starts a new tour in Coventry.
Lipkin was in the 2017 production and will also appear in Nativity Rocks, the fourth film in the series which is due for release in November 2018.
On the new tour, Scott Garnham will play the exasperated Mr Maddens. His credits include Billy's brother Tony in the UK tour of Billy Elliot the Musical in 2016.
Ashleigh Gray will appear as Mr Maddens’s ex-girlfriend Jennifer Lore. She played Elphaba in Wicked on tour in 2015.
Completing the adult cast will be Andy Barke, Andy Brady, Jamie Chapman, Jemma Churchill, Gary Davis, Kade Ferraiolo, Ashleigh Graham, Helena Pipe and Oscar Conlon-Morrey.
Joining them on the tour will be children aged between 9 and 12 including Ami Bakayoko, Evie Bennell-Low, Niamh Brady, Demi Delord, Joseph Duffy, Tommy Gallagher, Alexander Hogg, Kheiri Isaac Osmani, Betsy Jiggins, Ben Lee, Marlie Olivia Love, Harry Martin, Joshua Millard-Lloyd, Jasmine McKenna, Amy-Louise Mulhall, Celie Newman, Gerald Ngwenya, Lyla Peters, Katelyn-Janet Rollason, Aston Sidwell, Nicholas Vakis and Angeli Yunesse Sagala.
A group of 14 children from in and around Coventry will also appear on the Belgrade leg of the tour. They are Rex Murphy Hogg, Amyah Stevens, Olivia Rose Brown, Erin Jones, Niamh Crowley, Daisy Edgerton, Hudson Mansour Webb, Eloise Petts, Mya Wilkins, Daisy Fitzpatrick, Nuala Peberdy, Oscar Heath, Lyla Toplass and Wilfred Urwin.
Written and directed by Debbie Isitt with music and lyrics by Nicky Ager and Debbie Isitt, Nativity! The Musical is choreographed by Andrew Wright and designed by David Woodhead, with lighting design by Tim Mitchell. Sound design is by Tom Marshall and orchestrations and musical direction are by George Dyer.
Nativity! The Musical returns to the city where the story started, opening at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry from 23 until 28 October. It then tours to Liverpool Empire, King’s Theatre Glasgow, Milton Keynes Theatre, Theatre Royal Nottingham, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Regent Theatre Stoke, Oxford New Theatre and the Apollo Hammersmith until 31 December.