War Horse, Legally Blonde, Cabaret, Duet For One, People, Places & Things

War Horse – tour starts 15 September

The new tour of the National Theatre production of War Horse starts in September and will finish in February 2019.

A long tour is fitting for a play which had a record-breaking eight year London run and has been seen by over seven million people worldwide.

This stage adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel of the same name by Nick Stafford, directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, featuring ground-breaking puppetry from Handspring Puppet Company, has won over 25 international awards.

In the leading role is Thomas Dennis whose recent credits include the lead in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Dennis is joined by Rose Narracott and folk musician Bob Fox, and the cast is completed by Marcus Adolphy, Adam Barlow, Peter Becker, Joelle Brabban, Lucas Button, Jasper William Cartwright, Chris Charles, Jonathan Charles, Sebastian Charles, Anna Chessher, Nicky Cross, Max Gallagher, Chris Garner, Andrew Hodges, Lewis Howard, William Ilkley, Ben Ingles, Billy Irving, Elan James, Kiran Landa, Gwilym Lloyd, Jack Lord, Stephen Love, Toyin Omari-Kinch, Samuel Parker, Tom Quinn, Domonic Ramsden, Arinder Sadhra, Tom Stacy, Elizabeth Stretton and Simon Victor.

This revival is directed by Katie Henry and Craig Leo is the associate puppetry director. They are joined by resident puppetry director, Matthew Forbes and resident director, Charlotte Peters.

War Horse opens at Marlowe Theatre and then visits Bristol Hippodrome, Empire Theatre Liverpool, New Theatre Oxford, Brighton Centre, Bradford Alhambra Theatre, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Mayflower Theatre Southampton, The Lowry Salford, Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff, New Victoria Theatre Woking, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Milton Keynes Theatre and Glasgow SEC.

Legally Blonde The Musical – tour starts 18 September

Feel-good musical comedy Legally Blonde The Musical tours with Lucie Jones taking the lead role of Elle Woods which she has previously played at Leicester Curve. Other credits include the recent tour of Rent, Ghost and American Psycho. Jones was an X Factor finalist and represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest.

EastEnders’ Rita Simons and Coronation Street and Emmerdale's Bill Ward join her.

Simons plays Paulette Bonafonte; she is best known as Roxy Mitchell in BBC’s EastEnders for which she won a number of awards, and as Hannah in Mile High.

Bill Ward plays Professor Callahan; he recently completed three years as James Barton in Emmerdale, having previously played Charlie Stubbs in Coronation Street for 300 episodes.

Completing the cast are David Barrett, Liam Doyle, Laura Harrison, Helen Petrovna, Ben Harlow, Nancy Hill, Rebecca Stenhouse, Delycia Belgrave, Rachel Grundy, Lucyelle Cliffe, Rosie Needham, Alexandra Wright, Sally Frith, Mark Peachey, Michael Hamway, Felipe Bejarano, Brett Shiels, Connor Collins, Emma Prosser and Craig Tyler.

The cast includes two dogs, one of which, Rufus, will be cast on the road through local auditions.

The show is based on the film Legally Blonde from the novel by Amanda Brown. It has music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin and a book by Heather Hach. When it opened in London's West End, it took the Olivier Award for Best New Musical and others.

This new production is directed and choreographed by Anthony Williams with co-choreographer Dean Street. The musical supervisor and musical director is James McCullough.

Legally Blonde The Musical opens at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley then visits High Wycombe Swan, Bristol Hippodrome, Woking New Victoria, Northampton Derngate, Rhyl Pavilion, Sheffield Lyceum, Wolverhampton Grand Southampton Mayflower, Cardiff New Theatre Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Belfast Grand Opera House, Dublin Bord Gais, Stoke Regent Theatre, Canterbury Marlowe Theatre, Norwich Theatre Royal, Leeds Grand Theatre, Blackpool Grand Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Glasgow Kings Theatre, Aberdeen His Majesty’s, Inverness Eden Court, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Birmingham Alexandra Theatre, Salford Lowry, Liverpool Empire, Brighton Theatre Royal and Wimbledon New Theatre.

Cabaret – tour starts 21 September

Singer-songwriter Will Young reprises the role of Emcee in the multi-award winning production of Cabaret directed by Rufus Norris when it tours again over the autumn and winter.

Young rapidly rose to fame after winning the inaugural Pop Idol holding the record for the fastest-selling début single in British chart history.

Taking the role of Sally Bowles is Louise Redknapp making her stage début. Redknapp was a member of the girl group Eternal and has enjoyed a successful solo career. She has recently been seen on BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Kander and Ebb"s Weimar Berlin set musical features some of the most iconic songs in musical theatre such as "Money Makes The World Go Round", "Two Ladies" "Maybe This Time" and "Cabaret".

The 1966 show has won a host of awards including eight Oscars, seven BAFTAs and 13 Tonys. This production has added two Olivier Awards. Cabaret was made into a film with Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey.

Choreography is by Olivier Award-winning Javier De Frutos.

Cabaret opens at New Wimbledon Theatre then visits Blackpool Opera House, Cardiff New Theatre, Leeds Grand Theatre, Milton Keynes Theatre, Salford The Lowry, Edinburgh Playhouse, Churchill Theatre Bromley and Brighton Theatre Royal. Further dates to be confirmed.

Duet For One – tour starts 22 September

Tom Kempinski’s award-winning play Duet For One stars Jemma Redgrave and Oliver Cotton and is directed by Robin Lefevre.

Redgrave is best known for television's Cold Blood, Holby City and Doctor Who. Her theatre credits include Three Sisters and Chatsky.

Actor and writer Oliver Cotton will be recognised for his role as Cesare Borgia in the BBC series The Borgias amongst others. On stage he has appeared in The War of the Roses, The Philadelphia Story, Passion Play and Daytona which he wrote.

Duet For One premièred at London's Bush Theatre in 1980; it was adapted for film in 1986.

This moving and poignantly funny play based on the life of Jacqueline Du Pré tells the story of a concert violinist who consults a psychiatrist when forced to re-evaluate her life.

Duet For One is presented by Lee Dean and Daniel Schumann, in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre where the tour starts prior to visiting Cambridge Arts Theatre, Richmond Theatre, Edinburgh King’s Theatre and Malvern Festival Theatre. Further dates to be announced.

People, Places & Things – tour starts 22 September

London sell-out hit People, Places & Things tours with Lisa Dwyer Hogg in the lead role of Emma.

Dwyer Hogg's credits include After Miss Julie on stage and The Fall on screen.

She is joined by Michael Balogun, Trevor Fox, Susan Lawson-Reynolds, Ekow Quartey, Andrew Sheridan, Imogen Slaughter, Aimee-Lou Wood, and Matilda Ziegler.

In this gripping play, writer Duncan Macmillan provides a striking portrayal of one woman's addiction to drink and drugs.

Macmillan is an award-winning playwright with credits including an adaptation of George Orwell's 1984 and Every Brilliant Thing.

People, Places & Things is presented by Headlong, the National Theatre, HOME and Exeter Northcott. It is directed by Headlong artistic director Jeremy Herrin with Holly Race Roughan.

Whilst this production tours the UK, Denise Gough will reprise her award-winning role as Emma at New York's St Ann’s Warehouse.

The play visits HOME Manchester, Oxford Playhouse, Bath Theatre Royal, Bristol Old Vic, Exeter Northcott Theatre, Nuffield Southampton Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse and Cambridge Arts Theatre.