The Pajama Game
The full cast has been announced for the transfer of The Pajama Game from Chichester Festival Theatre to London's Shaftesbury Theatre.
Peter Polycarpou, Gary Wilmot and Colin Stinton join the previously announced Olivier Award winning Joanna Riding and Michael Xavier. Colin Stinton will reprise the role of Hasler and Polycarpou that of Vernon Hines with Gary Wilmot taking over from June.
Set in 1950s America, this romantic comedy features songs such as "Hey There (You With The Stars In Your Eyes)", "Hernando’s Hideaway" and "Steam Heat". The show was a big hit in the US and very well received at Chichester Festival Theatre.
The cast includes Alexis Owen Hobbs, Claire Machin, Colin Stinton, Eugene McCoy, Siôn Lloyd, Jennie Dale, Sharon Wattis, Keisha Amponsa Banson, Lauren Varnham, Jo Morris, Nolan Frederick, Richard Jones, Dan Burton and James O’Connell .
The Pajama Game has words and music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and a book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell; it is based on Richard Bissell’s novel 7 ½ Cents.
Richard Eyre directs The Pajama Game, which starts previewing on 2 May and is taking bookings until 13 September. For further information and booking visit the The Pajama Game web site or the Shaftesbury Theatre web site.
Shakespeare In Love
Initial casting has been announced for the much–heralded world première of Shakespeare In Love.
Tom Bateman will play Will Shakespeare. His theatre credits include The Duchess of Malfi at The Old Vic, Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndham’s Theatre and The Lion in Winter at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Lucy Briggs-Owen who will play Viola De Lesseps is currently appearing as Olga in Fortune’s Fool at The Old Vic. Her other theatre credits include Boris Godunuv, The Orphan of Zhao, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cardenio and The City Madam all for the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as Noises Off in the West End and The Way of the World at Sheffield Crucible.
Further casting will be announced soon.
Shakespeare In Love is based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and adapted for the stage by Lee Hall. Declan Donnellan directs
For further information and booking visit the Shakespeare in Love web site. Shakespeare in Love plays the Noël Coward Theatre starting previews on 2 July.
The Man Inside
Dave Willetts is to star in the world première of new British musical The Man Inside.
Evening Standard Award winner Willetts has extensive musical theatre credits and was the first actor to have played both Jean Valjean in Les Miserables and The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, the West End’s two longest running musicals.
A contemporary re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Man Inside has music by Tony Rees, book and lyrics by Tony Rees and Gary Young with additional book material by Dave Willetts. Other West End credits include Sunset Boulevard, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Ragtime.
The Man Inside is presented by Theatrica Ltd in association with Cheltenham Everyman Theatre and is directed by the theatre's artistic director Robert McWhir. It runs at the Landor from 12 to 29 March.
For further information and booking visit the Landor Theatre web site.