Friday theatre news from the National Theatre, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and Roles We’ll Never Play
In a canny move, the National Theatre is bringing panto to its main stage as Jude Christian and Cariad Lloyd’s hilarious and heartfelt version of Dick Whittington, first staged at Lyric Hammersmith in 2018 and freshly updated for 2020, will open in the socially distanced Olivier theatre on 11th December.
Directed by Ned Bennett, this wild and inventive production explores what it is like to come from a small town and arrive in a big city today, exploring the ideas of community and togetherness. Initial casting includes Dickie Beau, Amy Booth-Steel, Lawrence Hodgson-Mullings, Georgina Onuorah, and Cleve September.
They have also announced the next show to open as part of the Olivier in-the-round season in February 2021 is Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, in a co-production with Fictionhouse. Directed by Dominic Cooke, Kramer’s largely autobiographical play about the AIDS crisis in 1980 New York has not been performed professionally in London since its European premiere in 1986. Ben Daniels will perform the role of Ned Weeks, the co-founder of an AIDS advocacy group fighting to change the world around him, with Danny Lee Wynter as Tommy Boatwright, Daniel Monks as Mickey Marcus and Stanley Townsend as Ben Weeks. Vicki Mortimer is Set Designer and Paule Constable is Lighting Designer.
Tickets for The Normal Heart will go on sale from the end of November.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the award-winning feel good musical sensation, has announced that it will return with social distancing to the Apollo Theatre from 28 November, celebrating its 3rd birthday in the West End. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’s return will be the first full-book musical to re-open in the West End this Autumn.
Returning to the Apollo Theatre are Noah Thomas as Jamie New, Melissa Jacques as his Mum, Margaret, Sejal Keshwala as Ray, Hiba Elchikhe as Pritti Pasha, Gillian Ford as Miss Hedge and Phil Nicol as Hugo/Loco Chanelle. The cast also includes Alexander Archer (Mickey), Zion Battles (Levi), Ebony Clarke(Swing), Marlon G. Day (Jamie’s Dad), James Gillan (Tray Sophisticay), Zahra Jones (Becca), Emily Kenwright (Vicki), Keenan Knight (Sayid), Jordan Laviniere (Cy), Garry Lee (Sandra Bollock), Brian James Leys (understudy), David O’Reilly (Laika Virgin), Harriet Payne (Bex), Jordan Ricketts (Dean Paxton), Rachel Seirian (Fatimah) and Joe Wolstenholme (Swing).
The Roles We’ll Never Play series is graduating to the West End with a gig at the Apollo on Monday 7th December and it has a castlist to fit the occasion…
Directed by Sasha Regan, the cast includes Kelly Agbowu, Laura Baldwin, Pearce Barron, Luke Bayer, Courtney Bowman, Lauren Byrne, Mary-Jean Caldwell, Lloyd Daniels, Nicole Raquel Dennis, Tom Duern, Matt Facchino, Alice Fearn, Chris Howell, Idriss Kargbo, Caroline Kay, Josie Kemp, Renée Lamb, Michael Mather, Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky, Billy Nevers, Trevor Dion Nicholas, Eve Norris, Oliver Ormson, Natalie Paris, Maiya Quansah-Breed, Alan Richardson, Markus Sodergren, Lauren Soley, Danielle Steers, Rodney Vubya and Karen Wilkinson.
