Earl Carpenter will play Maskew in Moonfleet
Casting has been announced for the premiere of a major new musical based on classic adventure story Moonfleet which is due to open at the Salisbury Playhouse in April.
Heading the cast are: Earl Carpenter (Les Misérables; The Phantom of the Opera; Sunset Boulevard) playing Maskew, with Ryan Heenan (Grease, UK tour; Sweeney Todd, Derby Theatre) as John and Ashley Mercer (English Touring Opera) as Blackbeard.
The cast also includes Simon Butteriss (My Fair Lady, Théâtre du Châtelet; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ENO), Dom Hartley-Harris (Bat Out of Hell The Musical, London Coliseum; Tiger Bay, Wales Millennium Centre), Rebecca Lock (Mamma Mia!; Mary Poppins), Rhona McGregor (Oliver!, Watermill Theatre; The Addams Family, UK tour), Dan Smith (Worst Wedding Ever & Little Robin Redbreast, Salisbury Playhouse), Ruth Betteridge (Dick Whittington, Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham) and Susannah Van Den Berg (Alice in Winterland, Rose Theatre Kingston; Sister Act, UK tour).
Based on J Meade Falkner’s Dorset-set story of 18th century smugglers, Moonfleet will feature a book and lyrics by the Playhouse’s artistic director Gareth Machin, who also directs, and music by Russell Hepplewhite.
Movement direction is by Kate Flatt (original musical staging, Les Misérables), set and costume design is by Tom Rogers (Big Fish, The Other Palace), lighting design is by Tim Lutkin (Chimerica, Almeida/West End), sound design is by Yvonne Gilbert (Murder, Margaret and Me, Salisbury Playhouse) and musical direction is by Michael Haslam (Matthew Bourne’s Play Without Words).
Running from 19 April until 5 May with a press night on 24 April, the production is supported by Salisbury Playhouse’s newly formed Commissioning Circle.
First published in 1898, Falkner’s Moonfleet has been the source material for various film, radio and television productions dating as far back as the 1950s. The most recent was a Sky TV mini series in 2013 starring Ray Winstone.
Angela Thomas
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