Picture: Alessandro Pinna
Alexandra Burke will return to the role of Rachel Marron when hit musical The Bodyguard embarks on its second UK later this year.
The former X Factor winner and recording artist will revisit the character she previously played in the West End and on the sell-out first tour in 2015/2016 for the tour which is due to launch at Glasgow Theatre Royal on Monday 3 December.
Burke, whose musical theatre pedigree also includes starring roles in Sister Act (UK tour) and the recent revival of Chess, is also due to take over from Sarah Soetaert in the role of Roxie Hart in the hit revival of Chicago at London’s Phoenix Theatre from Monday 16 August until Saturday 14 October 2018.
Produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian, The Bodyguard will play Glasgow until Saturday 29 December 2018 before beginning the 2019 leg of the tour at the Hull New Theatre from 8-19 January 2019.
The production will then visit Southend Cliff’s Pavilion (22 January-2 February), Grand Opera House, Belfast (6-16 February), Liverpool Empire (26 February-9 March), Milton Keynes Theatre (12-23 March), Bristol Hippodrome (26 March-6 April), Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff (16-27 April), Norwich Theatre Royal (30 April-11 May), and Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (14- 25 May). Burke will perform as Rachel Marron in the evening performances only.
Further casting and dates are to be announced.
Based on the Laurence Kasdan’s blockbuster Whitney Houston/Kevin Costner movie, The Bodyguard musical received its world premiere in November 2012. Directed by Thea Sharrock, with a book by Oscar-winning writer Alex Dinelaris (Birdman), the original production featured Heather Headley in the extended role of Rachel Marron and Lloyd Owen as her bodyguard, Frank Farmer.
Recording artist Beverley Knight took over the central role a year later, with Burke taking over from Knight in 2014 before playing the role in the show’s first UK and Ireland tour in 2016. Knight then stepped back in to play Marron again when the show returned to the West End at the end of 2016 and in to early 2017.
International productions of the show have been staged in the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea, Canada, Italy, Australia and China. The show can currently be seen in Stuttgart and Madrid and on tour in France and the USA.
Angela Thomas
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