Triple Olivier Award winner and current BAFTA nominee Alex Jennings will complete the star-studded cast for this summer’s special production of Tony Award-winning The Light in the Piazza at the Royal Festival Hall.
He will join American soprano Renée Fleming (Carousel, Broadway) who will make her London musical theatre debut as Margaret Johnson alongside Disney star Dove Cameron who will make her London theatre debut as Margaret’s troubled daughter Clara. Best known for her role in Disney’s The Descendants musical fantasy film trilogy, Cameron recently starred in the Off-Broadway production of Clueless: The Musical.
The American leading ladies will be joined by West End favourites Rob Houchen, Celinde Schoenmaker, and Liam Tamne. An award-winner for his performance in Eugenius!, Houchen will play Clara’s suitor, Fabrizio Naccarelli, with The Phantom of the Opera’s Schoenmaker as Franca Naccarelli and Tamne (Wicked) as Guiseppe Naccarelli. Jennings (My Fair Lady) will play Signor Naccarelli, Fabrizio and Guiseppe’s father.
Olivier-nominated soprano Marie McLaughlin will also feature as Fabrizio’s mother, Signora Naccarelli with West End and RSC actor Malcolm Sinclair returning to the London stage to play Margaret’s husband, Roy Johnson.
The company will also include: Simbi Akande, Danny Becker, Jordan Castle, Nicholas Duncan, Chlöe Hart, Molly Lynch, Rhona McGregor, Tom Partridge, Monica Swayne and Matthew Woodyatt.
The first production from Scenario Two, the new company founded by John Berry and Anthony Lilley, The Light in the Piazza is due to make its London debut at the Royal Festival Hall for only 20 performances running from 14 June until 5 July.
Presented by Scenario Two in collaboration with Opera North, after completing its London run the production will tour major venues in North America and Australia.
Directed by the multi-award-winning artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, Daniel Evans, the production will feature the 40-piece Orchestra of Opera North performing on stage conducted by Kimberley Grigsby.
Tasked with turning the Royal Festival Hall’s stage into a sun-drenched Italian piazza, Evans will head an award-winning creative team that includes: set designer Rob Jones (RSC, Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera New York), costume designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel and lighting designer Mark Henderson.
With a book by Craig Lucas and music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, the love story set in Florence in 1953 debuted in Seattle in 2003. The Broadway premiere run began in 2005 with a cast including Victoria Clark, Kellie O’Hara and Matthew Morrison. The production won six Tony Awards. The show made its European debut in 2009 with a production directed by Paul Kerryson for Leicester Curve.
Announcing the production late last year, Scenario Two director John Berry said: “The score of The Light in the Piazza is sensational and we are thrilled that audiences will hear this London premiere in a new expanded version for full symphony orchestra. By bringing together a cast from different genres we hope to appeal to a wide audience and make this limited run of performances a ‘must see event’ before it travels to the USA.”
Angela Thomas
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