Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s musical version of Dodie Smith’s much-loved 101 Dalmatians, by Zinnie Harris and Douglas Hodge, will be postponed until 2021 in response to the Government’s advice on restricting non-essential contact.
Planned as the launch production of the 2020 season, the first newly commissioned musical from the prestigious venue will now open the 2021 season.
Directed by artistic director Timothy Sheader and featuring puppetry designed and directed by Toby Olié, the musical theatre version of the story of Cruella de Vil and her nefarious plans for a family of cute Dalmatian puppies has been in development for two years. The production will now debut in London from 15 May until 20 June 2021.
Full casting was due to be announced ahead of rehearsals which were planned to begin at the end of this month. The Box Office will contact all ticketholders for 101 Dalmatians in due course. The delay to the high-profile production is a particular blow as Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is a charity which operates without any public subsidy with the vast majority of its income generated by ticket sales.
Announcing the postponement of the show for a year, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre stated: “The decision to delay the start of the 2020 season, though unavoidable given the current global crisis, has been an extremely difficult one and we are very mindful of all those associated with the production who now find themselves without work.”
The 2020 season will now open with Romeo and Juliet from 27 June until 25 July followed by performances of Dragons and Mythical Beasts, the new daytime show from the team behind Dinosaur World Live (from 11 August until 6 September).
Artistic director Sheader will direct the final offering in the 2020 season, a major new version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel which will reunite the director with his Jesus Christ Superstar choreographer Drew McOnie. The production will run from 31 July until 19 September.
Based on Hungarian-born writer and director Ferenc Molnar’s play Liliom, Carousel marked the second collaboration between genre legends Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.
Premiering on Broadway in 1945, the story of the doomed romance between charismatic carousel worker Billy Bigelow and wholesome millworker Julie Jordan features some of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s best-loved songs including the timeless ‘If I Loved You’ and the inspirational ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
The 1956 film version starred Gordon MacRae in the role which was originally due to be played by Frank Sinatra opposite Shirley Jones. MacRae and Jones had starred in the previous year’s film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first musical Oklahoma!
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s hit production of Evita is currently due to play the Barbican as planned from 27 June until 22 August.
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.