The Watermill has confirmed full casting and the creative team for the world premiere of the new musical version of Graham Greene’s classic novel Our Man In Havana.
Originally programmed as part of the popular Newbury venue’s spring 2020 season and postponed due to the pandemic, the musical inspired by Greene’s 1950s spy satire will now run from 7 April until 21 May 2022.
With music and lyrics by Ben Morales Frost and a book by Richard Hough, the production will star Nigel Lister (The Secret Adversary, The Watermill, Footloose UK tour) as James Wormold with Daniella Agredo Piper (Electrolyte, The Watermill, The Secret Garden, Barn Theatre) as Milly Wormold, Paula James (Beauty and the Beast, Rose Theatre, Gin Craze! Royal & Derngate) as Beatrice/Maria, Alvaro Flores (ClubMex, Hope Mill Theatre, Time of Our Lies, Park Theatre) as Segura/Hawthorne/Marco, Adam Keast (The Sound of Fury, Liverpool Everyman/Playhouse, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Bolton Octagon) will play Hasselbacher/Chief and Antonio Sanchez (Mamma Mia!, Sala Joaquin Turina, Seville, Beauty and the Beast: The Musical, Asociacion de Teatro La Ribera; Seville) will be the onstage musical director.
The Cuban music-inspired musical will be directed by Watermill associate director Abigail Pickard Price and designed by Kat Heath with Eliane Correa and Morales Frost as co-orchestrators. Sound design is by Adam Fisher, lighting design is by Robbie Butler and choreography is by Andrea Pelaez, with Chris Cuming as associate choreographer. The stage management team consists of Rose Burston (DSM), Natalie Toney and Fern Bamber (ASMs) with Katie Crump on ASM placement.
Commenting on the musical, writer Hough said: “The greatest honour of my career, the acme of my story so far, is being given the chance to transpose the finest writer of the 20th century from the printed page to the Watermill stage.
“Graham Greene has been an inspiration to me since I first read Our Man in Havana at university, a thousand years ago. The thought of bringing his world to life, of planting my feet in the soil of a little bit of ‘Greeneland’, makes me happier than I can say, and quite frankly, more excited than is seemly. To be working with such a superb company and crew is a privilege, and to do it in Newbury a pleasure.”
Composer and co-orchestrator Morales Frost added: “It was an irresistible challenge: a story half set in 1950s Havana, half in London; a father-daughter relationship wrapped up in a tale of intrigue and international espionage; a cast of six who have to act, sing, dance, play instruments, and still operate a vacuum cleaner convincingly…
“Working with Eliane (co-orchestrator Eliane Correa) to create authentic Cuban orchestrations has been a real treat, and has helped us create a gloriously jarring contrast to the buttoned-up atmosphere of England in the mid-20th century. We hope you enjoy the result.”
The production’s director Pickard Price added: “The heat and heart of Cuba perhaps feels somewhat far away from the rolling hills of Bagnor but on first reading of Ben and Rich’s new telling of Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana I felt immediately transported.
“I have loved getting to delve further into this as the team has come together; seeing the brilliantly bright snapshot of Havana that designer Kat Heath is creating and hearing Eliane and Ben’s Cuban orchestrations. I look forward to joining this wonderful team in rehearsals and hope that the audiences of Newbury will enjoy being transported across the world and back in time to the world of Our Man in Havana as much as I did the first time I set eyes on this script.”
Angela Thomas
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