Sam Lips will step into the iconic role of Don Lockwood when Singin’ in the Rain follows its hit summer 2021 season at Sadler’s Wells by embarking on an extensive UK and Ireland tour
Sam Lips (Cats, Strictly Ballroom) will step into the iconic role of Don Lockwood when the acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre production of Singin’ in the Rain follows its hit summer 2021 season at Sadler’s Wells by embarking on an extensive UK and Ireland tour.
Lips will star opposite Charlotte Gooch (Strictly Ballroom, Piccadilly Theatre, Top Hat, UK tour) who will reprise her Sadler’s Wells performance as Kathy Seldon. The pair will feature alongside Ross McLaren (Sleepless, Troubadour Theatre, BIG The Musical, Dominion Theatre) who will step into the role of classic side-kick Cosmo Brown and Jenny Gayner taking on the role of vocally-challenged silent movie idol Lina Lamont.
The tour which launches at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre on 17 March 2022 will also feature guest appearances at select dates from the stars of the Sadler’s Wells season.
Award-winning dancer and choreographer Adam Cooper (Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes, Swan Lake, and Cinderella) will reprise his performance as movie star Don Lockwood when the tour reaches the New Victoria Theatre, Woking (28 March-2 April). Cooper, who first played Lockwood at Sadler’s Wells in the 2004 revival of the show and then re-created his performance in the hit 2011 Chichester Festival Theatre production and its equally successful West End transfer season at the Palace Theatre in 2012, will also take to the stage again in Manchester, Glasgow and Plymouth.
Ex Strictly finalist and Steps singer Faye Tozer (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Apollo Theatre, Me and My Girl UK tour) will reprise her performance as Lina Lamont in Canterbury, Woking, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh and Newcastle while former Strictly pro-turned musical theatre artist Kevin Clifton (Rock of Ages UK tour, The Wedding Singer, Troubadour Theatre) will return as Cosmo Brown for performances in Bristol, Cardiff, Southampton, Liverpool and Glasgow.
The touring cast will also include Sandra Dickinson as Dora Bailey, Michael Matus as Roscoe Dexter and Imogen Brooks as Zelda Zanders. The ensemble features Briana Craig, Alistair Crosswell, Lavinia Fitzpatrick, Alex Given, Ryan Gover, Ashleigh Graham, Thomas Inge, Robin Kent, Joshua Lovell, George Lyons, Amonik Melaco, Ashleigh Morris, Peter Nash, Dale Rapley, Molly Rees-Howe, Harriet Samuel-Gray, Heather Scott-Martin, Megan Spiers, Ben Whitnall and Ellie May Wilson.
Presented by Michael Harrison and Jonathan Church Productions, the Chichester Festival Theatre and Stage Entertainment Production is directed by Jonathan Church, with Olivier Award-nominated choreography by Andrew Wright, design by Simon Higlett, lighting design by Tim Mitchell and casting by Stuart Burt.
Following the Marlowe Theatre run the tour will visit: Woking, New Victoria Theatre; Southend, Cliffs Pavilion; Milton Keynes Theatre; Edinburgh, Festival Theatre; Newcastle, Theatre Royal; Manchester, Opera House; Bristol Hippodrome; Cardiff, Wales Millennium Centre; Dublin, Bord Gais Energy Theatre; Birmingham Hippodrome; Southampton, Mayflower Theatre; Liverpool, Empire Theatre; London, New Wimbledon Theatre; Nottingham, Concert Hall; Bradford, Alhambra Theatre; Sheffield, Lyceum Theatre; Aberdeen, His Majesty’s Theatre; Glasgow, King’s Theatre; concluding at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal in August.
The innovative production which opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2011 before its London run, entertained over 750,000 people and used over 6,000 litres of water and 100 metres of heavy duty rubber hose to create the spectacular rain-soaked dance sequence. With the water heated to 37° for ‘performer comfort’ the water took 15 minutes to drain and was then collected, recycled, cleaned and re-used.
Closely based on the enduringly popular 1952 film, famously directed, choreographed and starring Gene Kelly alongside Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds, Singin’ in the Rain boasts a book by the writers of the original screenplay Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Set at the birth of the Talkies in 1920s Hollywood, the story of a silent movie idol who unleashes his inner song and dance man features songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. The original West End production at the London Palladium in 1983 was directed by Tommy Steele who also starred as Don Lockwood with Roy Castle as Cosmo.
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.