Clive Rowe is the latest addition to the principal cast of Chichester Festival Theatre’s much-anticipated production of the classic Me And My Girl this summer.
Olivier Award winner Rowe (Guys and Dolls, Carousel) will join the previously announced Matt Lucas, Caroline Quentin and Alex Young in the new version of the music hall flavoured musical which will be directed by artistic director Daniel Evans.
Little Britain Lucas star will make his Chichester Festival Theatre debut as Bill Snibson, the Cockney barrow boy who discovers he’s an Earl and Follies star Alex Young will play Bill’s sweetheart, Sally Smith.
Rowe will take on the role of Sir John Tremayne opposite Quentin who will make her Chichester debut as the Duchess of Dene.
Reuniting the team behind last season’s hit version of Fiddler On the Roof, director Evans, designer Lez Brotherston and choreographer Alistair David, the production is due to run from 2 July until 25 August 2018, with a press night on 9 July.
With music by Noel Gay and the book and lyrics by L Arthur and Douglas Furber, Chichester’s Me and My Girl is based on the revised version of the show by Stephen Fry and Michael Ockrent which won the 1985 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical.
The production of the musical which famously features the songs ‘The Sun Has Got His Hat On’, ‘Lambeth Walk’ and ‘Me and My Girl’ and the 1985 addition ‘Leaning on a Lampost’ will feature a creative team that includes musical supervisor and musical director Gareth Valentine with lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound by Carolyn Downing.
Also joining the company for the new season will be former Chichester stars Tracy-Ann Oberman who appeared in last season’s Fiddler on the Roof and Patricia Hodge whose most recent Chichester appearance was in Travels With My Aunt in 2016.
Commenting on the casting of Lucas in Me and My Girl earlier this year, Evans said: “I’m particularly excited to be directing Matt Lucas in Me and My Girl. The musical is rooted firmly in the British music hall tradition and the part of Bill Snibson, our working-class hero, requires an actor with funny bones, effortless wit and an innate charm. Matt has these in spades. I can’t wait to see how his unique, inventive comedic talent lights up our main stage this summer at CFT.”
Following on from a record-breaking 2017, Evans and executive director Rachel Tackley’s star-studded second season’s musical content includes Flowers For Mrs Harris, the show which was Evans’ final production as Sheffield Theatres’ artistic director before moving to Chichester.
Clare Burt (Big Fish, West End, London Road and Sunday in the Park with George, National Theatre) will re-create her award-winning performance as Mrs Harris. The cast will also include: West End star Joanna Riding (The Girls, Phoenix Theatre, Billy Elliot The Musical, Victoria Palace) who returns to Chichester for the first time since appearing in the venue’s 2013 production of The Pajama Game and stage and screen favourite Gary Wilmot (Me and My Girl, The Adelphi, The Wind In The Willows, London Palladium), who will make his Festival debut in the show.
Following on from its triple award-winning world premiere at the Sheffield Crucible in May 2016, the musical by Richard Taylor (The Go-Between, Tom’s Midnight Garden) and Rachel Wagstaff (Birdsong, Moonshadow), based on American writer Paul Gallico’s novel will play Chichester from 8-29 September, with a press night on 14 September.
Also revisiting the show are designer Lez Brotherston, musical director Tom Brady, lighting designer Mark Henderson, and sound designer Mike Walker. Movement will be by Naomi Said.
Headline actors previously announced for 2018 include Oliver Ford Davies, Charles Edwards, Susannah Fielding, Rufus Hound, Paul Jesson, Penelope Keith and Amanda Root.
Directing talent includes Festival Theatre newcomers: Natalia Abrahami, Michael Blakemore, Tinuke Craig, Sean Foley, Kate Hewitt and Dale Rocks alongside Jonathan Munby, Alan Strachan and Samuel West.
Other music-flavoured content in the 2018 season includes the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre’s presentation of Rufus Norris’s acclaimed version of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. Following on from 2017’s production of Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales for Young and Old (4-19 August) and a new adaptation of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty will play the Festival Theatre from 15- 30 December with a relaxed performance on 30 December.
Angela Thomas
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