Frances Mayli McCann and Shona McCarty join cast of Don Black’s From the Heart

New cast members Frances Mayli McCann (Picture: Michael Shelford) and Shona McGarty (Picture: YellowBelly)

Olivier Award nominee Frances Mayli McCann and EastEnder Shona McGarty are the latest additions to the cast of Don Black’s From the Heart next month.

Black’s personal tribute to the New York cabaret scene he credits with inspiring his prolific and multi-award-winning career, is due to play London’s Garrick Theatre for just 15 performances from 8-18 October.

McCann (Bonnie & Clyde, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, The Great Gatsby, London Coliseum) and McGarty (2:22 A Ghost Story) will join the previously announced Caroline O’Connor (Chicago, Ambassador Theatre, Mack & Mabel, Piccadilly Theatre), Clive Rowe (Guys and Dolls, National Theatre, Hadestown, Lyric Theatre) and Michael D. Xavier (Sunset Boulevard, London Coliseum, Into the Woods, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).

Refined and expanded following its acclaimed concert performances in 2025, the production is directed by Nick Winston (Calamity Jane, Watermill Theatre, Bonnie & Clyde, Theatre Royal Drury Lane).

Including brand-new songs written by Black with composers including Gary Barlow, Natasha Bedingfield, David Arnold, Debbie Wiseman and Mike Batt, From the Heart features musical direction by Joe Church with arrangements and musical supervision by Nick Barstow.

At each show a surprise special guest will take to the stage before the evening culminates in a medley of some of Black‘s most famous songs including ‘Born Free’, ‘Ben’, ‘Love Changes Everything’, ‘To Sir With Love’ and ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’. The medley also features a section recognising Black’s long history with the James Bond franchise and includes ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, ‘Thunderball’, ‘The Man With the Golden Gun’ and ‘The World is Not Enough’.

With an extraordinary career spanning more than five decades, Black has produced some of the world’s best-loved songs for film, TV and theatre, from Aspects of Love and The Italian Job through to five James Bond themes.

Angela Thomas