Malinda Parris will join the West End cast of & Juliet to play Angelique the Nurse. Picture: David Marsden
The producers of multi-award-winning musical & Juliet have announced an extension to the feel-good show’s Shaftesbury Theatre run with tickets now on sale up to 25 March 2023.
The extension announcement was accompanied by the news that Malinda Parris (Mary Poppins, Prince Edward Theatre, Footloose, UK tour) will join the cast to play Angelique the Nurse from 20 June.
Parris will join 2020 Olivier Award winners Miriam-Teak Lee (Hamilton, On the Town) as Juliet and Cassidy Janson (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Chess) as Anne Hathaway, with Oliver Tompsett (Kinky Boots, Wicked) as William Shakespeare, Tim Mahendran (Spring Awakening, The Hired Man) as Francois and Alex Thomas-Smith (Dear Evan Hansen, Bat Out of Hell) as May. They were recently joined by new cast members Tom Francis (Rent, Hope Mill Theatre) who stepped into the role of Romeo following the departure of Jordan Luke Gage, and Julius D’Silva (What’s New Pussycat? Birmingham) who took over from Olivier Award winner David Bedella as Lance. The Greatest Showman star Keala Settle (Waitress, original Broadway production) is currently playing Angelique the Nurse.
The new ensemble includes Ebony Clarke, Bessy Ewa, Collette Guitart, Cassandra Lee, Nathan Louis-Fernand, Zara MacIntosh, Carl Man, Christian Maynard, Rachel Moran, Owen Saward, Aaron Shales, Benjamin Terry and Suki Wong. Ivan De Freitas, Rhian Duncan, Alex Tranter, Sophie Usher and Rhys Wilkinson remain in the ensemble alongside new additions to the company.
Directed by Luke Sheppard, & Juliet uses the most iconic pop songs written by prolific pop hit writer Max Martin over the last three decades, along with new song ‘One More Try’, to accompany a re-imagined Juliet who finds a way past her doomed romance with Romeo by embarking on a whirlwind trip to Paris. The musical also features the characters of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway who take opposite sides in Juliet’s battle to change her story and discover life after Romeo.
The musical which debuted at the Manchester Opera House in October 2019 before arriving in London a month later boasts a story by David West Read and features arrangements of Martin’s chart-topping songs by Grammy Award-winning orchestrator Bill Sherman. The triple Olivier Award-winning production features choreography by Jennifer Weber, set design by Soutra Gilmour, costume design by Paloma Young, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by Gareth Owen, video design by Andrzej Goulding and casting by Stuart Burt.
Swedish-born songwriter and producer Martin first made his mark in the 1990s with hits including Britney Spears’ ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’, Bon Jovi’s ‘It’s My Life’ and The Backstreet Boys’ ‘I Want It That Way’. More recently, Martin has written or co-written hits for today’s biggest stars including Adele, Ellie Goulding, Kelly Clarkson, Usher, Taylor Swift and Pink.
Angela Thomas
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