Picture: Pamela Raith Photography
The acclaimed London debut season of the stage musical version of the 1999 American film Cruel Intentions has been extended by five weeks.
Originally due to play a 14-week run at The Other Palace from 11 January until 14 April, Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical is now booking up to 19 May.
Presented by Bill Kenwright Ltd, the cast is led by Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky (Six, Vaudeville Theatre, Grease, UK tour) and Daniel Bravo (Witness for the Prosecution, County Hall, Speak, Paines Plough) as manipulative step-siblings, Kathryn and Sebastian.
The cast also includes TikTok personality Abbie Budden (Peter Pan, Capitol Theatre) as Annette, Rose Galbraith (Old Friends, Gielgud Theatre, Maria Friedman and Friends: Legends, Menier Chocolate Factory) as Cecile, Josh Barnett (Newsies, Troubadour Theatre, Last Five Years, international tour) as Blaine, Jess Buckby (42nd Street, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Anything Goes, Barbican/UK tour) as Ms Bunny Caldwell/Dr Greenbaum, Nickcolia King-N’Da (The Provoked Wife, RSC, The Death of a Black Man, Hampstead Theatre) as Ronald and Barney Wilkinson (Bonnie & Clyde, Garrick Theatre/Arts Theatre, Bat out of Hell, Dominion Theatre) as Greg. The ensemble includes Craig Watson, Nathan Lorainey-Dineen, Charlotte O’Rourke and Verity Thompson.
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the film which took its inspiration from the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the musical version of the 1990s Manhattan-set story of Machiavellian rich kids Sebastian Valmont and Kathryn Merteuil was created by the film’s director Roger Kumble along with Jordan Ross and Lindsey Rosin. The siblings’ machinations are played out accompanied by live performances of chart hits including Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’, ‘I Saw the Sign’ by Ace of Base, Boyz II Men’s ‘I’ll Make Love to You’, *NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’, Britney Spears’ ‘Sometimes’, R.E.M’s ‘Losing My Religion’ and ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ by The Verve.
Headed by director Jonathan O’Boyle and choreographer and associate director Gary Lloyd, the creative team also includes set and costume designer Polly Sullivan, lighting designer Nick Richings, sound designer Chris Whybrow, musical director Denise Crowley, associate choreographer Matt Nicholson and costume supervisor Hugo Aguirre with casting by Will Burton for Grindrod Burton.
Commenting on the show ahead of its London debut, Kumble said: “The perfect 25th-anniversary celebration of my 1999 film about a pair of hedonistic Manhattan step-siblings is seeing it re-imagined on the London stage as a musical. It’s an amazing show with a soundtrack loaded with all the greatest ’90s guilty pleasures songs. Even people who hate musicals will love it!”
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair, Cruel Intentions captured the imagination of moviegoers and spawned two sequels. The musical debuted in LA in 2015 and arrived in New York following two sold-out runs, proving equally popular with audiences in the city when it made its Off-Broadway debut at the Greenwich Village nightclub Le Poisson Rouge. The musical was first seen in the UK at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019.
Angela Thomas
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