Productions of the Noel Gay classic Me and My Girl and new musical Flowers For Mrs Harris will be the musical highlights of artistic director Daniel Evans and executive director Rachel Tackley’s star-studded second season at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
Following on from a record-breaking 2017, the new season will feature a mix of major revivals and three new plays.
Headline actors will include Clare Burt, Oliver Ford Davies, Charles Edwards, Susannah Fielding, Rufus Hound, Paul Jesson, Penelope Keith, Joanna Riding, Amanda Root and Gary Wilmot.
Directing talent includes Festival newcomers Natalia Abrahami, Michael Blakemore, Tinuke Craig, Sean Foley, Kate Hewitt and Dale Rocks alongside artistic director Daniel Evans, Jonathan Munby, Alan Strachan and Samuel West.
Screen and stage favourite Caroline Quentin will make her Chichester debut as the Duchess of Dene in a major new production of the musical comedy Me and My Girl. 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 will run from 2 July until 25 August, with a press night on 9 July.
With music by Noel Gay and the book and lyrics by L Arthur and Douglas Furber, the production is based on the revised version 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.
There will be a relaxed performance of the show on 25 July aimed at individuals, groups and families with children on the sensory and communication disorders or anyone who would benefit from a more relaxed theatre environment.
Evans will also direct the season’s other major musical Flowers For Mrs Harris, marking a return to the show which was his final production as Sheffield Theatres’ artistic director before moving to Chichester.
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.
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 star Gary Wilmot (Me and My Girl, The Adelphi, The Wind in the Willows, London Palladium), who will make his Festival debut in the show.
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.
Other music-flavoured content in the 2018 season includes the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre’s presentation of Rufus Norris’ acclaimed version of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. Following on from 2017’s production of Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales for Young and Old 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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