Adam Garcia to play Caractacus Potts in new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tour
Olivier Award nominee Adam Garcia will star as Caractacus Potts in the eagerly awaited new touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang next year.
An Olivier Award nominee for his performances as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever and Bill Calhoun in Kiss Me, Kate, Garcia recently received rave reviews for playing Julian Marsh in Leicester Curve and Sadler’s Wells’ hit production of 42nd Street. Further casting will be announced at a later date.
Presented by David Ian for Crossroads Live, the new production of the family favourite is due to launch at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton from 30 April until 12 May 2024.
Director Thom Southerland (Titanic, Parade) will head a creative team that also includes choreographer Karen Bruce (Strictly Come Dancing, The Bodyguard), set and costume design by Morgan Large (Newsies, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), with orchestrations and musical supervision by George Dyer (The Wizard of Oz, Annie, Billy Elliot) and casting by Debbie O’Brien.
Following Southampton the tour will visit Woking, Wimbledon, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Bromley, Milton Keynes Theatre, Bradford, Belfast, Torquay, Crawley, Llandudno, Glasgow, Inverness, Norwich, Oxford, Liverpool, Stoke, Leicester, Eastbourne, Bournemouth and Plymouth. Further dates are to be announced.
Garcia will remain with the tour up to and including Liverpool.
Featuring music and lyrics by Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman, the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang movie was adapted for the stage by Jeremy Sams. The musical debuted at the London Palladium in 2002 and features six additional Sherman Brothers songs not featured in the film.
The King and I tour – Helen George and Darren Lee to play tour dates before Dominion run
Helen George and Darren Lee will reprise their performances as Anna Leonowens and the King in the touring production of The King and I this December before the multi-award-winning production dances back into the West End in early 2024.
Call The Midwife’s George (Company, Love Never Dies) and Broadway and film star Lee (Chicago, Guys and Dolls) will return when the tour reaches Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre (13-23 December). The pair will remain with the production when the musical plays Salford’s Lowry Theatre (9-13 January 2024) before they take to the stage of the Dominion Theatre for the production’s encore London season from 20 January until 2 March 2024.
Commenting on being given the chance to return as Anna, George said: “I am so delighted to continue to play the formidable Anna Leonowens in this incredible production of The King and I and I am thrilled to bring the show to Eastbourne and Salford ahead of the West End season. I think it so important to bring big lavish West End productions to the regions – Salford and Eastbourne are in for a real treat!”
Following on from its record-breaking season at the London Palladium in 2018 and its first record-breaking, UK and international tour in 2019, Bartlett Sher’s acclaimed Broadway production began its second tour at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre in February. Over 50 performers and a full-scale orchestra feature in the lavish production.
Director Sher heads the same creative team behind the 2008 award-winning revival of South Pacific and the recent Lincoln Center Theater production of My Fair Lady at the London Coliseum.
Full cast for Leeds Playhouse’s Oliver!
Actor, comedian, musician and writer Steve Furst and West End star Jenny Fitzpatrick will lead the adult cast of Leeds Playhouse’s new staging of the classic musical Oliver! this Christmas season.
Furst (Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear, National Theatre, Made in Dagenham, Adelphi Theatre) will play Fagin alongside Fitzpatrick (TINA: The Tina Turner Musical, Aldwych Theatre, Rock of Ages, UK tour) as Nancy. They will be joined by Chris Bennett (Strictly Ballroom the Musical, Leeds Playhouse/Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto/London’s Piccadilly Theatre, Only Fools and Horses, Theatre Royal Haymarket) as Bill Sikes and Minal Patel (The Sound of Music, Chichester Festival Theatre, Billy Elliot at Curve Theatre, Leicester) as Mr Bumble.
The adult company will be completed by Zac Adlam, Laura Cairns, Rachel Clare Chan, Rosie Ede, Christopher Glover, Llandyll Gove, Simon Green, Frankie Hart, Danny Lane, Rachel Laurence, Jake Lomas, Martha Pothen, Michaela Stern, Harry Waller and Scott Waugh.
Directed by Leeds Playhouse’s artistic director James Brining, with set and costume design by Colin Richmond, the new version of Lionel Bart’s timeless re-working of Dickens’ Oliver Twist will play Leeds Playhouse’s Quarry Theatre from 27 November 2023 until 27 January 2024.
The Playhouse has also unveiled the six young Northern actors who will star as Oliver and The Artful Dodger in the production. Chosen from over 1,500 young people who responded to the open casting call with leading casting directors Keston & Keston, the six youngsters will feature alongside a further 32 children.
The role of orphan Oliver are nine-year-old Carter-J Murphy from Manchester, nine-year-old Nicholas Teixeira, also from Manchester, and 10-year-old Theo Wake from Edinburgh.
The role of The Artful Dodger will be shared by 11-year-old Felix Holt from Sheffield, 12-year-old Ram Narayanan Pisharody from Hull, and 13-year-old Noah Walton from Stockton on Tees, who is returning to the Playhouse after starring as Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – The Musical last year.
In preparation for the production, the six young actors have been working with the show’s director, Leeds Playhouse’s artistic director James Brining on exploring and developing their characters, as well as discussing how to adapt their performance to playing in the round. They have also been working on their first steps of choreography created by choreographer Lucy Hind with associate director-young company Joanna Goodwin and associate director/voice coach Eleanor Manners.
The young company is completed by Aness Ahmed, Beatrice Armitage, Cyrus Campbell, Ella Jade Chadwick, Zane Chaba, Ariana Dar, Rose Dawson, Rebecca English, Aaron Fu, Ana Sofia Gutierrez Robson, Fearne Lily I’Anson, Kalil Judge, Shayne M Maphosa, Leo Maurice, Oliver Maurice, Amelia Minto, Jenson Lee McMaster, Jett Moises, Karis Musongole, Kayleen Nguema, Chizaram Ochuba-Okafor, Maxwell Paton, Robyn Pennington, Alexa Raja; Reggie Rollins, Jessica Russell, Hugh Jack Ryan, Porscha Mai Staniford, Tommy Thompson, Maddison Thew, Raine Williamson and Buster Wolfenden.
The creative team for the production also includes musical supervisor Toby Higgins, lighting designer Guy Hoare, sound designer Richard Brooker, musical director Luke Holman, orchestral manager Knoetics Music, children’s casting and general management Keston & Keston, casting director Annelie Powell and casting assistant Alice Walters.
Lead cast for world premiere of The Artist on stage
Multi-award-winning international dancer and actor Robbie Fairchild will return to the UK stage next year to play silent movie star George Valentin in the highly anticipated stage adaptation of the multi-Academy Award-winning film The Artist.
Last seen in the UK in the West End transfer of the award-winning revival of An American in Paris, a production which marked his Broadway debut in 2025, Fairchild (Oklahoma!, Royal Albert Hall, Frankenstein, Signature Theatre, New York) will star alongside West End favourite Gary Wilmot (The Wizard of Oz, London Palladium, Anything Goes, The Barbican) as Al Zimmer. They will be joined by Briana Craig (42nd Street tour) as aspiring actress Peppy Miller.
Further casting will be announced at a later date.
Due to debut with a strictly limited run at the Theatre Royal Plymouth from 11 -25 May 2024, Michel Hazanavicius’ much-loved film has been co-adapted for the stage by McOnie and award-winning playwright Lindsey Ferrentino.
The multi-award-winning creative team also includes set and costume designs by Christopher Oram, music by Tony Award winner Simon Hale, lighting by Zoe Spurr, sound by Simon Baker, video by Ash J Woodward and puppetry by Maia Kirkman-Richards with casting by Will Burton. The associate director/choreographer is Ebony Molina and the musical director is Chris Poon.
The Artist is a McOnie Company production produced by Theatre Royal Plymouth, The McOnie Company, Playful Productions, Bill Damaschke and Underbelly in association with Stephen and Nancy Gabriel.
Released in 2011, The Artist charmed the critics and audiences alike with its A Star is Born-style tale of a silent movie idol who falls in love with a young rising star. The film won five Oscars, becoming the first French-produced movie to win the coveted Best Picture award and the first mainly silent film to win the award since Wings at the inaugural Academy Awards in 1929. It was also the first fully black and white film to win Best Picture since The Apartment in 1960.
Cast for the Octagon’s Around the World in 80 Days
The Octagon Theatre has unveiled the cast for the Christmas world premiere of a new musical adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around The World in 80 Days.
Kash Arshad (An Adventure, Octagon Theatre) will direct Polly Lister (One Man, Two Guvnors and Hound of the Baskervilles, Octagon Theatre Bolton) as the eccentric entrepreneur Lady Phileas Fogg, with Emma Fenney (A Christmas Carol, Antic Disposition, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Live Online Production, Octagon Theatre Bolton and Guildford Shakespeare Company) as Lady Eliza Sullivan, Rob Jackson (Peter Pan, Octagon Theatre Bolton, Brief Encounter, Octagon Theatre Bolton, Stephen Joseph Theatre and Theatre by the Lake) as Sir John Sullivan, Darren Kuppan (Let the Right One In, Royal Exchange Theatre, The Jungle Book, Grosvenor Open Air Theatre and Chester Storyhouse) as Khatri, Charlotte Linighan (The Booth Show and Spinach, The Edge Theatre) as Felicity Fanshaw and Kai Spellman (Billie The Kid, Kyriacos & Company and Dominion Theatre, Ali and Dahlia, Pleasance Theatre) as Passepartout. They will also play various ensemble roles. The cast will be completed by Olivia Chandler who will make her professional debut as company swing.
Due to play the Bolton venue from 16 November 2023 until 6 January 2024, Verne’s classic creation has been adapted for the stage by Kate Ferguson and Susannah Pearse, the writing team behind previous Octagon festive hits Treasure Island and last year’s A Christmas Carol.
The creative team for the production also includes: Katie Scott (designer), Sam Sommerfield (musical director), Jennifer Kay (movement director), Jane Lalljee (lighting designer), Mark Melville (sound designer) and Rebecca Applin (additional orchestrations and arrangements).
Casting for Tom Fletcher’s There’s a Monster in Your Show
Casting has been confirmed for the new family friendly stage show based on pop star and writer Tom Fletcher and illustrator Greg Abbot’s popular interactive picture book series Who’s in Your Book?.
Adapted for the stage by Zoe Bourn (Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam, Mr Men Little Miss) and new music composed by Fletcher and Barry Bignold (Friendsical, Bob The Builder Live), There’s A Monster in Your Show stars actor/puppeteers Charlie Daniels (Hey Duggee, Sarah and Duck’s Big Top Birthday), Josh Macrow (The Furchester Hotel Live, Sarah and Duck’s Big Top Birthday), Ben Murrell (In The Night Garden Live, Twirlywoos Live), Ashton Owen (Twirlywoos Live, Mr Men) and Gil Sidaway (The Happy Prince, Newbies).
With dates at over 50 venues across the UK confirmed, the high-energy 50-minute adventure has been designed by Laura McEwan with puppets created by Keith Frederick and puppet direction by the associate director of Polka Theatre, Roman Stefanski.
Presented by MEI Theatricals, the company behind a number of stage adaptations of family favourites including The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show and Twirlywoos Live, the production is directed by Miranda Larson (Friendsical, Fireman Sam Saves The Circus). Larson previously adapted Fletcher’s novel The Christmasaurus for the stage. Katy Haygarth is the associate director.
Angela Thomas
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