Damon Gould, Matthew Duckett, Ross Dorrington, Bronté Barbé, Michael Ahomka-Lindsay, Moya Angela, Mukeni Nel, Ryan Kopel and Arcangelo Ciulla in Newsies. Picture: Seamus Ryan
Michael Ahomka-Lindsay and Bronté Barbé will lead the cast for the long-awaited UK premiere of Tony Award-winning musical Newsies at London’s Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre this festive season.
Black British Theatre Award 2022 nominee Michael Ahomka-Lindsay (Legally Blonde, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) will play Jack Kelly opposite Bronté Barbé (Oklahoma!, Chichester Festival Theatre, Beautiful UK tour) will star as Katherine Plumber.
Directed and choreographed by Matt Cole, the newly re-imagined production will play a strictly limited season from 29 November (opening night on 8 December) with tickets currently on sale for performances up to 19 February 2023.
Ahomka-Lindsay and Barbé will be joined by Moya Angela as Medda Larkin, Lindsay Atherton as Ensemble, Samuel Bailey as Specs, Imogen Bailey as Swing, Josh Barnett, as Race, Cameron Blakely as Joseph Pulitzer, Jack Bromage as Tommy Boy, Bobbie Chambers as Ensemble, Alex Christian as Buttons, Arcangelo Ciulla as Ike, George Crawford as Morris Delancey, Ross Dawes as Snyder, Joshua Denyer as Mush, Ross Dorrington as Splasher, Matthew Duckett as Crutchie, Kamilla Fernandes as Ensemble, Jacob Fisher as Albert, Jamie Golding as Wiesel, Damon Gould as Finch, Zack Guest as Swing, Jordan Isaac as Swing, Alex James-Hatton as Oscar Delancey, Clarice Julianda as Ensemble, Barry Keenan as Nunzio, Ryan Kopel as Davey, Sion Lloyd as Bunsen George Michaelides as Romeo, Mukeni Nel as Jo Jo, Joshua Nkemdilim as Elmer, Mark Samaras as Mike, Bradley Trevethan as Swing, Matt Trevorrow as Henry and Lillie-Pearl Wildman as Ensemble.
The role of Les will be played by Nesim Adnan, Haydn Court, Oliver Gordon and Ethan Sokontwe.
The creative team for the production also includes set designer Morgan Large, with musical supervision, dance arrangements and musical direction by Nigel Lilley, costumes by Natalie Pryce, lighting by Mark Henderson, sound by Tony Gayle, performer flying by John Maddox for Suspended Illusions Ltd, casting by Lucy Casson and children’s casting by Jo Hawes.
The team also includes fight directors Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown for RC Annie, associate director Rachael Nanyonjo, associate choreographer Jane McMurtrie, associate musical director Chris Ma with production management by Lee Batty and Andy Fox for Setting Line.
Based on choreographer Kenny Ortega’s 1992 film, Newsies The Musical features a Tony Award-winning score with music by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and lyrics by Jack Feldman and a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots).
The stage musical made its Broadway debut in 2012 with a production that included Tony Award-winning choreography by Christopher Gattelli and a cast led by Tony Award nominee Jeremy Jordan as Jack Kelly and John Dossett as newspaper tycoon Joseph Pulitzer. The cast also included Kara Lindsay, Ben Fanhauser and Andrew Keenan-Bolger. The original Broadway production was filmed live and released in cinemas on 2017.
One of the most popular films in the Disney home viewing catalogue, the original film was inspired by the true events during the ‘Newsboy Strike’ of 1899 when ordinary working-class people took on the might of publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst.
Angela Thomas
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