Strictly Come Dancing pro dancer Kevin Clifton and former pop star Anthony Costa will join the UK and Ireland tour of the glam rock jukebox musical Rock of Ages next year.
Award-winning international ballroom and Latin dancer Clifton will take on the role of Stacee Jax from 22 January until 6 April 2019, while Costa, the former boyband star whose stage credits include Blood Brothers in the West End, will step into the role for eight weeks from 8 April until 1 June 2019.
They will join will join former Coronation Street favourite Kevin Kennedy (Chicago, We Will Rock You) who plays Dennis, with Zoe Birkett (ITV’s Pop Idol, UK tour of The Bodyguard The Musical) as Justice, Heather’s Jodie Steele as Sherrie, Andrew Carthy (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Franz, Vas Constanti (In The Heights) as Hertz and Rhiannon Chesterman (Mrs Henderson Presents) as Regina. Sam Ferriday (Ghost The Musical) will play the role of Stacee Jaxx until 9 December 2018.
The cast also includes Erin Bell, Alexander Day, Joshua Dever, Paris Green, Sinead Kenny, Ryan Lee-Seager, Adam Strong, Saran Webb and Bobby Windebank.
Launching at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley next week (20-22 September), the tour is due to visit Manchester Opera House (25-29 September), Wycombe Swan Theatre (2-6 October), Darlington Hippodrome (8-13 October), Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin (16-20 October), Liverpool Empire (23-27 October), New Theatre, Cardiff (6-10 November), New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham (13-17 November), The Orchard Theatre, Dartford (20-25 November) and Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield (26 November-1 December).
The 2019 leg of the tour will begin at Glasgow King’s Theatre (22-26 January), followed by His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen (29 January-2 February), Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent (12-16 February), The Hawth, Crawley (19-23 February), New Wimbledon Theatre (26 February-2 March), Ipswich Regent Theatre (5-9 March), Belgrade Theatre, Coventry (12-16 March), New Theatre, Oxford (19-23 March), Theatre Royal, Nottingham (2-6 April), Bristol Hippodrome (16-20 April), Grand Opera House, York (23-28 April), Edinburgh Playhouse (30 April-4 May), Royal & Derngate, Northampton (7-11 May), Swansea Grand Theatre (14-19 May), New VictoriaTheatree, Woking (21-25 May), Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (25-29 June), Winter Gardens, Blackpool (2-6 July) and Sunderland Empire Theatre (23-27 July).
Presented by Dan Looney, Adam Paulden, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Selladoor Worldwide and Gavin Kalin, the production is directed and choreographed by Nick Winston with design by Morgan Large, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Ben Harrison and musical supervision by Barney Ashworth.
With a book by Chris D’Arienzo and orchestrations and arrangements by Ethan Popp, the musical celebrates the classic soft rock of the 1980s. The original Broadway production opened in 2009 and was the 29th longest-running musical in Broadway history when it closed in 2015. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards in 2009 including Best Musical and Best Actor for the original leading man, former American Idol favourite Constantine Maroulis.
The show made its West End debut in 2011, the year before the release of the film version starring Tom Cruise, and three years before the first UK tour.
Angela Thomas
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