Nick Hayes and Jessica Daley in Tess of the D’Urbervilles, due to open at the New Wimbledon Studio Theatre on 4 September. Picture: Michael Brydon
Tess of the D’Urbervilles, a new musical with book, music and lyrics by Alex Loveless from the novel by Thomas Hardy, will play at London’s New Wimbledon Studio Theatre from 2-27 September (press night is 4 September), directed by Chris Loveless.
Set against the beautiful backdrop of 19th century Wessex, Hardy’s masterpiece is brought to the stage in a new full-length musical adaptation.
This is the fourth large-scale musical that brothers Alex Loveless and Chris Loveless have worked on together, including an adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day which they worked on with author Kazuo Ishiguro.
Nick Hayes plays Angel. His many West End musical theatre credits include Footloose, Ghost, Saturday Night Fever, Legally Blonde and Fame, and The Wedding Singer on UK tour.
Martin Neely is Alec. Neely’s West End musicals include Les Misérables, Scrooge and Taboo. On tour he was in Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Whistle Down the Wind.
Jessica Daley is Tess. Her musical theatre credits include Mamma Mia! in the West End, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Guys and Dolls and Smokey Joe’s Cafe. She was a finalist in the BBC’s search for Dorothy, Over the Rainbow.
The rest of the cast are: Luka Bjelis, Catherine Digges, Marc Geoffrey, Emma Harrold, Sarah Kate Howarth, Guy Hughes, Jessica Millward and Alex Wingfield. A cast of actor-musicians will be playing more than 20 instruments between them.
The show’s musical director is Chris Ash, who has worked on Showstopper – The Improvised Musical for the last seven years. Choreography will be by Lucy Cullingford who has worked on dance and movement for the RSC, including on Matilda the Musical.
Alex Loveless trained in musical composition at the London College of Music and is the composer/lyricist/librettist of Bel-Ami (Watermans Theatre/Charing Cross Theatre, 2014), The Remains Of The Day (Union Theatre, 2010 – Evening Standard’s Critics’ Choice) and Dracula (White Bear Theatre, 2008). His work has been performed at the Park Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the Duchess Theatre, Royal Academy of Music and on BBC Radio 4.
Alex is the recipient of a Vivian Ellis Prize for most promising newcomer, the Howard Goodall Award for composition, and is a professional writer associate of and reader for Mercury Musicals Development.
Chris Loveless trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Recent work includes Bel-Ami (Charing Cross Theatre), Diary of a Madman (national tour), Peregrine (tour), Dominic (tour) and Five Kinds of Silence (White Bear). Other work includes Lullabies of Broadmoor – A Broadmoor Quartet (Edinburgh, Finborough and tour), The Remains of the Day (Union), Normal, Othello (Tobacco Factory), Dracula, Moonshadow and The Custom of the Country (White Bear).
Chris is artistic director of Fallen Angel Theatre Company and associate director of both Stepping Out Theatre and The Ashton Group. He was associate director of the White Bear from 2009-2013. His productions have received widespread critical acclaim, with several having been named critics’ choice by the Evening Standard or Time Out. Later this/early next year, he will direct Diary of a Madman in New York and Toulouse.
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