Recent graduate Ivano Turco is the latest cast member announced for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s eagerly-anticipated Cinderella: The Musical.
Cast as Prince Charming’s younger brother Sebastian, Turco takes the lead on ‘Only You, Lonely You’, the second track to be released from the upcoming Polydor Records cast album.
A graduate of the Urdang Academy, Turco was invited to audition for the role of Sebastian by Lloyd Webber and his director Laurence Connor after trying out for a spot in the production’s dance ensemble. Just a week after winning the role Turco was recording his part on the album at London’s Metropolis studios.
Commenting on Turco’s casting, Lloyd Webber said: “I’m overjoyed to introduce Ivano Turco as our Prince Sebastian in Cinderella. I’m convinced audiences will fall in love with him, as we did, on hearing this version of ‘Only You, Lonely You’. Straight out of college, Ivano initially came in to audition as a dancer but has a natural acting talent, a wonderful voice and an innate charm and warmth and from the day we met I just knew I’d found our Prince!”
Now available through all digital services, the single follows on from last month’s release of ‘Bad Cinderella’ performed by leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher.
Initially recorded remotely by Lloyd Webber in the weeks after the Covid-curtain came down in theatres across the country and completed via socially distanced studio sessions in London, ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella: The Musical (Original Cast Recording)’ will be released early next year by Polydor Records/Ume.
Announcing the album, Lloyd Webber said: “Fifty years ago I couldn’t get Jesus Christ Superstar on stage as nobody wanted to produce it, so it appeared on record first. It’s so strange to find history repeating itself half a century later with the album of the complete score of my new Cinderella. I can’t get Cinderella on stage because I’m not allowed to, so I have gone back to my roots and recorded the album first.”
In a move that replicates the composer’s concept album launch of Jesus Christ Superstar 50 years ago, the music of Cinderella will debut in advance of the musical’s world premiere at the refurbished London’s Gillian Lynne Theatre now scheduled to open on 19 May 2021 with previews from 30 April.
Based on an original idea by Killing Eve screenwriter and actress Emerald Fennell, the new version of the classic fairy tale features a new score by Lloyd Webber and lyrics by multi-award-winning writer David Zippel (City of Angels, The Goodbye Girl).
The production will reunite Lloyd Webber with director Connor and choreographer JoAnn Hunter – the team behind Cinderella’s predecessor at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, School of Rock and the hit London Palladium revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which is due to return to the Palladium next summer.
Hope Fletcher (Les Misérables, Heathers, The Addams Family) will star opposite Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (A Chorus Line, In The Heights) as the Stepmother. All further casting and details of the creative team will be announced at a later date.
The Gillian Lynne Theatre closed for internal upgrade work following the final performance of School of Rock The Musical which ended its popular West End run after playing more than 1,400 performances on 1 March this year.
In preparation for Cinderella’s arrival and in addition to the planned refurbishment works the theatre is adopting measures to welcome back audiences safely as soon as restrictions allow. Currently being trialled at The London Palladium, the measures will be rolled out across all LW Theatres.
Angela Thomas
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