Can’t Smile Without You – cast and dates news August 26, 2008
Posted by Linda in : Uncategorized , trackbackCan’t Smile Without You – dates
Can’t Smile Without You the Barry Manilow compilation musical has announced cast members for Bromley and the following tour. The show is premiering on Sept 28th at the Churchill Theatre before going on a 3 month UK tour.The production will play theatres in Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Hull, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Northampton, Stoke and Newcastle, with further dates to be announced. It is scheduled for a West End transfer sometime in 2009.
Can’t Smile Without You – cast
The casting relies heavily on well known names from recent TV casting shows and from the world of pop.
Francesca Jackson ( Nancy finalist, Rent:Remixed, Tonight’s the Night) has a leading role as Lucy, a band member
Chesney Hawkes , (the well known pop singer) plays Tony, the male lead.
Siobhan Dillon (How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?) plays Mandy
Can’t Smile Without You – the story and music
A young band visit New York and by chance audition for a reality TV show. The TV company only offers lead singer Tony a chance to appear on the show. The rest of the band support him and give him their blessing.
Following a tragic series of events Tony loses most of his memory. All that seems to be left is the music he loves and his obsession with a girl he once knew called Mandy .
Can’t Smile Without You has a book by Tim Prager based on an original idea by Bill Kenwright, who also produces the show and co-directs it with Keith Strachan.
Can’t Smile Without You features more than 30 Barry Manilow songs including Could it be magic, I write the songs, It’s a Miracle, I Made it Through the Rain, Tryin’ to Get the Feeling Again and of course, Mandy and Can’t Smile Without You and even more.
Update – dates and theatres for the tour
Bromley – 28 Aug – 6 Sep Churchill Theatre
Dartford -8 Sep – 13 Sep Orchard Theatre
Liverpool -15 Sep – 20 Sep Empire Theatre
Bristol – 22 Sep – 27 Sep Hippodrome Theatre
Manchester-29 Sep – 4 Oct Palace Theatre
Hull – 6 Oct – 11 Oct New Theatre
Glasgow-13 Oct – 18 Oct King’s Theatre
Edinburgh-20 Oct – 25 Oct Festival Theatre
Nottingham – 3 Nov – 8 Nov Theatre Royal
Northampton-10 Nov – 15 Nov Derngate Theatre
Stoke-17 Nov – 22 Nov Regent Theatre
Darlington- 24 Nov – 29 Nov Civic Theatre
Still no news of the venue and dates for a London transfer for Can’t Smile Without You yet.
Tagged: Barry Manilow, Bristol, Bromly, Can't Smile Without You, Chesney Hawkes, Darlington, Dartford, Edinburgh, Francesca Jackson, Glasgow, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Northampton, Nottingham, Siobhan Dillon, Stoke
went to opening night in bromley one of the best young fresh and lively musicals in a long time.Everybody was singin along.
Is this show showing anywere near birmingham or wolverhampton?
As far as i know it is doing the following rounds,
Manchester
Liverpool
Hull
Newcastle
Bristol,
Glasgow
Edinburgh
I think Stoke is nearest – I’ve updated the post with dates.
See the updated post for details of dates and theatres
I’ve just got home from the last performance at Bromley – It was BRILlIANT. I was sceptical about Chesney Hawkes – but now i’ve seen him in the role – i have completely changed my mind.
The whole cast were amazing – especially Francesca who was my fav to win I’d do anything.
It was lively, funny and entertaining – i can’t wait for it to go to London!
It helps to be a Manilow fan – but i took along two people including my 9 yr old son – and they both thoroughly enjoyed it.
Saw it in Bromley earlier this week; have to be honest I thought it would be rubbish but I thought it was really really good! Chesney Hawkes was great, as were all the cast. Story was really cheesy, but it was very very funny; my friend and I had tears of laughter running down our faces at some points. I’m not particularly a Manilow fan, but the songs were really great – Copacabana was a hoot!
Would recommend this to anyone – I thought this was way way better than the Take That musical. A great feelgood night out.
saw the show in Glasgow 17th october. really enjoyed it. music and dancing were great. lots of comedy and pathos too
Any one know when it’ll be going to London?
Sorry, the dates and venue for London don’t seem to be finalised yet.
does anyone know if any more dates have been added or London one’s firmed up as I cant get to any of the ones left unfortunately.
The tour finishes in Darlington and will not be out again in the foreseeable future…
I went to see the show in Northampton on Wednesday 12th November – non of the 3 leads performed that night – can anyone tell me who Tony, Mandy and Lucy were played by?
Tony was played by Chesney Hawkes
Mandy was played by Siobhan Dillion
Lucy was played by Francesca Jackson
Hi
Thanks for replying, but like I said, non of these three were not on stage – all the parts were played by understudies. Any ideas who they were?
Thanks
xxx
is it coming to surrey?
I went to see Can’t Smile without You in Stoke-on-Trent and I loved every minute of it – so much so, that I travelled again from Birmingham to Stoke for the Saturday matinee and only have praises for the whole cast. In particular, Chesney Hawkes, Francesca and Sibohan have wonderful voices. I loved Francesca in ALW ” Nancy”TV programme and was proud to see her act so well too. It is such a pity that there isn’t a CD of the cast singing as it was soooo very good. Obviously, it helps to be a fan of Barry Mannilow music but I have to say Chesney Hawkes sounded just like BM and Chesney played the piano great too. There was also a great band accompanying the Show on stage. Well Done to everyone and Bill Kenwright and Tim Prager for the production and inspiration to put on the Show in the first place. I loved it and would go to see it even more times if it were possible. Please come to Birmingham!!!!!