Cast changes
Calendar Girls New Cast
A new Cast for Calendar Girls from July 28th.
Jerry Hall
Jerry Hall, ex-model and ex Mrs Mick Jagger, she of the long blond hair and even longer legs will be joining the cast of Calendar Girls from July 28th! Jerry’s West End credits include Mrs Robinson in The Graduate and Mother Lord in the 2005 production of High Society
Dot Cotton in Calendar Girls
EastEnders star June Brown (Dot) will also join the ladies of Calendar Girls. Of course, June is a stunning actress so she’ll help to bolster the cast. In real life June couldn’t be further from the part she plays in Eastenders as she’s actually a very elegant lady.
The Eastenders connection doesn’t end there as Anita Dobson is also joining the cast.
The other cast members will include Gemma Atkinson, Jill Halfpenny, Jill Baker, Richenda Carey and Jack Ryder.
I can’t help feeling that there will be even more laughs backstage with this line up! I’d love to be a fly on the wall when that lot start dishing the dirt!
The new cast will join the show on July 28 until October 17.
Mamma Mia – new cast
Mamma Mia!
MAMMA MIA! at the Prince of Wales Theatre will have major cast changes from Monday 15 June 2009.
The Mamma Mia Cast list
- Sally Ann Triplett as Donna Sheridan,
- Katy Secombe as Rosie
- Jane Gurnett as Tanya.
- Norman Bowman as Sam Carmichael,
- Paul Ryan as Harry Bright,
- Christopher Hollis as Bill Austin,
- Niamh Perry as Sophie Sheridan,
- Oliver Hembrough as Sky,
- Jodie Read as Ali,
- Laura Selwood as Lisa,
- Ben Heathcote as Pepper
- Sam McKay as Eddie.
- Melissa Jacques as alternate Donna Sheridan
Some of the new cast members (Sally Ann Triplett, Katy Secombe and Norman Bowman) have good West End credentials.
Christopher Hollis is better known for his TV work (EastEnders, The Bill, A Touch of Frost)
Of course we’ll all recognise Niamh Perry as she was a finalist on I’d Do Anything on BBC One. She didn’t win the role of Nancy but she was very, very good. I think she’ll be excellent as Sarah.
Chicago – New Roxy announced
Michelle Williams is Chicago’s new Roxy
New Chicago star Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams (ex-Destiny’s Child) is to make her West End stage debut starring as Roxie Hart in Chicago.
The US singer will appear at London’s Cambridge Theatre from July 13 until August 22.
Michelle first made her name with Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland in Destiny’s Child.
She released a solo album in 2002. She made her stage debut in the title role in the musical Aida on Broadway .
She has also played Shug Avery in the musical of The Color Purple, in Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Michelle got very good reviews for her performance in the tour and I think it bodes very well for her time in Chicago.
Here she is at the 2006 Tony’s with the rest of the cast. (BTW doesn’t this sound like a great musical. I’d love to see it come here!)
Hairspray – Brian Conley New Edna from July
Brian Conley will take over as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, currently running at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre, according today’s Daily Mail. 
Conley will take over from Michael Ball on July 27 2009. Michael Ball says that the show
“has without doubt been one of the happiest and most fulfilling experiences of my professional life.”
Brian Conley started out at Pontin’s and used to be warm-up man for Terry Wogan, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett. Since then he’s gone on to have his own TV shows “Brian Conley: This Way Up” and “The Brian Conley Show,.
He’s probably best known for presenting The National Lottery Show Live. His West End credits include ‘Me and My Girl’ where he took the lead role of Bill Snibson in the Adelphi Theatre production. More recently he played Caractacus Potts in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” at the London Palladium in 2005.
Speaking about the casting Brian Conley said “I’ve done a lot in my career, but wearing a dress and heels every night and being married to Nigel Planer weren’t things I was expecting to be doing all at the same time, and in front of thousands of people! I’m absolutely delighted to be back in the West End and joining one of the most uplifting, happy and, not to mention, successful shows in town. Being part of something that brings a smile to people’s faces, especially in these troubled times, is a real treat and I can’t wait to get on stage at the Shaftesbury.”
Wicked – rest of the new cast announced.
Alexia Khadime (Elphaba),
Dianne Pilkington (Glinda),
Oliver Tompsett (Fiyero), Sam Kelly (The Wizard), Harriet Thorpe (Madame Morrible)
Natalie Anderson (Nessarose)
Alex Jessop (Boq),
David Stoller (Doctor Dillamond),
Ashleigh Gray (Standby for Elphaba)
Sarah Earnshaw (Standby for Glinda),
Ensemble: Karen Aspinall, Lee Bridgeman, Sabrina Carter, Aileen Donohoe, A C Garcia, Clare Halse, Lauren James Ray, Keeley Jane Jackson, Arran Knight, Danny Mac, Mitchell Mahony, Sean Needham, Buchi Osuji, Sean Parkins, Caroline Rovina, Pharic Scott, Gregor Stewart, Lindsay Taylor, Chloe Taylor, Michelle Theunissen, Emily Tierney, Jennifer Tierney, Hannah Toy, George Ure, Sam Wilmott and Gary Wood.
Oliver! another new Fagin
Oliver! will have a new Fagin a little sooner than expected.
Russ Abbots as Fagin
Russ Abbot will take over as Fagin from April 13. Rowan Atkinson has been forced to pull out for three weeks to undergo surgery for a hernia.
He’s hoped to be back on stage by April 27.
A statement from a spokesperson for the show said:
“Rowan has been nursing the problem for a few weeks but it flared up badly whilst on a break with his family this week. He has cut short his holiday to fly back to have surgery immediately to speed the recovery process…..The condition, whilst neither serious nor dangerous, is extremely painful and prevents normal movement, making performing impossible.”
Russ Abbot played the role of Fagin in the 1997 production and also in a couple of touring productions.
Chicago – Jerry Springer to play Flynn
Jerry Springer will join the West End cast of Chicago in June. He will play the role of Billy Flynn for a six weeks. Springer is originally from London and best known for presenting the The Jerry Springer Show. He will join the cast at the Cambridge Theatre from Monday, June 1 until July 11.
Jerry Springer replaces Ian Kelsey as Billy Flynn. Aoife Mulholland andTiffany Graves will continue in their roles as Roxy Hart and Velma Kelly.
Chicago is the longest-running Broadway musical in the West End and has been on for 11 years now. A policy of regular and interesting cast changes has helped to ensure the continuing popularity of London’s sexiest musical.
Oliver! The New Fagin to be Omid Djali
Iranian comedian Omid Djalili will replace Rowan Atkinson in the role of Fagin in Oliver! from July 20th
Mackintosh said in the Stage today
“Oliver! has been a success beyond my wildest dreams and I’m thrilled that Rowan Atkinson has had such a tremendous triumph in a role I always thought he was born to play. The only way to follow such a unique performance is with a talent just as unique, yet entirely different. No one could fulfil this criteria better than Omid Djalili.
“Omid started his career as an actor but was soon to become a major television star and one of the funniest comic actors and writers in Britain, who regularly plays unforgettable cameos in movies. It is his ability to inhabit his characters with such comic energy and wily cunning that will make his Fagin his own. Undoubtedly the first Iranian ever to portray Dicken’s legendary Jewish creation, we all look forward to him becoming part of the family in July.”
This should be interesting! I think he’s a good comic actor but I didn’t know he could sing.
Joseph with Gareth Gates
Joseph with Gareth Gates
Gareth Gates plays Joseph from the 9th of February 2009. It will be his West End debut and the fulfilment of a long held ambition for Gareth. It’s not the first time he’s starred as Joseph in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat . Gareth first played the role in a school production at the tender age of 8! It was this role that first sparked his interest in musical theatre.
Later, aged 11, he was Head Chorister at Bradford Cathedral. Recognition for his fine voice came early to Gareth, he even sang for the Queen when he was 13. He came to the attention of the wider public when he was runner-up in the first ever Pop Idol in 2002. He has since had four number one singles, including Unchained Melody which sold 1.3 million copies.
More recently Gareth was very well received as Prince Charming in Cinderella at the Wimbledon Theatre . This was not a traditional panto so Gareth got the principal boy role whilst the female lead was played by Joanna Page (of Fat Pig and Gavin and Stacey fame).
The role of Joseph will be played by Ricky Rojas from January 10th until February 9th.
Joseph gets a new lead – Gareth Gates!
Joseph Has a Major Cast Change
Gareth Gates will take over the lead role in the musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat from February 9 2009 , after Lee Mead leaves on January 10. I know this slightly begs the question “who’ll play it for the missing month or so?” We’ll keep you posted.
Gareth Gates was a very popular runner-up in the first ever Pop Idol in 2002. He says:
“I have a lot to thank Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for as it is the reason I first started singing, after being chosen to play the lead in a school production when I was eight years old. Ever since then it’s been a dream of mine to appear in a West End musical….. I am really honoured to be appearing at the Adelphi, stepping into that famous coat, and really can’t wait to get stuck in!”
Should be interesting!
Thanks for reading Theatre Breaks articles about Cast changes on the London Theatre Breaks Blog
