No need to wait until winter 2018 to ‘keep dancing’, Olivier Award-winning DrewMcOnie’s spectacular production of Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom The Musical is heading to the Piccadilly in March and here’s the latest casting news.
Anna Francolini and Gerard Horan will join previously announced Jonny Labey, Zizi Strallen and Will Young in the company for which begins performances on 29 March 2018 (press night is 24 April).
Francolini will play Shirley Hastings, the former dancer who will do whatever it takes to ensure her son Scott succeeds. Stage credits include wonder.land (National Theatre), That Day We Sang (Royal Exchange Theatre), Peter Pan (National Theatre) and Onassis (Novello Theatre).
Horan will play Barry Fife, the corrupt ruler of the ballroom-dancing world. Stage credits include The Ferryman (Royal Court/Gielgud Theatre), The Vote (Donmar Warehouse), The Christmas Truce (Royal Shakespeare Company) and One Man, Two Guvnors (Theatre Royal Haymarket).
The musical production traces what happens when maverick championship ballroom dancer Scott defies all the rules of competition to follow his heart and teams up with left-footed partner Fran to win the National Championship his way
The cast includes Will Young, Zizi Strallen, Jonny Labey, Michelle Bishop as Pam Short, Ivan De Freitas as Merv, Gabriela Garcia as Vanessa Cronin, Charlotte Gooch as Tina Sparkle, Richard Grieve as Les Kendall, Liam Marcellino as Wayne Burns, Stephen Matthews as Doug Hastings, Fernando Mira as Rico, Eve Polycarpou as Abuela, Lauren Stroud as Liz Holt and Gary Watson as Ken Railings.
The ensemble also features Chris Bennett, Chrissy Brooke, Hannah Fairclough, Selina Hamilton, Christopher D Hunt, Luke Jackson, Justin-Lee Jones, Robin Kent, Jacob Maynard, Leanne Pinder, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda and Dale White.
