From Funny Girl to princess: Natasha J Barnes stars as Cinderella at Palladium

02 Sep
2016
Posted in: Theatre News
Author: Press Releases
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Natasha J Barnes

She became a star overnight stepping up as Sheridan Smith's understudy in FUNNY GIRL, and now Natasha J Barnes is headlining a West End show in her own right. This CINDERELLA will go to the ball at the London Palladium in December...

Natasha J Barnes (who will play the title role of Cinderella), Suzie Chard and Wendy Somerville (who will play The Wicked Stepsisters) complete the casting for the London Palladium Pantomime this Christmas. They join the previously announced Paul O’Grady (The Wicked Stepmother), Julian Clary (Dandini), Amanda Holden (The Fairy Godmother), Lee Mead (Prince Charming), Paul Zerdin (Buttons), Nigel Havers (Lord Chamberlain) and Count Arthur Strong (Baron Hardup).

Qdos Entertainment’s production of CINDERELLA will run at the London Palladium for five weeks only over the Festive season from Saturday 10 December 2016 to Sunday 15 January 2017, with press night on Wednesday 14 December 2016. CINDERELLA, the most enchanting rags-to-riches fairy tale of them all will grace the stage of the West End’s most famous theatre this Christmas as pantomime returns to the London Palladium for the first time in nearly three decades.

CINDERELLA is produced by Nick Thomas and Michael Harrison for Qdos Entertainment.  Directed by Michael Harrison and co-directed and choreographed by Andrew Wright, the production is designed by Ian Westbrook with costume designs for Paul O’Grady and Julian Clary by Hugh Durrant.  Lighting design is by Ben Cracknell with projections by Duncan Mclean, sound by Gareth Owen, musical supervision and orchestration by Gary Hind, musical direction by Greg Arrowsmith and visual special effects by The Twins FX.

Bios

Natasha J Barnes is currently understudying and performing the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the Savoy Theatre which previously opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory.  Her previous theatre credits include American Idiot at the Arts Theatre, The Boy Who Fell Into a Book for the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Chess at the Union Theatre, Snow White for the Old Vic Theatre and on tour, Lend Me a Tenor at the Gielgud Theatre, Come Dancing and I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky for Theatre Royal Stratford East and Spring Awakening at the Lyric Hammersmith and Novello Theatres.  On television her credits include Doc Martin and Doctors and for BBC Radio Drama her credits include The Day I Finished Off Charlotte Brontë, The Wonderful World of Allaetitia and Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Suzie Chard’s more recent theatre credits include Soho Cinders for Soho Theatre, Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be for the Union Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East, National Tours of Business Affairs, Stepping Out, The Tart and the Vicars Wife and Oliver and Scrooge the Musical at the Mayflower Theatre Southampton.  Her pantomime credits include Mother Goose, Pinocchio, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Dick Whittington and Cinderella.  Her television credits include Life Beyond the Box:  Norman Stanley Fletcher, The Comic Songbook and Rude Britannia – Bawdy Songs and Lewd Photos.

Wendy Somerville’s theatre credits include The Threepenny Opera for the National Theatre, Billy Elliot The Musical at the Victoria Palace Theatre, the UK tour and West End production of Hairspray, Sleeping Beauty for Hull New Theatre and Wolverhampton Grand, Sweeney Todd for Chichester Festival Theatre and the Adelphi Theatre, Sleeping Beauty for the Theatre Royal Newcastle, Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre and Macbeth for Bitesize Theatre Company.