Danny Dyer and Jo Brand to star in NATIVITY! THE MUSICAL in London
by Best of Theatre Staff on Friday 14 September 2018, 10:59 am in Cast Changes and Announcements
The producers of the smash-hit ‘NATIVITY! THE MUSICAL’ are thrilled to announce Danny Dyer will star as ‘Hollywood Producer’ and Jo Brand as ‘The Critic’ in the London run of the production at the Eventim Apollo, from 19 to 31 December.
Jo Brand will also star as ‘The Critic’ when the show heads to Festival Theatre in Edinburgh from 28 November to 2 December.
Danny Dyer is currently best known for his role as ‘Mick Carter’ in BBC one’s ‘EastEnders’. Danny recently won ‘Best Soap Actor’ at this month’s ‘TV Choice Awards’ and has previously won a ‘National Television Award’ in 2015 and in 2016 for ‘Best Serial Drama Performance’. Danny’s breakthrough role was in cult 90s film ‘Human Traffic’, his other film credits include ‘The Business’ and ‘The Football Factory’. Danny’s previous stage credits Include, ‘Kurt and Sid’ at the Trafalgar Studios, ‘No Man’s Land’ at The National Theatre, ‘Celebration’, ‘Certain Young Men’ and ‘The Homecoming, all at The Almeida Theatre.
Jo Brand is a renowned English comedian, writer and actress and her entertainment career started with an appearance on Saturday Live television show in 1988. Since then she has written and starred in ‘Getting On’ for which she won a BAFTA and has continued to appear on a host of popular panel shows. These include ‘Have I Got News For You’, ‘QI’, ‘Would I Lie To You’ and ‘8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown’. She is currently the presenter of ‘The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice’ on Channel Four and her new book ‘Born Lippy’ will be published next month.
Danny and Jo will be joined by Simon Lipkin (theatre credits include ‘Rock of Ages’, ‘Avenue Q’, ‘Guys and Dolls’ in the West End),who returns in the role of ‘Mr Poppy’ afterdelighting critics and audiences in the show last year. Scott Garnham will play ‘Mr Maddens’ (theatre credits include ‘Made in Dagenham’, ‘Les Misérables’ and ‘I Can’t Sing’ in the West End) and Ashleigh Gray will play ‘Jennifer Lore’ (theatre credits include the role of Elphaba in “Wicked” in the West End and on UK Tour).
The rest of the cast includes, Andy Barke, Andy Brady, Jamie Chapman, Jemma Churchill, Oscar Conlon-Morrey, Gary Davis, Kade Ferraiolo, Ashleigh Graham, and Helena Pipe.
They will be joined by a cast of 20 children aged 9 – 12 from across the Midlands as the pupils of ‘St Bernadette’s School’. In addition to this, following hugely successful open auditions, the following children from London and surrounding areas will star as students of ‘Oakmoor School’. Sienna Austen, Adelaide Barham, Brian Bartle, Aliya Bashir, Sophia Beswick, Gretel Bradwell, Charlotte Breen, Thalia Jada Charles, Jacob Dennison, Louis Dennison, Maddie Evans, Talia Etherington, Jack Forino, Liberty Greig, May Greta Haywood, Gabriel Illesley, Matthew Illesley, Lily Jackson, Darcy Kelly, Rosie Gell-Marquez, Elliot Morris, Maddison Olatunji, Regan Parker, Bella Perdoni, Aoife Reilly, Azaria Sharpe, Ellicia Simmondwood, Nina Stevenson, Aaliyah White and Sophie Woods.
Every child in every school has one Christmas wish, to star in a Nativity, and at St Bernadette’s School they’ve decided to mount a musical version! Join teacher Mr Maddens and his crazy assistant Mr Poppy as they struggle with hilarious children, and a whole lot of sparkle and shine to make everyone’s Christmas wish come true. Featuring all of your favourite sing-a-long songs from the smash-hit films including Sparkle and Shine, Nazareth and One Night One Moment. NATIVITY! THE MUSICAL promises to be the perfect feel-good comedy for all the family.
Written and Directed by Debbie Isitt with music and lyrics by Nicky Ager and Debbie Isitt, NATIVITY! THE MUSICAL is choreographed by Andrew Wright, designed by David Woodhead, with lighting design by Tim Mitchell, sound design by Tom Marshall and musical supervision and orchestrations by George Dyer.
NATIVITY! THE MUSICAL will first open at The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry on Tuesday 23 October 2018 and will then visit Liverpool, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Stoke, Oxford before finishing the tour at The Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith from 19 until 31 December. Full venue and on sale details below. Casting to be announced soon.