Star of The Greatest Showman, Keala Settle, to make West End Debut in & JULIET
by Best of Theatre Staff on Tuesday 18 January 2022, 10:51 am in Cast Changes and Announcements
Keala Settle – internationally renowned for her starring role in the global smash hit movie The Greatest Showman - is to make her West End debut in the award-winning & Juliet.
Keala – who shot to worldwide fame performing the iconic song “This Is Me” in the movie alongside Hugh Jackman, and is a Tony Award nominated star on Broadway – will play the role of Nurse in the joyous musical which won 3 Olivier Awards and 6 Whatsonstage Awards.
She will join the production from Tuesday 29 March 2022 through to Saturday 18 June at the Shaftesbury Theatre, where the show has extended its booking period through until Saturday 24 September 2022.
This week, Keala will give a special performance on ITV 1 Loose Women (Wednesday 19 January) before performing on BBC 1’s Big Night of Musicals on Saturday 29 January.
Miriam-Teak Lee – who was awarded the Olivier Award for Best Actress in 2020 for her performance as Juliet – leads a cast including Cassidy Janson, who also won an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Anne Hathaway, Oliver Tompsett as William Shakespeare, Tim Mahendran as Francois and Alex Thomas-Smith as May.
David Bedella continues his Olivier Award-winning performance as Lance until Saturday 26 March, as does Jordan Luke Gage as Romeo. New cast for these roles from Tuesday 29 March will be announced at a later date.
The ensemble includes Roshani Abbey, Jocasta Almgill, Josh Baker, Ivan De Freitas, Rhian Duncan, Kieran Lai, Nathan Lorainey-Dineen, Jaye Marshall, Grace Mouat, Antoine Murray-Straughan, Billy Nevers, Kerri Norville, Christopher Parkinson, Kirstie Skivington, Alex Tranter, Sophie Usher and Rhys Wilkinson.
Romeo who?! With her bags packed and ready to escape Verona, Juliet recovers from heartbreak in the best way possible… by dancing the night away with her best friends by her side! But when the sparkle fades, the confetti falls and reality catches up, it’s clear that Juliet needs to face her past in order to find her future. Can she reclaim a story that has been written in the stars? Is there really life after Romeo… or could he be worth one more try?
Come along for the ride as the original Anne Hathaway takes on her husband William Shakespeare to remix his legendary play. As comedy meets tragedy, will Juliet get the ending she truly deserves? And most importantly, can their love survive this battle of wills?
Fabulously fresh and riotously funny, & JULIET explodes with dozens of pop anthems by legendary songwriter Max Martin, including … Baby One More Time, Since U Been Gone, Roar, It’s My Life, I Want It That Way, and Can’t Stop the Feeling! The show also includes the brand new song One More Try, written especially for the show by Max.
Brought to life by an award-winning creative team, this vibrant, colourful and timely musical is directed by Luke Sheppard (In the Heights, Rent and What’s New Pussycat?) with a story by David West Read (Netflix’s Schitt’s Creek), electrifying choreography from Jennifer Weber and stunning set design from Soutra Gilmour.
Max Martin and Tim Headington present & Juliet, which is produced by Martin Dodd, Tim Headington, Max Martin, Jenny Petersson and Theresa Steele Page.