SNOW WHITE at The London Palladium
by Best of Theatre Staff on Friday 27 April 2018, 9:57 am in Upcoming and New Shows
Qdos Entertainment today (27 April 2018) announces that they will return to the West End for a third year with Snow White at the London Palladium for a strictly limited 5 week run. Performances will begin at the iconic pantomime venue on Saturday 8 December 2018 running until Sunday 13 January 2019. Directed by Michael Harrison, public booking opens on Friday 4 May 2018.
Produced by the Olivier Award-winning team behind last year’s Dick Whittington, Snow White at the London Palladium will star Dawn French as The Wicked Queen and sees the return of Julian Clary as The Man in The Mirror, Paul Zerdin as Muddles, Nigel Havers as The Understudy and Gary Wilmot as Mrs Crumble. Joining them areVincent and Flavia as The King and The Queen and Josh Bennett, Simeon Dyer, Craig Garner, Ben Goffe, Jamie John, Blake Lisle and Andrew Martin as The Magnificent Seven. Final casting for the role of the Prince and title role of Snow White as well as members of the ensemble will be announced at a later date.
A third brand-new production created especially for the London Palladium will again have scenery designed by Ian Westbrook, with costumes designed by Hugh Durrant, visual special effects by The Twins FX, lighting by Ben Cracknell and original music by Gary Hind.
Actor, writer and comedian Dawn French, who is making her pantomime debut as The Wicked Queen, is an original member of The Comic Strip and one half of the comedy duo French and Saunders. She was last on the West End stage in October 2016 in her critically acclaimed one woman show 30 Million Minutes at the Vaudeville Theatre. Her previous stage credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, An Evening with French and Saunders, French and Saunders Live, French and Saunders Still Alive, Le Fille du Regiment, Side by Side by Sondheim, Silly Cow, When I was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout and Smaller. Her extensive television credits include Delicious, Little Big Shots, The Wrong Mans, Roger and Val Have Just Got In, Girls on Top, Jam and Jerusalem, Lark Rise to Candleford, Let Them Eat Cake and the multi award-winning BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley. Her film credits include Coraline, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Maybe Baby and Milk. Her best-selling books include Dear Fatty, A Tiny Bit Marvellous, Oh Dear Silvia, According To Yes and Me. You. A Diary.
Julian Clary returns to the London Palladium for the third year following his triumphant successes as The Spirit of the Bells in Dick Whittington and Dandini in Cinderella. His television debut came in 1989 with ITV quiz show Trick or Treat and Channel 4’s Sticky Moments. Clary is a best-selling author, a regular panelist on BBC Radio 4’s Just a Minute and in 2016 toured with his one man show The Joy of Mincing and in 2017 was seen in Le Grand Mort at the Trafalgar Studios.
Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin took the US by storm when he won America’s Got Talent, which was swiftly followed by his own residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. In the UK, Zerdin has appeared on The Royal Variety Performance, was seen on Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show and has previously appeared at the Palladium as Idle Jack inDick Whittington and as Buttons in Cinderella.
Nigel Havers’ film credits include Chariots of Fire, Passage to India and Empire of The Sun. His many television credits include Coronation Street, Downton Abbey, The Life of Rock and Benidorm and his numerous West End appearances include Art, The Importance of Being Earnest touring productions of Rebecca, Single Spies and Basket Case. Havers played Captain Nigel in Dick Whittington and Lord Chamberlain in Cinderella, both at the London Palladium.
Gary Wilmot’s multiple theatre credits include last year’s Palladium pantomime Dick Whittington, The Wind in the Willows also at the London Palladium, Big The Musical for the Theatre Royal Plymouth, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Savoy Theatre and on UK tour, The Pajama Game at the Shaftesbury Theatre, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium, Copacabana at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Carmen Jones at the Old Vic, Pirates of Penzance for Regent’s Park Theatre and Me and My Girl at the Aldephi Theatre.
Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace-Mistry are one of the country’s most successful Ballroom, Latin American and Argentine Tango performers and choreographers. After competing successfully together for many years, they gained a strong following after joining BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2005. Since leaving the show, they have starred in and co-choreographed productions including Midnight Tango, Dance 'til Dawn and The Last Tango.
Snow White at the London Palladium is produced by Nick Thomas and Michael Harrison for Qdos Entertainment. Nick Thomas is the founder and Chairman of Qdos Entertainment Group, one of the largest entertainment companies in Europe and is the UK’s second largest regional theatre and concert hall operator. Michael Harrison has previously produced over 100 pantomimes for Qdos Entertainment where he is also Managing Director. As a producer in the West End his credits include Gypsy, The Bodyguard, Annie and Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein.
As the world’s biggest pantomime producer, over the past 36 years Qdos Entertainment has established itself as one of the largest entertainment companies in Europe. Over the past three decades the pantomime giant has staged 719 pantomimes.