Tchaikovsky’s beautiful melodies from the classic seasonal ballet reworked with Musical Theatre lyrics and orchestrations
Casting is today announced for the world premiere of Nutcracker! The Musical, which takes the classic ETA Hoffmann tale and Tchaikovsky’s soaring classical music – familiar to fans of The Nutcraker ballet – and gives them a thrilling modern twist, with enchanting new Musical Theatre arrangements.
Nutcracker! The Musical, with Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Book and lyrics by multiple Emmy Award-winning Nancy Holson, Arrangements Bruce Kiesling and Paul Rigano, Directed by Ollie Fielding, will premiere in a four-week season at the Pleasance Theatre, London N1 from Tuesday 8 December to Sunday 3 January.
Maria Coyne (Marie) Her West End shows include Wicked (Ensemble, U/S Glinda and Nessarose). She has just played Anne in A Little Night Music and Esmerelda in The Legend of Notre Dame.
Kris Webb (Drosselmier) played Torvald in the musical A Doll’s House, Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors and Fatty Arbuckle in Thom Southerland’s Broadway Catford production of Mack and Mabel.
Jamie Birkett (Mouseyrinks) was named Best Female Performance in the Off West End Awards for Cross Purpose and has just been nominated again as Charlotte in A Little Night Music. Her other starring roles include Joanne in Rent, and Jubilee Climax in Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens.
Peter Nash (Christian Elias/The Nutcracker Prince) was Nathan in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
Anne Marcuson (Dr Stahlbaum/Queen Wanda) was in the NT production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. She was Belinda in Thom Southerland’s production of Daisy Pulls It Off.
The rest of the cast are: Henry Wyrley-Birch; Leigh Rhiannon Coggins; Samuel Haughton; Meg Matthews; Annabel Edwards; Helen Reuben; Matthew Ives; Ben Stacey, Matthieu Hauret.
Creative credits: Director Ollie Fielding; Musical Director Robert Hazle; Designer Eleanor Field; Choreographer Alejandro Postigo.
Nutcracker! The Musical is a story of magic, far away places, fairy tale kingdoms, of love, friendship, family and most importantly imagination. This fresh new look at the original Nutcracker story will enchant audiences of all ages. Generations of children were raised on The Nutcracker ballet, but though the ballet is a classic, do you know the real story of the Nutcracker?
Teenage Marie is too old to play with dolls but there’s something intriguing about the nutcracker given to her by her old Uncle Drosselmier. He seems lost in time. Long ago in the fairy tale kingdom of Chronenburg, the beautiful Princess Pirlipat has been magically disfigured by the evil Mouseyrinks, Queen of the Mice. King Wilhelm enlists the help of the mystical Royal Clockmaker to break the curse. Will a little magic and a lot of imagination be enough to discover the secret of the nutcracker and rescue the people of Chronenburg from the clutches of Mouseyrinks’ spell?
Nancy Holson is a writer, director and producer whose career spans the worlds of commercial live theatre, corporate theatre, and television.
Please note: the performance on December 20 at 4.00pm will be a relaxed performance
Tuesday 8 December – Sunday 3 January
