Full cast announced for world premiere concert performances of AUSTENLAND
Full casting has been announced for AUSTENLAND, a new musical based on the novel by Shannon Hale, which will receive its world premiere with two concert performances at the Savoy Theatre on 24 March.
Joining the previously announced Lucie Jones as Jane Hayes will be Stephenson Ardern-Sodje (Passing Strange, Young Vic) as Captain East, Laura Baldwin (Waitress, West End) as Miss Heartwright, Oli Higginson (The Last Five Years, Southwark Playhouse/West End) as Nobley, George Ioannides (Guys & Dolls, Bridge Theatre) as Hot Darcy/Colonel Andrews, Cassidy Janson (& Juliet, West End) as Aunt Carolyn/Wattlesbrook, Idriss Kargbo (I Wish You Well: The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski Trial Musical, West End) as Manly, Daniel Krikler (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Donmar Warehouse) as Martin, and Alex Young (Stranger Things: The First Shadow, West End) as Elizabeth Charming.
The cast is completed by Ashley Gilmour (My Fair Lady, Curve), Lily Laight (The Artist, Theatre Royal Plymouth), Ying Ue Li (My Fair Lady, Curve), Amonik Melaco (Heathers The Musical, The Other Place), Nathan Ryles (Burlesque, Manchester Opera House), and Hollie Jane Stephens (Guys & Dolls, Bridge Theatre).
The new musical is the third musical adaptation from the writers of The Book Thief (Leicester Curve, Belgrade Theatre Coventry) and Between the Lines (Off-Broadway), with a book by award-winning best-selling author Jodi Picoult and Timothy Allen McDonald, and music & lyrics by Kate Anderson and Elyssa Samsel.
Meet Jane Hayes – unlucky-in-love and Austen-obsessed, she’s ditching the dating apps for a dream vacation to Austenland, where every dance, duel, and scandal promises a taste of Regency romance.
But beneath the corsets and cravats lies a world where nothing is as it seems, and love is never scripted. Is the mysterious Mr Nobley an authentic suitor… or an actor who works for Austenland? Is the gorgeous gardener the real deal? Will Jane become fully immersed in the fantasy or could her true Mr Darcy be the person she least expects…
AUSTENLAND is directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, with choreography by Joanna Goodwin, musical supervision, orchestration and arrangements by Matthew Malone, music direction by Natalie Pound, design by Polly Sullivan, lighting by Jack Weir, and sound by Sound Quiet Time.
