Marguerite - casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
RUTHIE Henshall, Julian Ovenden and Alexander Hanson will lead the cast in the world premiere of Marguerite, the final production in Jonathan Kent’s Theatre Royal Haymarket Season, which opens on May 20, 2008 (previews from May 7).
Marguerite is a new musical with music by Michel Legrand; book by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Jonathan Kent; lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer from the original French lyrics by Alain Boublil; and orchestrations and arrangements by Michel Legrand and Seann Alderking.
A love story set in Paris during the Second World War, Marguerite draws inspiration from one of the greatest of romantic novels, Alexandre Dumas’ La Dame aux Camélias.
Marguerite (Henshall) is the beautiful and notorious mistress of Otto, a high ranking German officer (Hanson). Armand (Ovenden) is a young musician half her age who falls obsessively in love with her. Their dangerous love story is played out against the background of Occupied Paris.
Henshall’s extensive musical theatre credits include Miss Saigon, Stairway to Paradise, The Other Woman, The Woman in White (as Marion Halcome), Chicago (as both Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart), Fosse, Peggy Sue Got Married (title role), Putting It Together, Divorce Me Darling, Oliver! (as Nancy), She Loves Me, Crazy for You and Les Miserables (as Fantine).
As a recording artist, she has featured on numerous cast recordings and compilation CDs; while her solo CDs include Pilgrim, The Ruthie Henshall Album and Love is Here to Stay. She can currently be seen on ITV1’s Dancing on Ice 2008 as the new celebrity judge.
Ovenden’s theatre credits include Grand Hotel (as Baron Felix von Gaigern) and Merrily We Roll Along (as Franklin Sheppard), both for the Donmar Warehouse; A Woman of No Importance (Theatre Royal Haymarket); King Lear (RSC); and Butley (Booth Theatre, Broadway). On television he has appeared in Cashmere Mafia, Charmed, Related, Poirot, The Royal, The Forsyte Saga and Foyle’s War.
Hanson’s many musical theatre credits include We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre), Enter the Guardsman (Donmar Warehouse), Sunset Boulevard (Adelphi Theatre), Aspects of Love (Chichester Festival Theatre and West End), Candide (National Theatre) and A Little Night Music (Piccadilly Theatre). He was seen most recently as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music (London Palladium).
His other theatre credits include Copenhagen, Troilus and Cressida, The Merchant of Venice, Talking to Terrorists, Arcadia, Cracked, The Memory of Water, Hay Fever, Translations and Robert and Elizabeth. And his screen credits include Party Animals, The Last Detective II, Rosemary and Thyme and Heartbeat.
Joining them in the cast of Marguerite will be Annalene Beechey as Annette (Carousel, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd, The Wizard of Oz); Matt Cross as Pierrot (Days of Hope, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth, Assassins, Our House); Don Gallagher as Georges (The Producers, His Dark Materials, Stuff Happens, Les Misérables, Martin Guerre, The Winter’s Tale) and Simon Thomas as Lucien (Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, HMS Pinafore, Days of Hope).
Mark Carroll, Keiron Crook, James Doherty, Siubhan Harrison, Jon-Paul Hevey, Julia Nagle, Duncan Smith, Gay Soper, Phillip Sutton and Lucy Williamson complete the cast.
Oscar winning composer, arranger, conductor and pianist Michel Legrand has composed over 200 film scores including The Thomas Crown Affair (The Windmills of Your Mind) and Summer of 42, as well as several musicals including Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Yentl which have won him three Oscars and five Grammys.
He was 22 when his first album, I Love Paris, became one of the best-selling instrumental albums ever released. His albums now number over 100 spanning jazz, musical theatre, variety and classical styles on which he has worked with Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Jack Jones, Regine Velasquez, Ella Fitzgerald, Perry Como, Lena Horne, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, James Ingram, Johnny Mathis, Barbara Streisand and many other leading musicians.
Designs for Marguerite are by Paul Brown, with lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Paul Groothuis who have all collaborated with Kent throughout the season. Marguerite is produced internationally by Marguerite Productions, The Theatre Royal Haymarket Company and Bob Boyett.
Read more about the creative team