Jesus Christ Superstar - Declan Bennett returns to play Jesus
Casting news
REGENT’S Park Open Air Theatre has announced that four cast members from the 2016 Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar will be reprising their performances this summer.
The theatre has also added additional dates, with Jesus Christ Superstar now playing from August 11 to September 23, 2017.
Declan Bennett will return to the role of Jesus. Also returning are Tyrone Huntley with his award-winning performance as Judas, and David Thaxton and Peter Caulfield as Pilate and Herod.
Declan Bennett was the original lead in the London cast of Once (Phoenix Theatre), and has also appeared in Boy George’s musical Taboo (Venue Theatre), RENT (US tour and Broadway), American Idiot (Broadway) as well as on BBC’s EastEnders as Charlie Cotton.
As a solo singer-songwriter, his album Record:BREAKUP was released as a live acoustic version in 2013. He achieved five UK Top 20 singles and a UK Top 20 album with Brit Award nominated band Point Break.
Tyrone Huntley won the Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award for his performance as Judas in 2016, as well as being nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He previously appeared in the Open Air Theatre production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Memphis (Shaftesbury Theatre), Hairspray (The Curve), The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre) and most recently as C.C.White in Dreamgirls (Savoy Theatre).
David Thaxton won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Passion (Donmar Warehouse) and has appeared as both Enjolras and Javert in Les Misérables (Queens Theatre), Raoul in Love Never Dies (Adelphi Theatre), Maximillian in Candide (Menier Chocolate Factory) and Only The Brave (Wales Millennium Centre). He is a founder member of the band Divisions.
Peter Caulfield recently appeared in Doctor Who and as Ariel in The Tempest (Southwark Playhouse). He has also appeared in One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre/Theatre Royal Haymarket), Into the Woods (Royal Opera House), Enron (Chichester Festival Theatre/Noel Coward) and, on television, Cucumber (Channel 4) and Banana (E4).
With direction by Timothy Sheader, design by Tom Scutt, choreography by Drew McOnie, musical supervision by Tom Deering, lighting design by Lee Curran and sound design by Nick Lidster for Autograph, Jesus Christ Superstar was a sell-out in 2016, and went on to win the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.
It also received a further five Olivier Award nominations, for Best Theatre Choreography, Best Lighting, Best Sound, Outstanding Achievement in Music and Best Actor in a Musical (for Tyrone Huntley).
See production images from the 2016 production.
The 2017 Open Air Theatre season opens with On The Town (May 19 to July 1) directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie. The cast includes Danny Mac, Fred Haig, Samuel Edwards (replacing Jeremy Taylor who has withdrawn due to injury), Siena Kelly, Lizzy Connolly, Miriam-Teak Lee, Naoko Mori, Mark Heenehan, Rodney Earl Clarke and Maggie Steed.
Read more about the 2017 Open Air Theatre Season.