Mrs Henderson Presents - final casting announced
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FINAL casting has been announced for the West End transfer of Mrs Henderson Presents, which runs at the Noel Coward Theatre from February 9 to June 18, 2016.
Joining previously announced Tracie Bennett, Ian Bartholomew and Emma Williams are EastEnders star Jamie Foreman (as Arthur), Robert Hands (Cromer), Matthew Malthouse (Eddie), Samuel Holmes (Bertie), Katie Bernstein (Peggy), Lizzy Connolly (Doris), Lauren Hood (Vera) and Liz Ewing (Lady Conway).
Completing the cast are Sarah Bakker, Andrew Bryant, Rhiannon Chesterman, Alexander Delamere, Emily Goodenough, Victoria Hay, Oliver Jackson, Ian Gareth Jones, Katrina Kleve, Lauren Logan, Tania Newton, Sam O’Rourke, Neil Stewart and Dickie Wood.
Previously Posted: Following its success at the Theatre Royal, Bath, new musical Mrs Henderson Presents is transferring to the West End – to the Noel Coward Theatre where it runs from February 9 to June 18, 2016.
Based on the much-loved film starring Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, this stage adaptation stars Tracie Bennett (Les Misérables, End of the Rainbow, ITV’s Coronation Street) as Mrs Henderson, Olivier-nominated Ian Bartholomew (Into the Woods) as Vivian Van Damm and Emma Williams (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Maureen.
Mrs Henderson Presents is set in the London of 1937. It’s there that recently widowed eccentric, Laura Henderson, is looking for a way of spending her time and money when her attention falls on a run-down former cinema in Great Windmill Street. Hiring feisty impresario Vivian Van Damm to look after the newly renovated Windmill Theatre, the improbable duo present a bill of non-stop variety acts.
But as war looms something more is required to boost morale and box office. It’s then that Mrs Henderson comes up with the idea of The Windmill Girls – glamorous young women posing as nude statues – audiences flock. And as the Blitz hits London, The Windmill provides a refuge for all, boasting the spirit-raising slogan “We Never Close”.
Mrs Henderson Presents has book and direction by Tony Award-winning Terry Johnson (La Cage Aux Folles), lyrics by multi-award-winning Don Black (Sunset Boulevard) and music by George Fenton and Simon Chamberlain.
NB: Mrs Henderson Presents contains scenes of nudity.
Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol, with Jim Broadbent as Scrooge, continues at the Noel Coward Theatre until January 30, 2016.