Casting is now complete for the series of concerts that will play London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane next month: Chess the Musical in Concert August 1–2, Kinky Boots the Musical in Concert August 8–9, and Treason the Musical in Concert August 22–23.
Providing the pre-recorded role of the Newscaster in Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Tim Rice's Chess will be journalist Trevor McDonald, who joins the previously announced Samantha Barks (Frozen) as Florence, Hadley Fraser (2:22 A Ghost Story) as Anatoly, Joel Harper-Jackson (Cock) as Freddie, Frances Mayli McCann (Bonnie and Clyde) as Svetlana, Ako Mitchell (Caroline Or Change) as The Arbiter, and Craige Els (Matilda the Musical) as Molokov with ensemble members Joshua Robinson, Joseph Craig, Darius J James, Aoife Kenny, Jessica Lee, Nick Len, Natasha May-Thomas, Alice Readie, Stuart Rouse, Phoebe Samuel-Gray, Grant Thresh, and Libby Watts.
Joel Harper-Jackson will now play Charlie Price in Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein's Kinky Boots. Harper-Jackson, who previously played Charlie in the musical's 2019 U.K. tour, replaces the previously announced Matt Jay Willis, who departed due to scheduling conflicts. The company also features Cedric Neal (Back to the Future), as Lola/Simon, Courtney Bowman (SIX) as Lauren, Ahmed Hamad (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) as Harry, Daisy Wood-Davis (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) as Nicola, Duane Goode (Aladdin) as George/Simon Sr., Graham Bickley (Sunset Boulevard) as Mister Price, Hannah Lowther (Heathers) as Gemma Louise, Kayleigh McKnight (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) as Trish, Madison Swan (Book of Mormon) as Marge, Nikki Bentley (Wicked) as Pat, and Sean Needham (9 to 5) as Don. The ensemble of Angels will be led by the Referee Angel Ashley Samuels and includes Eli Caldwell, Finton Flynn, Jayred Lempriere, Jordan Bennett, and Ross Carpenter.
Joining the cast of Ricky Allan and Kieran Lynn's new musical Treason is poet and activist Debris Stevenson, who also provides narrative material for the concert. Stevenson joins the previously reported Carrie Hope Fletcher as Martha Percy, Bradley Jaden as Thomas Percy, Simon-Anthony Rhoden as Robert Catesby, Les Dennis as Robert Cecil, Emilie Louise Israel as Eleanor Brooksby, Rebecca Lachance as Anne Vaux, Daniel Boys as King James, Cedric Neal as Earl of Northumberland, Waylon Jacobs as Jack Wright, and Adam Pearce as Thomas Wintour.
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