Barnum confirmed at Chichester Festival Theatre

Updated 21st February:  Chichester Festival Theatre have now announced their 2013 season  and confirmed that Barnum will be performed at Theatre in the Park in a specially constructed  1400 seater tent theatre from 15th July - 31st August. Opening night 24th July.

Priority booking opens on 26th February with tickets on general sale from 7th March. 

According to the Daily Mail, Broadway leading man Christopher Fitzgerald has been cast as P T Barnum in Cameron Mackintosh's revival at Chichester Festival Theatre this summer.

Fitzgerald has appeared on Broadway in The Merchant of Venice, Finian's Rainbow, Young Frankenstein, Boq in Wicked! and Amour. His off-Broadway credits include Small Engine Repair, Stairway to Paradise, Gutenberg! The Musical!, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Saturday Night, Fully Committed, Babes in Arms, Corpus Christi and The Cripple of Inishmaan.

Cameron Mackintosh said:"It needs an actor who can sing, dance, juggle, be a clown and an acrobat--and this man can do all of that." Adding "A lot of work has been done on it and it's very different."

The revival with  music by Cy Coleman, book by Mark Bramble and lyrics by Michael Stewart will open this summer. The original production starred Jim Dale on Broadway and opened at the London Palladium in 1981 starring Michael Crawford. This production has been mooted for some time with previous actors mentioned including Douglas Hodge, John Barrowman and Michael Ball.

This production is directed by Open Air Theatre's Timothy Sheader and co-directed and choreographed by Liam Steel (Into the Woods) and Andrew Wright (Singin' in the Rain).

The plan is that it will transfer into the West End, and given Chichester's recent successes of Sweeney Todd, Kiss Me Kate and Singin' in the Rain this seems very likely (with the Gielgud Theatre as hot favourite).

Book tickets for Barnum