Full cast announced for tour of An Officer And A Gentleman

The full cast for the World Premiere of AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN - THE MUSICAL is officially announced with  leads Emma Williams/Paula Pokrifiki, Jonny Fines/Zack Mayo, Ray Shell /Foley, Ian Macintosh/Sid Worley and Jessica Daley as Lynette Pomeroy. The production will open at Curve on Friday 6 April 2018 with a national press night on Thursday 19 April before playing at theatres across the UK and Ireland until 15 September 2018. 

The cast also includes Keisha Atwell (“Legally Blonde” and “Grease” at Curve, “Annie”) who will play ‘Casey Seegar’, Andy Barke (“Nativity! The Musical” and “Legally Blonde” at Curve) in the role of ‘Louis Perryman’, Darren Bennett (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and “The Importance of Being Earnest”, “Grease” and the title role in “Scrooge the Musical” at Curve) in the role of ‘Bryon Mayo’, James Darch in the role of ‘Troy’, Nathaniel Landskroner (“Grease”, “Legally Blonde” and “Scrooge the Musical” at Curve) in the role of ‘Craig’, George Loannides (“Grease” at Curve and “Annie” and “Mamma Mia!”) in the role of  ‘Eduardo Cortez’, Joe Maxwell (“Jersey Boys” and “Scrooge the Musical” at Curve) in the role of ‘Fin Hooper’, Corinna Powlesland in the role of ‘Aunt Bunny’ and  Rachel Stanley  (“Legally Blonde” and “Scrooge the Musical” at Curve, White Christmas”) will play ‘Esther Pokrifki’.Joining them will be David Burrows, Vanessa Fisher, Aimee Hodnett, Keiran McGinn and Rhys Whitfield.

Nikolai Foster, Artistic Director of Curve and Director of ‘An Officer and Gentleman – The Musical’ said today “Douglas Day Stewart wrote An Officer and a Gentleman in response to his time serving in the American Air Force and the challenges he faced during training. It is a visceral, uncompromising and ultimately tender portrait of the these personal experiences and the lives of folk living near the training facility in the early 1980s.We are proud to have assembled such an accomplished company of actors, led by Emma, Ray, Jonny, Ian and Jess to create our production and realise this beautiful portrait of working class lives. All of us at Curve are excited to tell this story - set to a fantastic 80s playlist - and to be working with the talented team at Jamie Wilson Productions. Productions like this couldn’t be made without the support of our collaborators and we are thrilled to be working with Jamie and his team. Officer will certainly be a memorable moment in our theatre's 10th birthday year."

Four-time Laurence Olivier Award nominated actress Emma Williams will play ‘Paula Pokrifki’. Emma’s previous credits include ‘Truly Scrumptious’ in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, “Mrs Henderson Presents” and “Love Story”, all in the West End. This year Emma won the What's On Stage Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for playing ‘Helen’ in Cameron Mackintosh's revival of “Half A Sixpence” at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Jonny Fines will play the iconic role of ‘Zack Mayo’ – the role made famous by Richard Gere in the beloved 80s film. Jonny most recently played the role of ‘Rooster’ in the West End production of “Annie” at The Piccadilly Theatre.  Other theatre credits include the UK Tours of “The Sound of Music” and “Avenue Q”.

Ray Shell will play ‘Foley’. Ray is probably most famous for creating the roles of ‘Rusty’ in “Starlight Express” and ‘Nomax’ in “Five Guys Named Moe”, both in the West End.  His other theatre credits include the iconic productions of “Miss Saigon” and “Jesus Christ Superstar”.

Ian Macintosh will play ‘Sid Worley’. Ian is an Olivier nominated actor for his role in the West End production of “Beautiful – The Carole King Musical”, his other credits include “The Commitments” and “Rock of Ages”.

Jessica Daley will play ‘Lynette Pomeroy’. Jessica was a finalist on the BBC 1’s “Over The Rainbow” and previous theatre credits include “Mamma Mia!” In the West End and the UK Tour of “The Sound of Music”.

 

Tour of An Officer and a Gentleman Musical to open at Leicester Curve next April

Next April is the UK premiere at Leicester Curve  of the musical An Officer and a Gentleman based on the 1982 Oscar winning film starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger. Its soundtrack includes the hit song from the movie Up Where We Belong along with 80s classic anthems including Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Material Girl, Don’t Cry Out Loud , If You Believe in Love and Alone.

The brand new version has been adapted directly from the film and created in collaboration with original screenwriter Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen who wrote  the book.

Nikolai Foster, artistic director of Curve will direct and said: "When I first looked at the film of An Officer and a Gentleman I was genuinely blown away by this tender, poignant, intimate study of working class lives and incredible women who are looking to escape from the society they feel trapped within. There was a big musical version staged in Australia, but we knew that this wasn't going to be that. In a workshop at Curve we took the film script and felt the characters would best be expressed through '80s pop and rock music. We have used the intimacy and quiet poignancy of the movie and integrated the pop songs, making them a coherent part of it."

The musical is being produced by Jamie Wilson Productions (tours of Sister Act, Nativity! and Crazy For You) in Association with the Curve Theatre Leicester with choreography by Kate Prince (Into The Hoods, ZooNation) and musical supervision by Tony Award-winning Sarah Travis (Sweeney Todd, Sister Act). with set and costume design by Michael Taylor, lighting by Ben Cracknell and sound by Tom Marshall.