Strallen, Thaxton and Janson To Star In Chocolate Factory's CANDIDE

Fra Fee, Cassidy Janson, Ben Lewis, Scarlett Strallen and David Thaxton have been cast in the Menier Chocolate Factory's Christmas musical Candide with music by Leonard Bernstein, book adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler, lyrics by Richard Wilbur and additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker and Leonard Bernstein.

From Westphalia to the far reaches of the New World, Candide's journey of discovery is anything but dull. Through anguish, happiness, loss and love this is a whirlwind adventure that seeks to prove 'life is happiness indeed'. Leonard Bernstein's joyous musical comedy features a classic overture and 'Make Our Garden Grow' (both of which were performed on the Last Night of the Proms) and 'Glitter and Be Gay'.

Scarlett Strallen will be playing Cunegonde. Her theatre credits include A Chorus Line (London Palladium);Singin' In The Rain (Chichester Festival and Palace Theatre London), for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical; Passion (Donmar Warehouse); and the title role in Mary Poppins on Broadway and in the West End. Her performance as Josephine in the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's production of HMS Pinafore also won her an Olivier nomination. Other productions include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium) as well as the original casts of Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward), The Witches of Eastwick(Theatre Royal, Drury Lane) and Peggy Sue Got Married (Shaftesbury).

Fra Fee will be playing Candide. His theatre credits include A Man of No Importance (Salisbury Playhouse); Young Buddy in Follies (O?era de Toulon, France); Les Miserables (Queen's Theatre); Fame (RTE Irish Tour) andDirty Dancing (Aldwych Theatre). Fra played Courfeyrac in the film version of Les Miserables.

David Thaxton plays Maximilian. David won the 2011 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance as Giorgio in Passion (Donmar). Other theatre credits include playing Raoul in Love Never Dies (Adelphi) and Les Miserables (Queen's).

Cassidy Janson will play Paquette. Her theatre credits include Lend Me A Tenor - The Musical (Gielgud), Avenue Q (Gielgud), Elphaba in Wicked (Apollo Victoria) and Tick Tick Boom (Menier Chocolate Factory).

Ben Lewis plays the Govenor and Vanderdendur . Ben appeared as the Phantom in the Australian production of Love Never Dies. Other credits include A Little Night Music (Opera Australia) and the Australian productions of Spamalot and Priscilla -- Queen of the Desert.

The cast also includes Carly Anderson, Jeremy Batt, Christopher Jacobsen, Frankie Jenna, Rachel Spurrell, Helen Walsh and Matt Wilman. Further casting will be announced shortly.

The production is directed by Matthew White whose credits include The Last Five Years, Little Shop of Horrors andSweet Charity for the Chocolate Factory and, most recently, Top Hat - 2013 Olivier award winner Best New Musical. Choreography is by Adam Cooper whose credits include Carousel (Savoy), Grand Hotel (Donmar - Olivier nomination) and On Your Toes (Leicester Haymarket & Royal Festival Hall - Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography).

The creative team includes David Charles Abell (Musical Supervision), Paul Farnsworth (Set & Costume Design), Paul Anderson (Lighting Design), Gareth Owen (Sound Design), Seann Alderking (Musical Direction) and Jason Carr (Orchestrations).

Tickets on sale to the general public from 9am on Wednesday 11th September

LISTINGS INFORMATION:

Dates: Friday 22nd November 2013 - Saturday 22nd February 2014

Press Night: Monday 2nd December at 8.00pm

Times: Tuesday - Saturday at 8.00pm

Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3.30pm

PLEASE NOTE there are no shows on the following dates:

Thursday 28th November, Wednesday 4th December,

Tuesday 24th December - Thursday 26th December, Wednesday 1st January

Additional performances:

Monday 25th November 8pm, Sunday 22nd and Sunday 29th December 8pm,

Thursday 2nd January 3.30pm and Sunday 5th January 8pm

On Tuesday 31 December, there will be a 3.30pm matinee instead of an evening performance.