Sheffield Crucible is to stage its first musical since its £15 million redevelopment with a revival of Me and My Girl. The production stars Daniel Crossley, Miriam Margolyes and Jemima Rooper.
England. 1937. The aristocratic Hareford family need an heir. Enter Bill Snibson - a barrow boy, a heartbreaker and the long lost son of the late Earl Hareford...
With toe tapping classics including The Sun Has Got His Hat On, Leaning on a Lamp Post and The
Lambeth Walk, Me and My Girl is an exhilarating celebration of life love and happiness!
Stephen Fry, who revised the book, commented on this new production: "now is the perfect time to revive a merry musical comedy, a show that focuses on being deliciously silly and infectiously charming. I am so excited to think that the old girl is being given a new injection of life - and by such a prestigious company. The reputation of Sheffield Crucible is immense and the talent that has been assembled for this show is simply awe-inspiring....I simply can't wait"
The cast includes
John Conroy (Parchester)
Daniel Crossley (Bill Snibson),
Richard Dempsey (Gerald Bolingbroke) Cara Elston (Mrs Brown)
Steve Fortune (Lord Battersby)
Josefina Gabrielle (Jacqueline)
Miriam Margolyes (Duchess of Dene)
Jemima Rooper (
Sally Smith) Patrick Ryecart (Sir John Tremayne)
Nicola Sloane (Lady Battersby).
Daniel Crossley plays Bill Snibson. His theatre credits include Bert in Mary Poppins (UK tour); A Chorus Line (Sheffield Crucible); Anything Goes and Love's Labour's Lost (
National Theatre); Twelfth Night (
West Yorkshire Playhouse); Chicago (Adelphi Theatre); Kiss of the Spider Woman (Hull Truck) and at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, Hello Dolly, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Oh What a Lovely War.
Miriam Margolyes plays the Duchess. Theatre credits include Madame Morrible in both the London and Broadway productions of Wicked, Blithe Spirit (Melbourne Theatre Company) The Importance of Being Earnest (Bath Theatre Royal and US tour), The Vagina Monologues, Sir
Peter Hall's Los Angeles production of Romeo & Juliet and The Killing of Sister George and The Threepenny Opera . Most recently, she starred in Theatre du Complicite's West End production of Beckett's Endgame, playing Nell, for which she won the Whatsonstage.com award for Best Supporting Actress for the second time. As well as her famed cameos in the Blackadder series, her television work includes Inconceivable, Wallis & Edward and Fall of the House of Windsor; and for film, The Age of Innocence (for which she won a Bafta for Best Supporting Actress), How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (she will reprise the role of Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Ladies in Lavender, Being Julia,
Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet and James and the Giant Peach.
Jemima Rooper plays
Sally Smith. Most recently she was seen in All My Sons at the
Apollo Theatre in the West End. Her other theatre credits include The Power of Yes and Her Naked Skin (
National Theatre), We Live (Royal Court) and Now is the Time (
Tricycle Theatre). For television: A Bouquet of Barbed Wire, Lost in Austen, Silent Witness, The Railway Children and as series regular in As If, . For film, her credits include Black Dahlia, Kinky Boots and A Sound of Thunder.
Patrick Ryecart plays Sir John Tremayne. His theatre credits include High Society (Victoria Palace Theatre) The Importance of Being Earnest (Garrick Theatre) and Private Lives (Palace Theatre). For film, his credits include Golden Eye, A Bridge Too Far, Camille, and for television Romeo and Juliet, Heart of Darkness, a series regular in The Many Wives of Patrick and as Captain
Hilary Duff in The High Life.
Anna Mackmin returns to
Sheffield Theatres to direct. Mackmin was previously an Associate Director for the company, where her credits included Cloud Nine, The Crucible, Iphigenia, Teeth ‘n' Smiles and The Arbor. She also formed and ran the literary department at
Sheffield Theatres during her tenure. Mackmin's production of The Real Thing opened recently at The Old Vic to critical acclaim. Her other directing credits include Really Old, Like Forty Five (
National Theatre), Dancing at Lughnasa (Old Vic), Hedda Gabler (
Gate Theatre, Dublin), Under the Blue Sky, In Celebration (Duke of York's Theatre), Intolerance - Shoot Get Treasure Repeat, Citizenship/Chatroom/Burn (
National Theatre, national and international tour) and Dying for It (Almeida Theatre). Mackmin has also worked for theatre companies including The Gate,
Donmar Warehouse, The Bush, Young Vic, Royal Court and
Battersea Arts Centre.
Designs are by
Peter McKintosh his previous credits for The Crucible include Fiddler on the Roof, Assassins, Aint Misbehavin and The Romans in Britain. His other credits include Serenading Louis (Donmar) Witches Of Eastwick (UK Tour) The Wizard of Oz (
West Yorkshire Playhouse and Birmingham Rep) Hello Dolly (Regent's Park) and Could Nine (Almedia)
Stephen Mear choreographs. He won the 2010 Olivier Award for Best Choreography for Hello, Dolly! at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.
Jae Alexander is Musical Director with orchestrations and dance arrangements by
Chris Walker. Sound is by
Simon Baker and Lighting by
Howard Harrison.
Me and My Girl was originally performed in 1937 at the Victoria Palace Theatre starring
Lupino Lane. It was revived in 1952, and again in 1984 when it ran for 8 years starting at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester, then at the Adelphi Theatre, on tour in the UK and then on Broadway.
