Ian Talbot will direct Peter Sham and Brad Carroll's new musical comedy, Lend Me A Tenor The Musical, based on the award-winning West End and Broadway hit comedy by Ken Ludwig. A riotous, unpredictable explosion of mistaken identities and unexpected romance, Lend Me A Tenor The Musical will run at the Theatre Royal Plymouth from 24 September - 6 October 2010, prior to an anticipated West End run in the Autumn which will be produced by Martin Platt and David Elliott in association with Eileen and Allen Anes. Lend Me A Tenor The Musical is presented by arrangement with the Theatre Royal Plymouth.
The cast of twenty seven and orchestra of fifteen includes
Matthew Kelly (Saunders),
Damian Humbley (Max),
Michael Matus (Tito),
Sally Ann Triplett (Maria), who are joined by ensemble members
Harry Morrison, Lee Ormsby,
John Stacey and
Kerry Washington. Further principal and ensemble cast members will be announced shortly.
Book and lyrics are by
Peter Sham, with music by
Brad Carroll, based on the play by
Ken Ludwig, with direction by
Ian Talbot, musical supervision by
Paul Gemignani, musical director Colin Billing, choreography by
Randy Skinner, designs by
Paul Farnsworth, lighting by
Tim Mitchell, sound by
Terry Jardine and
Nick Lidster and orchestrations by
Chris Walker.
It's 1934, and the world's greatest tenor Tito Merelli has come to Cleveland, Ohio, to save its Grand Opera
Company By singing Otello. When he is unexpectedly incapacitated, Max, the opera director's meek assistant, is given the daunting task of finding a last minute replacement. Chaos ensues - including a scheming soprano, a tenor-struck ingénue, a jealous wife, shrimp gone bad and the Cleveland Police department.
Matthew Kelly has most recently been seen on stage as Pozzo in the Theatre Royal Haymarket Production of Waiting for Godot which he is currently on tour in Australia. His other theatre credits include Eddie Waters in Comedians at the Lyric Hammersmith, Lennie in Of Mice and Men for which he won the Best Actor Olivier Award, Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf at the Trafalgar Studios, Troilus and Cressida at Shakespeare's Globe, Amadeus at Wilton's Music Hall, Forgotten Voices at the
Riverside Studios and the Edinburgh Festival as well as Oh What A Lovely War at the Octagon Theatre Bolton and
Samuel Beckett's Endgame at the Liverpool Everyman. On television his credits include the Cold Blood, Bleak House, Where The Heart Is and Marple. Earlier this year Kelly joined the Touring Consortium's Artistic Panel.
Damian Humbley's musical theatre credits include Little Shop of Horrors and The Last Five Years for the
Menier Chocolate Factory, Fiddler on the Roof at the Savoy Theatre and Woman in White at the Palace Theatre. In Australia his theatre credits include Urinetown The Musical and Passion.
Michael Matus' theatre credits include A Christmas Carol at the Arts
Theatre Oklahoma! for
Chichester Festival Theatre, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Timon of Athens at The Globe, The Canterbury Tales for the
Royal Shakespeare Company, The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe for the
Royal Shakespeare Company at
Sadler's Wells and The Taming of the Shrew at the
Theatre Royal Plymouth. His television credits include A Prince Among Men, The Bill, A Perfect World and EastEnders.
Sally Ann Triplett has most recently been seen Mamma Mia at the Prince Of Wales Theatre. Her other theatre credits include Absent Friends for Watford Palace Theatre, Amelia Earhart in Take Flight at the
Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing for Liverpool Empire, Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre, Roxy Hart in Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre, Berta in Acorn Antiques at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes for the
National Theatre. She is a regular performer on Friday Night is Music Night on Radio 2 and has been seen on television in The Bill, Doctors and Holby City.
Ian Talbot, former Artistic Director of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, was awarded the OBE in the 2007 New Year's Honours List. At the Open Air Theatre he produced over 75 productions, directing many including High Society, Lady be Good, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Boy Friend. As an actor he was most recently seen as Wilber Turnblad in the West End production of Hairspray.
Lend Me A Tenor premiered in the West End at
The Globe Theatre in 1986 where it received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy. In 1989 it the show received its Broadway premiere, receiving seven Tony Award nominations, winning two, as well as four Drama Desk Awards. In March this year,
Stanley Tucci's production of
Ken Ludwig play, Lend Me A Tenor, opened on Broadway with a cast including
Anthony LaPaglia,
Tony Shalhoub and
Justin Bartha. Lend Me A Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in more than twenty-five countries.
The
Theatre Royal Plymouth produces its own drama and musical productions, often with commercial or subsidised partners, with many touring nationally or transferring to the West End. In 2008 the Theatre Royal co-produced Othello with Frantic Assembly, collaborated with
Cameron Mackintosh to co-produce and launch the worldwide tour of Disney's Mary Poppins and staged the world premiere of
Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray. In 2009 the Theatre Royal produced Measure for Measure with
Thelma Holt and, as part of the Touring Partnership and for national tour, co-produced For King and Country. Other co-productions in 2009 included The Overcoat with Gecko, Quadrophenia and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
LISTINGS Lend Me A Tenor The Musical
Dates 24 September - 6 October 2010
Tickets £12.00-£32.00, plus concessions
Place
Theatre Royal Plymouth, Royal Parade, Plymouth, PL1 2TR
Box Office 01752 267222
Website
www.tenorthemusical.co.uk
