Sheffield Theatres To Stage COMPANY, Tix On Sale November 27

Sheffield Theatres is delighted to announce it is to stage a brand new production of Sondheim's Company at the Crucible Theatre for Christmas 2011. This new production will see Artistic Director Daniel Evans in the role of Robert; it will be directed by Jonathan Munby and designed by Christopher Oram.

Company, Sondheim's groundbreaking musical, focuses on Robert, a commitment-phobic bachelor and his married friends. Centred around Robert's 35th birthday, Company moves through a range of brilliantly witty scenes between Robert and his coupled friends as they endeavour to persuade him it's time to take a wife. Company includes some of Sondheim's most recognizable songs, including Getting Married Today, The Ladies Who Lunch and Being Alive.

Daniel Evans will take the lead role in Company. Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Evans is also an award-winning actor. He won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical (his second Olivier Award, the first being for Merrily We Roll Along in 2001) and a Tony Award nomination for the role of George in Sunday in the Park with George (Menier Chocolate Factory, Wyndham's Theatre and Broadway). His other credits include work with the Donmar Warehouse, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court Theatre and National Theatre as well as Cloud Nine and The Tempest on the Crucible stage.

Jonathan Munby directs. Munby was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award as Outstanding Director for The Dog in the Manger at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC. His other credits include The Prince of Homburg and Life is a Dream (Donmar Warehouse), The Winter's Tale (Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis); The White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factory), Carmen (Opera Holland Park), Serious Money and She Stoops to Conquer (Birmingham Rep), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Globe Theatre), Don Giovanni (English Touring Opera), Henry V and Mirandolina (Royal Exchange), Gilgamesh (National Theatre Studio), Noises Off (The Kreeger Theatre, Washington), A Number , Bird Calls and The Comedy of Errors (Sheffield Crucible), The Canterbury Tales (RSC, as one of the three directors, West End/ Stratford/ Washington).

Christopher Oram designs. Oram recently won the Tony Award for Best Design of a Play for Red on Broadway. His previous work for Sheffield Crucible includes As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III with Kenneth Branagh; Edward II with Joseph Fiennes; Suddenly Last Summer with Diana Rigg, The Tempest and Don Carlos with Derek Jacobi (also Gielgud Theatre). Collaborations at the Donmar Warehouse include Good with Charles Dance; Passion Play, Privates on Parade, Caligula, The Vortex, Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel, Pirandello's Henry IV with Ian McDiarmid, Don Juan in Soho with Rhys Ifans, Frost/Nixon with Frank Langella and Michael Sheen (also West End and Broadway), Othello with Ewan McGregor and Red. He designed the four plays in the Donmar West End season: Ivanov with Kenneth Branagh, Twelfth Night with Derek Jacobi, Madame de Sade with Judi Dench and Hamlet with Jude Law (which subsequently transferred to Elsinore castle in Denmark and to the Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway). Oram also designed the musicals Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre and Evita (Adelphi Theatre) in London, as well as the costumes for Kenneth Branagh's film of The Magic Flute. Most recently, Oram designed Jamie Lloyd's celebrated production of Stephen Sondheim's Passion at the Donmar.

Stephen Sondheim is one of the world's greatest composers and lyricists. This year, to mark his 80th birthday, celebrations have included a spectacular BBC Prom in which Daniel Evans performed. Evans will also perform in one-off concert performances of Merrily We Roll Along as part of the Donmar's festival to celebrate Sondheim's birthday. Sondheim's major works include Merrily We Roll Along, Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sunday in the Park with George, Saturday Night, Anyone Can Whistle, Follies, Into the Woods and Assassins. Sondheim also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy and Do I Hear a Waltz? Sondheim has won numerous awards including 8 Tony Awards (one of which was a Lifetime Achievement Award), 7 Grammys and an Academy Award for Best Song for Sooner or Later from the film, Dick Tracy.

Company will take to the Crucible stage in December 2011 and tickets will go on sale from 27 November 2010. www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk