Full Cast Set For HERE COMES J EDGAR! at King's Head Theatre

The full cast has been announced for the World premiere of the new comedy musical, Here Comes J Edgar!, which opens at King's Head Theatre in July. Performances will run 10 July to 16 August 2026.

Written by US comedy aristocracy, Harry Shearer (The Simpsons and This Is Spinal Tap) and Tom Leopold (Seinfeld and Cheers), with a musical score written by the legendary musician, composer, arranger, and conductor Peter Matz (Barbra Streisand and Carol Burnett), Here Comes J Edgar!  takes a bitingly comedic look at the very public public life and the very secret secret life of real-life former FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover.

Joining the already announced Bryan Batt (Salvatore Romano - Mad Men) making his London debut, in the title role, will be Marc Elliott, best known for playing Syed Masood in Eastenders.  Elliot will take the role of famed gossip columnist and radio commentator of the time, Walter Winchell. 

Here Comes J Edgar! tells the public and private story of J. Edgar Hoover who, as director of the FBI from 1924 to 1972, secured his position as the most powerful man in America by gathering information on the private lives of others. Yet, behind all the machismo, was his concealed sexuality, his secret partying and his lifelong love affair with his deputy, Clyde Tolson. This was a man who stopped at nothing to use the secrets of others to build and exert his control … yet underneath the petticoats of power lay his own secrets … hidden … in plain sight.

Between them, Batt and Elliot have a vast experience in musical theatre.  On Broadway, Batt has starred in Sunset Boulelvard, Saturday Night Fever, La Cage Aux Folles, Cats, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, Starlight Express, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Seussical, and Beauty and the Beast, whilst on-stage in the UK, Elliot has taken leading roles in She Loves Me at Sheffield Crucible, City of Angels in the West End and Sweet Charity at Nottingham Playhouse.

The rest of the cast comprises Alfie Parker (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - UK Tour; Fat Friends - UK Tour; Spend, Spend, Spend! - Royal Exchange, Manchester) as Tony Clownpants; Holly Willock (Mean Girls – West End, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor

Dreamcoat - U.K. Tour &; Toronto, Cats - 40th Anniversary Tour) as Nurse; Hugo Bolton (King Lear - The Almeida Theatre, AIDS, The Unheard Tapes – BBC TV, The Inheritance – West End) as Clyde Tolson; Isobel Grace Bass (a recent graduate from Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and Guildford School of Acting)  as onstage swing; Jeremy Batt (The Greatest Showman - Bristol Hippodrome, Top Hat - Chichester Festival Theatre, Wicked - West End) as onstage swing; Jess Pratley (making her professional debut) as Boy John; Joanna Kirkland (The Good Enough Mums Club - Tour, The Caucasian Chalk Circle - Rose Theatre Kingston, Dear Evan Hansen- West End), as Mother (21st July - 24th July); acclaimed jazz singer Judith Owen as Lady In Red; Laura Medforth (Acorn Antiques - Hope Mill Theatre, Hello, Dolly! - The London Palladium, The Witches - Royal National Theatre) as Helen; Lucy O'Byrne (Little Miss Sunshine- UK & Ireland tour, Evita - UK, Ireland & Germany tour, Les Misérables – West End) as Mother (excluding  21st July - 24th July); Martha Pothen (Lovers Actually - The Other Palace,  50 First Dates the Musical - The Other Palace, The Frogs - Southwark Playhouse) as Maisie; Ryan Heenan (Girl from the North Country – The Old Vic, Jersey Boys – West End, Back To The Future - The Musical – West End) as Purvis;  Reuben Khan (making his professional debut) as John F. Kennedy; Simon Anthony (Fiddler on The Roof - Barbican Theatre/Tour, 42 Balloons - Manchester Lowry, Guys And Dolls - The Bridge Theatre); as John Dillinger. 

The show is directed by Josh Seymour, with choreography by the celebrated Bill Deamer. The musical supervisor is Benjamin Ferguson, musical director is Luke Holman, scenic design is by Sophia Pardon and costume design by Tom Paris.  Lighting design is by Jamie Platt, sound design by Nick Lodge and the casting director is by Harry Blumenau CDG CSA. The associate director is Jessica McKenna, associate choreographer is Aimee Leigh and production manager is Adam Jefferys.  Arthur Spivak and David Burns produce, with general management handled by James Quaife for Luminous Entertainment Group.

This weird and twisted tale is told in the style of a 1950s musical romantic comedy.  What emerges is a sharp and irrepressible comic musical about the love of power and the power of love … and what a simple black dress and a single strand of pearls can do for a guy!