Full Cast Set For MTFESTUK 2026

The six original musicals announced as part of MTFestUK 2026 are now complete with a dazzling cast of musical theatre powerhouses. Featuring Bronté Barbé (Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder, Newsies), Anjali Bhimani (Ms. Marvel, Bombay Dreams), Felicia Day (Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Omari Douglas (Cabaret, It's a Sin) and Jodie Steele (Heathers The Musical, West End & Broadway), this year's line-up celebrates a dynamic range of themes and genres with an exceptional talent of performers, writers, composers and creatives.

With continued success since its inaugural season in 2019, MTFestUK returns in 2026 to provide a platform for exciting and innovative musical theatre from the UK and abroad. This year, the festival will feature six musicals from 27 January – 15 February, workshopped and presented in sharing sessions in The Other Palace Studio. Audiences are invited to explore new musical theatre in its various stages of development. 

Shining in Misery: A King-Size Parody

Music & Musical Direction:  Andrew Abrams

Book & Lyrics: Mark-Eugene Garcia

Book: Colleen DuVall

Director: Gary Lloyd

Experience a musical parody of King-size proportions! During the Misery of a blizzard, five people are drawn to the Shining lights of the Overlook Hotel. This includes Jack: the hotel's new caretaker, Wendy: his unhappy wife, Danny: their clairvoyant son, Annie: a volatile nurse, and Paul: the mysterious, unconscious man she drags up to room 217. As the storm grows so do the mysteries of the hotel and the guests sing and vocalise while hacking an onslaught of visitors - human, animal, and supernatural. Will this group be able to harmonise through IT, take a Stand, or fade into The Mist? 

Cast includes: Dominic Andersen (Heathers The Musical) as Danny Torrance / Tony Torrance / Orphan; Bronté Barbé (Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder) as Wendy Torrance / Twin Two / Rose The Hat; David-Michael Johnson (The Creakers) as Dick Halloran / Lloyd The Bartender / Randall Flag / Orphan; Aaron Pryce Lewis (The Phantom of the Opera) as Paul Sheldon / Barlow The Vampire; Catherine Millsom (Freaky Friday) as Nanny Annie Wilkes; Rachel Rawlinson (SIX The Musical) as Cujo / Orphan / Twin One; Steven Serlin (Heathers The Musical) as Andy Dufresne / Pennywise / Orphan; Jonathan Wagner (School of Rock, Broadway) as Jack Torrance. 

Legendary

Book, Music & Lyrics: Cheeyang Ng

Director: Emilio Ramos

Legendary is a vibrant, ritualistic solo musical that traces a queer Asian immigrant's journey to reclaim lineage, language, and belonging. Guided by Chinese mythology and the memories they carry across continents, the Narrator invites the audience into circle singing and call-and-response to co-create the story in real time. Each chapter reveals another fracture — home, family, gender, legacy — until the Narrator begins to imagine a new creation myth rooted in their own truth. Intimate, playful, and defiantly joyful, Legendary blurs concert, ritual, and theatre as it asks: What happens when you become the myth you never saw?

One-person show starring award-winning singer-songwriter Cheeyang Ng (MĀYĀ: The Musical, Eastbound, The Phoenix).

Tristan

Writer: Matt Jones

Composer: Kele Okereke

Director: Ellie Coote

Tristan is charming, gorgeous and can sweep you off your feet. He's also a liar and fantasist. What makes a man like Tristan? If that's even his real name. Nick and Philly are both in love with him. Unfortunately they know nothing about the existence of the other.

Why do we fall for the Tristans of this world? What makes us vulnerable to their charms? Tristan offers both Nick and Philly a vision of a future more attractive and romantic than the lives they are currently living. Only when they both end up in the same room, will they discover the lie they have been sold.

Cast includes: Aretha Ayeh (Romeo and Juliet) as Philly; Nicola Blackman (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) as Cassandra; Ashley J. Daniels (Hamilton) as Tristan/Brandon; Ross Harmon (Get Down Tonight) as Drew; Jasper Talbot (The Line of Beauty) as Nick. 

That Witch

Book, Music & Lyrics: Billy Cullum & Robert Tregoning

Director: Jess Edwards

Musical Director: Arlene McNaught

The Sunny High Drama Club present the world première read through slash workshop performance of their original musical That Witch, based on totally unbelievable events that like, actually happened in their home town – SunnyVille. Witches are SO not welcome in SunnyVille, but when Olivia, a lonely new girl with hidden powers arrives, queen bee Taylor feels that Sunny High life as she knows it is under threat. Taylor will do whatever it takes to protect her social status…but is the real enemy hiding in plain sight? And when Olivia steps into her truth and meets others like her, will she finally find her tribe?

Cast includes: Omari Douglas (Cabaret); Bobbie Little (The Witches); Jenny O'Leary (Titanique); Keith Ramsay (Shucked).

The Guild: The Musical

Based on the original series by Felicia Day

Book: Allison Frasca

Music: Mark Schenfisch

Lyrics: Sam Balzac

Director: Dean Johnson

It was so much easier being friends before they ever met…

Cyd Sherman thrives on killing monsters with her band of online friends. Getting groceries and remembering to go to therapy? Not so much.

She and her guildmates are blissfully isolated from each other until one member breaks digital anonymity. Suddenly, Cyd is forced to overcome her own fears and unite the Guild to battle anxieties, miscommunication, and the biggest boss of all: reality.

Adapted from the cult classic webseries by Felicia Day, The Guild: The Musical features infectious tunes, rambunctious comedy, and Day reprising her role as Cyd/Codex.

Cast includes: Anjali Bhimani (Ms. Marvel, Bombay Dreams) as Avinashi; Cavin Cornwall (Andor) as Vork; Felicia Day (Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Codex; Iván Fernández González (Heathers The Musical) as Bladezz; Emma Lindars (Robin Hood) as Clara; Emily Ooi (Just For One Day) as Tink; Nuwan Hugh Perera (The Lord of the Rings) as Zaboo.

GLIMMER

Book & Lyrics: Frankie Bunce

Music & Lyrics: Kat Kleve

Director: Nick Winston

Musical Director: Benjamin Cox

GLIMMER is a dark, adrenaline-fuelled new musical set in Bristol, 2025. Burnt-out from carrying responsibilities far beyond her years, Billie is desperate to be seen - until one doom-scroll leads her to Anakiss, a magnetic influencer preaching radical self-belief through small acts of revenge she calls “glimmers.”  When her online world begins to bleed into real life, Billie's transformation sparks a dangerous chain of irreversible consequences. With a pulsing pop score and a razor-sharp look at influencer culture, GLIMMER dives into digital radicalisation, exploring power, pain, and the price of being heard. 

Cast includes: Melanie-Joyce Bermudez (Bacchae) as Billie; Philippa Carson (Jack and the Beanstalk) as Gem/Gemma/Suzie; Shem Omari James (Dreamgirls) as Callum; Bridie Shine (Shakespeare N' Love) as Rae; Jodie Steele (Heathers The Musical) as Anakiss/Thea.