Full Casting Announced For the London Workshop of EMMA, A New Musical Based on the Novel by Jane Austen

Full casting is announced today for the London workshop of EMMA, A New Musical, based on the novel by Jane Austen, directed by Thom Southerland.

Emma Woodhouse, handsome and clever and rich, amuses herself by matchmaking for her friends - until she meets her own match. With a fresh book and soaring score, this timeless contemporary adaptation of Jane Austen's novel explores the necessary risk of feeling your feelings.

The cast will be headed by Carly Bawden (Romantics Anonymous), Rupert Young (Merlin), and Ashleigh Gray (Wicked).

They will be joined by Alex Young (Follies), Jack North (Harry Potter And The Cursed Child), Norman Bowman (42nd Street), Tiffany Graves (Kiss Me, Kate), Rob Houchen (Les Miserables), Laura Pitt-Pulford (Barnum) and Samuel Thomas (The Comedy About A Bank Robbery).

Thom Southerland is an award-winning director. Having been nominated for four consecutive Evening Standard Awards, Thom won Best Director 2011 at the Off West End Awards for Me And Juliet at the Finborough Theatre. Amongst others, his Southwark Playhouse productions of Parade, Titanic, Grand Hotel and Mack and Mabel won many awards, with TITANIC receiving both the WhatsOnStage and Off West End Awards for Best Production. His work has been produced in London and the USA and have subsequently transferred internationally. Credits Include - Grey Gardens (Southwark Playhouse) Peter Pan (US Tour, Writer and Director) Grand Hotel (Southwark Playhouse and Umeda Arts Theatre Tokyo) The Smallest Show on Earth (UK Tour - Writer and Director) The Grand Tour (Finborough Theatre); The Mikado (Charing Cross Theatre); Titanic (Southwark Playhouse, London - Umeda Arts, Japan and Princess of Wales Theatre Toronto); Carnival Of The Animals (Riverside Studios); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Arts Ed); Victor/Victoria (Southwark Playhouse); Mack & Mabel (Southwark Playhouse - longlisted, Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical 2012, nominated for 13 Broadway World UK Awards and 6 Off West End Awards); Merrily We Roll Along (Guildhall); Noël & Gertie (Cockpit); Parade (Southwark Playhouse - longlisted, Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical 2011, nominated, whatsonstage.com Award for Best Musical Revival 2012, Off West End Award for Best Musical Production 2012); State Fair (Finborough & Trafalgar Studios); Daisy Pulls It Off, The Diary of Anne Frank, Call Me Madam (Upstairs at the Gatehouse); The Full Monty (New Players); Hobson's Choice (Broadway Theatre, Catford), Hello Jerry!, The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Landor); I Sing, Divorce Me Darling!, Annie Get Your Gun, The Pyjama Game, all-male adaptations of HMS Pinafore and The Mikado (Union Theatre).

Meghan Brown is an Ovation Award-winning playwright based in Los Angeles. Full-length plays include The Pliant Girls, The Kill-or-Dies, and Shine Darkly, Illyria. She is a founding member of the Temblors (www.theTemblors.org). Meghan wrote the libretto for OperaWorks' opera The Discord Altar, and lyrics for the song cycle Untuned Ears Hear Nothing but Discord, which premiered at Lincoln Center as part of In Need of Music: The Songs of Ben Toth. Current projects include the original musical These Girls Have Demons (music by Sarah Taylor Ellis, recently workshopped as part of Pittsburgh CLO's inaugural SPARK festival), Cowboy Elektra (with Rogue Artists Ensemble, music by the Dustbowl Revival's Zach Lupetin), and The Tasters (the Temblors). www.MeghanBrown.net

Sarah Taylor Ellis composes musicals about women. In addition to Emma, Sarah is the composer of These Girls Have Demons, an original slumber party rock musical with Meghan Brown, which was recently workshopped in Pittsburgh CLO's inaugural SPARK festival. Sarah's chamber musical of The Trojan Women with Ellen McLaughlin had a reading directed by Rachel Dickstein in NYC this January. Her work has been developed by Apples and Oranges Studios and The Civilians, and she collaborated on a choral piece that kicked off the Women's March on NYC. Sarah is the composer-in-residence at the Nightingale-Bamford School, and she holds a Ph.D. in Theater & Performance Studies from UCLA. www.staylorellis.com

Ben Toth is a transatlantic theatre producer and investor. Current/recent productions include the West End premiere of Bryony Lavery's FROZEN at Theatre Royal Haymarket, the off West End revival of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE WOMAN IN WHITE at Charing Cross Theatre, and a new musical adaptation of Jane Austen's EMMA (in development in both New York and London). When not supporting new theatre ventures, Ben helps high net worth buyers find new homes in New York City and Los Angeles; recent clients include Rosie O'Donnell and Lea Salonga. www.Bentothproductions.com

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