Casting Announcement - Trish Noble Joins the LADIES IN BLACK for 2017 National Tour

Queensland Theatre Company have announced that one of Australia's most acclaimed stars of the stage and screen, the multi-award winning actor Trisha Noble, will join the cast of Ladies in Black for the national tour in 2017.

The smash hit and Helpmann-Award winning musical Ladies in Black will open in Sydney on 3 January 2017 for its premiere season in the city in which the story is based. The show will then return for an encore season to Brisbane from 28 January, before another encore season in Melbourne from 25 February, and to Canberra from 27 March.

Ms Noble joins a stellar cast under the internationally-acclaimed director Simon Phillips (Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Love Never Dies) with original music from legendary singer songwriter Tim Finn OBE (Split Enz, Crowded House). From the adaptation of Madeleine St John's 1993 novel, The Women in Black, this applauded production has been brought to life by Australian screenwriter Carolyn Burns together with Phillips and Finn.

Trisha will play the dual roles of Miss Jacobs and Mrs Crown.

Since returning home to Australia, having enjoyed a highly successful career spanning two decades in the UK and the USA, Trisha has continued to show her versatility in a diverse range of roles on stage, television and film. These include guest roles in the mini-series Blonde, All Saints and Water Rats, and starring roles in musicals including Dusty (National Tour: Dusty Promotions), Leader of the Pack (Leader Entertainment), Footloose (SEL and GFO) and the dramatic play Three Winters Green. She created the role of Thelma O'Keefe in the musical Shout (National Tour: Jacobson Entertainment) for which she received a Green Room Award nomination for Best Female Artist in a Featured Role and two consecutive Mo Award nominations for Female Musical Performer of the year.As a tribute, an extended episode of This Is Your Life recognised her outstanding career.

On film Trisha joined the Star Wars movie family as Jobal Naberrie in Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith. In 2007 Trisha performed in the inaugural Kookaburra production of the musical Pippin for which she received a Helpmann Award nomination for Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical. Subsequently Trisha performed her favourite role to date - the part of Marmee in the Kookaburra production of the Broadway musical Little Women.

The world premiere of Ladies in Black, the stylish story of fashion, friendship and 1950s Australia took place in Brisbane in November 2015 with the frock-fest signalling a stunning and triumphant return of musical theatre for the company. Just recently Ladies in Black won the coveted Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work and was nominated for another five awards.

The show features over 20 original songs written by Tim Finn and a stunning range of some 30 custom-designed and created dresses and suits. The genesis of Ladies in Black actually happened at the Brisbane Airport - Tim Finn was famously looking for a book to read, bought The Women in Black and on reading it, was compelled to call Simon Phillips and plant the seed for a stage production. On the plane, he started writing the music. The rest is history.

Revisiting the role of Lisa, the young starry eyed school-leaver, is rising star, Sarah Morrison. Sarah studied Opera at the Queensland Conservatorium after high school, and then moved to Victoria to follow her first love in musical theatre. In this her first pivotal role, she has won acclaim and ovation.

The brilliant Bobby Fox, who wowed audiences playing Frankie Valli in the smash hit, Jersey Boys, returns as Rudi (otherwise known as the 'Continental') along with the multi-talented and award-winning artist Carita Farrer Spencer who will play Mrs Miles, and music and stage star Kathryn McIntyre who will play Myra. Accomplished actor Greg Stone (Once, The Weir, The Glitch) takes on the dual roles again as Mr Miles and Stefan, and joining him will be Kate Cole who again play the characters Miss Cartwright and Joy.

New to the cast for the Australian tour is the leading lady of stage and screen Natalie Gamsu (Strictly Ballroom, Mary Poppins, Dr Zhivago, Neighbours) who will play the character of Magda, as well as Madeleine Jones who was nominated for a Helpmann Award in 2015 for her work in Once. She will play Patty. Taking the role of Fay is leading singer and stage performer, Ellen Simpson, who was most recently seen as Renee Geyer on television screens in the blockbuster tele series, Molly.

The Story:

With a dash of delicate comedy, Ladies in Black is a magical modern-day fairytale set in a stylish department store - F.G. Goode - in a city on the cusp of becoming cosmopolitan: Sydney is crossing the threshold between the stuffy repression of the 1950s and the glorious liberation of the 1960s. Donning a distinguished black dress, the bright-eyed, bookish school leaver Lisa is about to join the ranks on the sales floor of the city's most prestigious department store - temporarily, of course.

Her domineering dad intends to railroad her into a career as a secretary, but Lisa has grander schemes in mind. In that summer of innocence, a world of possibilities opens up as she befriends the unlucky Fay and the frustrated Patty; and the exotic, compelling European refugee, Magda, mysterious mistress of the model gowns, who takes Lisa under her wing. From the Christmas rush to the chaos of the sales, these women stand shoulder to padded shoulder and together learn lessons in life, love and longing - and at the end, it's not just the fancy frocks that are forever altered.

Website: ladiesinblack.com.au #ladiesinblack2017

Sydney - Sydney Lyric Theatre

3 - 22 January 2017

Phone: 1300 795 267

Ticketmaster.com.au or sydneyfestival.org.au

Brisbane - Playhouse, QPAC
28 January - 19 February 2017

Phone: 136 246 or queenslandtheatre.co.au

Melbourne - Regent Theatre

25 February - 19 March 2017

Phone: 1300 111 011 or ticketmaster.com.au

Canberra - Canberra Theatre Centre

27 March - 2 April 2017

Phone: (02) 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au