Star of stage and screen Vicki Michelle will make her Park Theatre debut in Hello Norma Jeane by Dylan Costello in PARK90 from 23 February - 19 March, directed by Matthew Gould. Produced by Giant Cherry Productions, the play was a winner in Chicago's Great Gay Play Contest 2012 and follows their sell-out The Glass Protégé at Park Theatre in 2015. Press Night Wednesday 24 February, 7pm.
It's spring 2003 and Essex grandmother Lynnie has escaped her nursing home and fled 5,000 miles across the Atlantic to Hollywood, Los Angeles, where she plans to reveal to the world her deepest secret - that she is Marilyn Monroe, alive and well after faking her death decades before. As her gay grandson Joe turns up to take her home, he finds himself embroiled in his grandmother's scheme, questioning his sanity as he wonders whether he really can be the grandson of Marilyn Monroe. But is Lynnie really Marilyn? Or an old lady wanting to avoid ending her days alone inside a nursing home? There's only one way that the truth will be revealed in this funny drama that is full of surprises.
Vicki Michelle (Lynnie) is best loved as waitress Yvette in the award winning TV series 'Allo Allo'. She recently appeared in Sleeping Beauty at Lincoln Theatre Royal and in summer 2014 starred as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest for Frinton Summer Theatre. Her numerous stage credits include Round and Round The Garden, Table Manners, Don't Dress For Dinner, Double Vision, Audacity, Dracula, Business Affairs, The Tart And The Vicar's Wife, Stepping Out, That's Love, Funny Money, Out of Order and Wife Begins at Forty.
Farrel Hegarty (Marilyn/Norma Jeane/Carla) starred alongside Leslie Grantham in Soap Opera (UK Tour) and most recently appeared in Reform Theatre's Stand by David Bown (UK Tour).
Jamie Hutchins (Joe) has appeared in The Mousetrap (UK Tour), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Chelsea Theatre) and The Provoked Wife (Greenwich Playhouse).
Peter McPherson (Bobby) recently played Heathcliff in the workshop of
Catherine McDonald's new musical adaptation of Wuthering Heights (Barons Court Theatre) and Colors (Tristan Bates Theatre).
Dylan Costello writes for stage, film and television as well as being Artistic Director of LGBT-focused production company Giant Cherry Productions. Hello Norma Jeane is Dylan's fourth play and was one of five winners in 'The Great Gay Play Contest' in Chicago in 2012 and received a one-off showcase there in 2012. His most recent play, The Glass Protégé, had a sell-out 4 week run at Park Theatre in April 2015 and also in Chicago where it recently received three Broadway World awards.
Matthew Gould has been directing for a number of years both plays and musicals. Last year he directed The Glass Protégé for Cherry Productions at Park Theatre. Recently he directed the musical Midnight (Studio, St. James Theatre),
Valerie Hobson (Jermyn Street) and The Gambit (Theatre 503, UK Tour).
Set Designer Zoe Hammond, Costume Designer Sissy Stenimachali, Lighting Designer Joshua Sung.
