David Bamber to Lead SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS at the Arcola Theatre

Sweet Smell of Success, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and directed by Mehmet Ergen, will gets its UK professional premiere production at Arcola Theatre for six weeks from Friday November 9 - Saturday 22 December.

Press night is Wednesday November 14 at 7.30pm.

It’s New York, 1952. Welcome to Broadway, the glamour capital of the universe. JJ Hunsecker rules it all with his daily gossip column in the New York Globe, syndicated to 60 million readers across America. JJ has the goods on everyone, from the President to the latest starlet. And everyone feeds JJ scandal, from FBI boss J Edgar Hoover and Senator Joe McCarthy down to a battalion of hungry press agents who attach their news to a client that JJ might plug. You’re no one if you’re not in JJ. You can become no one if JJ turns on you. But things take a highly personal turn when JJ uses his connections to ruin his own sister Susan's relationship with a man he thinks is inappropriate.

David Bamber (JJ Hunsecker) won the Best Actor Olivier Award for My Night With Reg. His other West End roles include Betty Blue Eyes, Absurd Person Singular, The Glee Club and Otherwise Engaged. On TV he was recently seen in Psychoville and was Cicero in Rome and Theo in The Borgias. On film, he played Adolf Hitler in the Tom Cruise action thriller, Valkyrie.

Adrian Der Gregorian (Sidney Falcone) appeared in the West End in The Woman in White and La Cage Aux Folles. Caroline Keiff (Susan) was in the original West End casts of Wicked and Legally Blonde, in which she played Vivienne Kensington. Stuart Matthew Price (Dallas) was in the critically acclaimed Parade at the Donmar. His other credits include the original West End cast of Shrek The Musical. Celia Graham (Rita) starred as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera in 2008 and in the sequel, Love Never Dies Love in 2011 at the Adelphi Thatre. The cast also features Claire Doyle, Russell Morton, Tosh Wanogho-Maud, Brenan Davies, Zoe Doano, Claudia Kariuki, Morgan Deare, Michael Chadwick.

John Lithgow starred in the Broadway premiere of Sweet Smell of Success in 2002, when it was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Marvin Hamlisch, who died earlier this year, was a prolific composer for stage and film. His other stage musicals include A Chorus Line, They’re Playing Our Song and The Goodbye Girl.