Full Cast Announced For The UK Premiere of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY

The Menier Chocolate Factory today announces the full company for the UK première of the musical of Robert James Waller's bestselling novel The Bridges of Madison County in a new staging by Trevor Nunn.

Joining the previously announced Jenna Russell (Francesca) are Ed Baker-Duly (Robert), Georgia Brown (Chiara/Ginny/State Fair Singer), Maddison Bulleyment (Carolyn), Shanay Holmes (Marian), Gillian Kirkpatrick (Marge), Paul F Monaghan (Charlie), David Perkins (Michael) and Dale Rapley (Bud). The production opens on 23 July, with previews from 13 July, and runs until 14 September. Public booking is now open.

Francesca is an Italian immigrant housewife living a happy existence on a farm in the American Midwest. However, when her family go off to the Iowa State Fair, she meets Robert Kincaid, a National Geographic photographer on assignment filming bridges in the area. Their initial friendship develops into a brief but passionate affair which has devastating consequences on all of their lives.

Winner of the Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations, this is some of Jason Robert Brown's most ravishing and unforgettable music.

The production sees Trevor Nunn renew his collaboration with the Menier - he previously directed Fiddler on the Roof (currently running at the Playhouse Theatre),Lettice and Lovage, Love in Idleness (also West End), A Little Night Music (also West End and Broadway) and Aspects of Love for the company.

Edward Baker-Duly plays Robert. He previously appeared at the Chocolate Factory in Rookery Nook. His US theatre credits include the Broadway production of The King And I; and the Off-Broadway production of Peter And The Starcatcher. His West End theatre work includes The King and I, The Wizard Of Oz, Gone With The Wind, South Pacific, West Side Story, Salad Days. UK: Noises Off, Anyone Can Whistle, The Lady Vanishes, Copacabana, The Pirates of Penzance, Singing in the Rain, The Full Monty, Twelfth Night and The Mikado. He most recently appeared in Kiss Me Kate at Sheffield Theatres. For television, his work includes Shades Of Blue, Billions, Elementary, The Blacklist, Royal Pains, Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs, Micro Men, New Tricks and Yes Prime Minister; and for film, Heidi Queen Of The Mountain, DeLovely, Botched, The Circle and Welkome Home.

Georgia Brown plays Chiara/Ginny/State Fair Singer. Her theatre credits include Daddy's Girl (Three Street Productions - also playwright), Carry on Jaywick (HighTide and tour), Somewhere in England (Eastern Angles), A Chorus of Disapproval (Harold Pinter Theatre) and Harold Pinter - A Celebration (National Theatre); and for film, New Cross: Coming Up 2012.

Maddison Bulleyment plays Carolyn. This is her professional stage debut.

Shanay Holmes plays Marian. Her theatre work includes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Kilworth House Theatre), The Wizard of Oz (Birmingham Rep), Rent (UK tour), Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Close to You - Bacharach Reimagined (Criterion Theatre), Rent and The Bodyguard (UK tour).

Gillian Kirkpatrick plays Marge. Her theatre work includes Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival Theatre and Adelphi Theatre), Skellig (Nottingham Playhouse), Spring Awakening (Hope Mill Theatre), The Last Ones (Jermyn Street Theatre), Sunny Afternoon (Harold Pinter Theatre), American Psycho (Almeida Theatre) and Blood Brothers (Phoenix). For television, her work includes Inside Balmoral; and for film, All Roads Lead to Home, Dorcha and Recovery.

Paul F Monaghan plays Charlie. His theatre work includes Man of La Mancha (London Coliseum), La Cage aux Folles (UK tour), Cats the Musical (London Palladium and UK tour), A Man of No Importance (Arts Theatre) and Les Misérables (Palace Theatre and UK tour). His film work includes Mary Queen of Scots and Rough and Ready.

David Perkins plays Michael. He recently graduated from Mountiview. His theatre credits include Spring Awakening (Transfer Productions), The Rose Tattoo, The Life of Galileo, Love's Labour's Lost, Coast of Utopia: Shipwrecked and The Voysey Inheritance (National Theatre); and for film, Laura's Star.

Dale Rapley plays Bud. His theatre work includes Richard III, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare's Rose Theatre), The Addams Family Musical (UK and Ireland tour), Aladdin(Lyric Hammersmith), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre) and Wicked (UK tour). For television his work includes Silent Witness; and for film, Au Pair and Paper Mask.

Jenna Russell returns to the Menier to play Francesca - she previously appeared in Merrily We Roll Along (also Harold Pinter Theatre - Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical) and Sunday in the Park With George (Wyndham's Theatre - Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical; and Studio 54, Roundabout Theater Company - Drama League Award, and Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations for Leading Actress in a Musical). Other theatre work includes Fun Home (Young Vic), Doctor Faustus (Duke of York's Theatre), Grey Gardens (Southwark Playhouse), Peter Pan the Musical (Royal Festival Hall), Songs for a New World (St James' Theatre), Di and Viv and Rose (Vaudeville Theatre), Urinetown (St James' Theatre and Apollo Theatre), Soho Cinders (Soho Theatre), That Day We Sang (MIF), Season's Greetings(National Theatre), Amy's View (Garrick Theatre), and Guys and Dolls (Piccadilly Theatre - Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical). For television, her work includes as series regular Michelle Fowler in EastEnders, Call the Midwife, The Ladies Paradise, Better Class of Person and Born and Bred; and for film, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, Mortdecai, Scared Hearts and The Fear.

Marsha Norman is a playwright and screenwriter. Her theatre credits include Master Butcher's Singing Club; Third and Oak: The Laundromat; 'night, Mother - Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama­; The Secret Garden - Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical; The Red Shoes; The Color Purple; Getting Out; The Pool Hall; The Holdup; Traveler in the Dark; Sarah and Abraham; Loving Daniel Boone; Trudy Blue and Last Dance. Her television credits include In Treatment. For film 'night, Mother; Face of a Stranger; A Cooler Climate; Custody of the Heart and The Audrey Hepburn Story.

Jason Robert Brown is a three-time Tony Award winning composer and lyricist. His theatre credits include 13, The Last Five Years - which was also adapted into a film in 2015 starring Anna Kendrick, Parade - which won a Tony Award for Best Score, Honeymoon in Vegas, Songs for a New World and Urban Cowboy - which he co-wrote with Jeff Blumenkrantz.

From 1968 to 1986, Trevor Nunn was the youngest ever Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, directing over thirty productions, including most of the Shakespeare canon, as well as Nicholas Nickleby and Les Misérables. From 1997 to 2003, he was Artistic Director of the National Theatre, where his productions included Troilus and Cressida, Oklahoma!, The Merchant of Venice, Summerfolk, My Fair Lady, A Streetcar Named Desire, Anything Goes and Love's Labour's Lost. He has directed the world premières of Tom Stoppard's plays Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia and Rock n Roll; and of Cats, Sunset Boulevard, Starlight Express and Aspects of Love by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Other theatre includes Timon of Athens, Skellig (Young Vic); The Lady From The Sea (Almeida Theatre); Hamlet, Richard II, Inherit the Wind (The Old Vic), A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory, West End and Broadway), Cyrano de Bergerac, Kiss Me Kate (Chichester Festival Theatre); Heartbreak House, Flare Path, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Tempest (Theatre Royal, Haymarket); Scenes from a Marriage (Coventry & St James), All That Fall (Jermyn Street & New York); A Chorus of Disapproval and Relative Values (West End). Work for television includes Antony and Cleopatra, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, Three Sisters, Othello, The Merchant of Venice and King Lear, and on film, Hedda, Lady Jane and Twelfth Night.

This production is produced in association Michael Harrison and David Ian.

www.menierchocolatefactory.com

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