Full Casting Announced for Dr. Seuss' THE LORAX' at The Old Vic

By: Aug. 22, 2017
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The Old Vic today announced full casting for Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, which returns to The Old Vic stage for a limited run opening on Tuesday 24 October, with previews from Sunday 15 October 2017, prior to international dates in Canada and the USA.

The irrepressible, big-hearted, moustachioed critter is back. This dazzlingly funny, moving, and inspiring show sees the go-getting Once-ler come face to face with the magical Lorax in a battle over the beloved truffula trees and the whole of Paradise Valley. Adapted for the stage by David Greig with music and lyrics by Charlie Fink and designs by multi-Olivier Award winning Rob Howell, Dr. Seuss's The Lorax is a brilliant riot of eye-popping colour, gorgeous puppetry and infectious music to enchant adults and children alike.

Simon Paisley Day reprises his role as The Once-ler, and David Ricardo-Pearce will play The Lorax along with puppeteers Laura Caldow and Ben Thompson. The full cast includes Michael Ajao, Joseph Alessi, Josh Baker, Jack Beale, Hannah Fairclough, Owain Gwynn, Wendy Mae Brown, Kirsty Malpass, Kerri Norville, Ellena Vincent and Silas Wyatt-Barke.

Simon Paisley Day reprises his role as The Once-ler. His other theatre credits include Urinetown (West End), Shakespeare with The L.A. Phil (Hollywood Bowl), Taming of the Shrew & Timon of Athens (Shakespeare's Globe), Private Lives (West End & Broadway), Entertaining Mr Sloane (Trafalgar Studios), The Low Road & The Ugly One (Royal Court), Don't Look Now (Lyric Hammersmith), The 39 Steps (West End), Cymbeline & Twelfth Night (Regent's Park), The Philanthropist (Donmar), Twelfth Night, Anything Goes, Love's Labour's Lost, The Coast of Utopia Trilogy, Hamlet, Speer, Candide, Money, Troilus And Cressida & Oh! What a Lovely War (National), and By Jeeves! (West End). Film credits include: Victoria And Abdul, Born A King, Beauty, Tommy's Honor, The Program, The Falling, Madame Bovary, The Emperor, The Eagle, Mindgamers and Churchill The Hollywood Years. TV credits include The Crown, Victoria, Family Tree, Doctor Who, Musketeers, Sherlock, Doc Martin, Being Human, Hotel Babylon, Hustle, Space Race, Midsomer Murders, The Relief of Belsen and Titanic. Radio credits include Waterloo: The Ball At Brussels and Under The Net and numerous collaborations with BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

David Ricardo-Pearce plays The Lorax. David's theatre credits include Crossing Jerusalem (Park Theatre), The Middlemarch Trilogy (Orange Tree Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bristol Old Vic), The Sacred Flame (English Touring Theatre), Alfie (Bolton Octagon/Stephen Joseph Theatre), The Big Fellah (Gaiety Theatre/Lyric Hammersmith), Saint Joan (National Theatre) Privates on Parade (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Birmingham Rep) and Sweeny Todd (West End). Television credits include Trauma, The Spa, EastEnders, Outnumbered and Extras.

David Greig is an award-winning playwright whose work encompasses theatre, radio and film. He took up his post as Artistic Director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh, in June 2016.

Plays include Cover My Tracks (The Old Vic), The Events (Traverse/Young Vic), The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (Tron/National Theatre of Scotland), Midsummer (Traverse/Soho Theatre/Tricycle), Dunsinane (RSC at Hampstead Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland), Damascus (Traverse and Tricycle), Outlying Islands (Traverse/Royal Court), The American Pilot (RSC), Pyrenees (Paines Plough), The Cosmonaut's Last Message To The Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union (Donmar Warehouse/Paines Plough) and The Architect and Europe (Traverse).

Adaptations include The Suppliant Woman (Lyceum), Creditors (Donmar Warehouse), The Bacchae (Edinburgh International Festival), Tintin in Tibet (Barbican/Playhouse Theatre/UK tour), When the Bulbul Stopped Singing (Traverse/Amnesty International/Tapwater Award/Herald Angel), Caligula (Donmar Warehouse), Peter Pan (National Theatre of Scotland/Traverse/Barbican) and the book for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Drury Lane). David's work for children and young people includes The Monster in the Hall, Yellow Moon (TMA Award for Best Show for Children, and Young People and Brian Way Award for Best Children's Play), and Dr Korczak's Example for Tag Theatre Company, Glasgow, and Gobbo (National Theatre of Scotland).

Charlie Fink first became known as the frontman and songwriter for the band Noah and the Whale. The band's four albums sold over a million copies collectively, and they headlined at notable venues around the world, including a sold-out show at the Royal Albert Hall. Charlie was the producer of Laura Marling's Mercury Prize-nominated album Alas, I Cannot Swim, and has written and produced music for artists including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Foxes, Rhodes and Eliot Sumner. He has directed music videos and two extended short films, which were screened at music and film festivals in the UK and internationally. His music credits for theatre include Cover My Tracks, the first production in The Old Vic's 'Lates' programme and in which he also performed (The Old Vic/Latitude/tour), and Dr. Seuss's The Lorax (The Old Vic).

Max Webster is fast emerging as one of the most exciting young directors working in the UK and internationally. He was The Old Vic's first Baylis Director, and is now an Associate Director at the theatre. Recent work includes Queers, Cover My Tracks, Dr. Seuss's The Lorax (The Old Vic), The Winter's Tale (Lyceum, Edinburgh), King Lear (Royal and Derngate, Northampton/UK tour), Mary Stuart (PARCO Productions, Tokyo), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare's Globe/international tour), Orlando, To Kill a Mockingbird, My Young and Foolish Heart (Manchester Royal Exchange), Opera Highlights (Scottish Opera/tour), James and the Giant Peach, My Generation (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Twelfth Night (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Skewered Snails (Iron Oxide/Southbank Centre), Anna Karenina (Arcola), The Chalk Circle (Aarohan Theatre, Nepal), Carnival Under the Rainbow and Feast Kakulu (Hilton Arts Festival, South Africa). Upcoming work includes the commission Fanny and Alexander for The Old Vic.



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