Jeff Shankley and Dean John-Wilson Will Play Claude Monet in A MIRRORED MONET

New musical A Mirrored Monet will receive its London premiere at Charing Cross Theatre where it will run from 14 March 2026 until 9 May 2026 with press night on 24 March 2026. Written by composer, lyricist and dramatist Carmel Owen (Asylum: The Strange Case of Mary Lincoln), and directed by Christian Durham (Waiting for Godot, Fly More Than You Fall), this dramatic new musical will explore the man behind the much loved impressionist masterpiece - The Water Lilies. 

Paris, 1916. The painter Claude Monet struggles to complete the commission that will define his legacy: The Water Lilies — a project on which his survival depends, with food and  essential supplies at stake as the First World War encroaches. Plagued by creative block, he retreats into memory, revisiting his early artist days with contemporaries Renoir and Manet, and his muse, Camille Doncieux.

Inspired by letters and diaries from Monet and his peers, A Mirrored Monet immerses audiences in the cafés, studios, and salons of Belle Époque Paris, with music and projections bringing the era vividly to life. An earlier iteration of A Mirrored Monet featured at Greenside's Emerald Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023.

Award-winning actor Jeff Shankley (Starlight Express, Cats) will star as the iconic painter Claude Monet in 1916, with Dean John-Wilson (Your Lie in April: The Musical, Aladdin) as the artist in his youth. Completing the cast are John Addison (Pretty Woman, Titanic) as Leroy, Brooke Bazarian (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Sondheim Unplugged) as Camille Doncieux, Natalie Day (Grease, To Wong Foo The Musical) as Blanche/Suzanne, Ritesh Manugula (My Fair Lady, Shirley) as Bazille, Sam Peggs (Oliver!, Les Misérables) as Renoir, Aaron Pryce-Lewis (Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables) as Manet, Steven Serlin (Here we Are, Shining in Misery) as Marquis, Nick Bligh covering Old Monet and Marquis, Samuel Haughton covering Renoir, Manet/Durand-Ruel, Leroy, Bazille and Meg Matthews covering Camille and Blanche/Suzanne.

The production features music direction by Michael Webborn, set and costume designs by Libby Todd, lighting design by Jodie Underwood, sound design by Andy Johnson and video design by Matt Powell. The assistant director and movement director is Heather Douglas, the assistant music director is Rachel Blaquiere, and the costume supervisor is Sheree Paton. The production manager is James Anderton, the casting director is Jane Deitch with general management by Katy Lipson and Kristie Winsen for ARIA Entertainment.

Carmel Owen said: "Monet is fascinating, both as an artist and as an Everyman. The first time I encountered his work I was struck not only by the rhythmic energy throughout and beauty within, but also the intense melancholia lying beneath their tranquil surfaces. It is this period of the great artist's life, as he struggles to complete his Water Lilies series, that I explore in A Mirrored Monet. These paintings were his great gift to France and to us all, created while enduring serious depression, the violence of war and the process of aging itself. It's a privilege to be bringing his story to the London stage.”

Jeff Shankley said: “As an author, it took a great deal to entice me back onto the West End stage after so long. But the opportunity to live inside the mind of one of the greatest Impressionist painters of all time was an experience I could not pass by. A Mirrored Monet is a beautiful work of art, exquisitely crafted—one that invites not imitation, but surrender.”