Sam Palladio and Lizzie Wofford to Join OKLAHOMA! in the West End

New cast members will join the West End transfer of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!.

 Star of ABC’s smash-hit musical drama Nashville, British actor and musician Sam Palladio will take over the role of Curly McLain, currently played by Olivier Award Winner Arthur Darvill, from 3 July, with Lizzie Wofford taking over the role of Gertie Cummings. They join the company alongside James Patrick Davis (Will Parker), Stavros Demetraki (Ali Hakim), Greg Hicks (Andrew Carnes), David King-Yombo (Mike), Anoushka Lucas (Laurey Williams), Marie-Astrid Mence (Lead Dancer), Paige Peddie (Ado Annie), Sally Ann Triplett (Aunt Eller) and Patrick Vaill (Jud Fry) with Andrew Berlin, Arthur Boan, Shani Cantor, Anna-Maria de Freitas, George Maddison, Brianna Ogunbawo, Finlay Paul, and Helen K Wint. Arthur Darvill and Rebekah Hinds play their final performance on 1 July. The production is running at the Wyndham’s Theatre until 2 September.

 The most awarded show of 2022 and 2023, the production won the 2023 Olivier Award and WhatsOnStage Award for Best Musical Revival and collected the Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical. Arthur Darvill won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and Patrick Vaill won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical Performance.

 The producers have set aside a number of £10 tickets for Monday – Wednesday performances that are offered directly to those currently under-represented in West End theatre audiences. These are made available via an outreach programme run by Sita McIntosh of Inclusive Audiences –www.inclusiveaudiences.com.

 Reimagined for the stage by Daniel Fish, the production played a sold-out run at the Young Vic last year, having previously transferred to Broadway from St. Ann’s Warehouse winning the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival.

Director: Daniel Fish; Orchestrations, Arrangements and Co-Music Supervision: Daniel Kluger; Choreographer: John Heginbotham; Scenic Designers: Lael Jellinek & Grace Laubacher;

Costume Designer: Terese Wadden; Lighting Designer: Scott Zielinski; Sound Designer: Drew Levy;

Projection Designer: Joshua Thorson; Co-Music Supervision and Additional Vocal Arrangements: Nathan Koci; Casting Director: Jacob Sparrow

Forget what you think it is… this is Rodgers & Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA! as you’ve never seen it before – re-orchestrated and reimagined for the 21st century. Winner of the Tony and Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival, Daniel Fish's bold interpretation recently enjoyed a sold-out run at the Young Vic following sold-out runs in New York and across the U.S. on tour.

Oklahoma! tells a story of a community banding together against an outsider, and the frontier life that shaped America. Eighty years after Rodgers & Hammerstein reinvented the American musical, this visionary production is funny and sexy, provocative and probing, without changing a word of the text.

James Patrick Davis

plays Will Parker. His US theatre credits include OKLAHOMA! (Theatre World Award recipient for Breakthrough Performance on Broadway, also at St. Ann’s Warehouse and Bard Summerscape), The House of Blue Leaves (Broadway), We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... (Soho Rep), The Mother of Invention (Abingdon), The More Loving One (La MaMa),  Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Richard II, Long Day’s Journey into Night, As You Like It (Quintessence Theatre Group), Clybourne Park (Long Wharf Theatre), and American Buffalo (Studio Theatre). For television, his work includes Search Party.

 

Stavros Demetraki

plays Ali Hakim. For theatre his work includes Peter Pan (Birmingham Rep), The Vote (Donmar Warehouse), Timon of Athens, Antigone, She Stoops To Conquer, The Kitchen (National Theatre), Adventures In Wonderland, Supermarket Shakespeare (Teatro Vivo), As You Like It (Dash Arts / Curve), Blood Wedding (Liverpool Everyman), By The Way (Chopped Logic), Gilgamesh (Belgrade Theatre / UK tour), and Birds Without Wings (Eastern Angles). For television, his work includes Miss Scarlett & The Duke, Doctor Who, Tyrant, and White Van Man; and for film, The Phantom Warrior, Hampstead, Risen, Dracula Untold, The Hope Rooms, Blush Furiously, and The Simple Equation.

 

Greg Hicks

plays Andrew Carnes. His theatre work includes Dinner with Groucho (Civic Theatre Dublin, Belfast International Festival, Arcola Theatre), The Open House (Bath/Print Room), Richard III, The Kreutzer Sonata, Clarion (Arcola Theatre), Play Strindberg (Ustinov Studio), All’s Well That Ends Well,Hamlet, Little Eagles, Anthony & Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, A Winter’s Tale, King Lear (RSC), Angels in America (Headlong), Venice Preserved (Citizens), Coriolanus (The Old Vic – Critics’ Circle Award and Olivier nomination Best Actor). For television, his work includes Domina, Citizen Charlie, Burton & Taylor,and The Bible; Midsomer Murders; and for film, The Mercy, and Snow White and the Huntsman.

 

David King-Yombo

plays Mike. His theatre credits include The Ballad of St John’s Carpark (Icon Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Stafford Gatehouse), Protests, Hymns and Caskets (Belgrade Theatre), Lifeline (Charing Cross Theatre), The Princess and the Pauper (The Mowlem) and The Visit (National Theatre). His television credits include The Last Hours of Chadwick Boseman.

 

Anoushka Lucas

plays Laurey Williams. Her theatre credits include Elephant (Bush Theatre – also playwright), Henry V (Donmar Warehouse), After Life(National Theatre), Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Chiaroscuro (Bush Theatre), Faces in the Crowd (Gate Theatre), and Sparks(Edinburgh Fest / Vault Festival). For film, her work includes Murder on the Orient Express and Been So Long. Her recording work includes her debut albumDark Soul (debut album); and her composition includes Sparks (BBC Radio 4 / Edinburgh Festival / Vault Festival), The Ballad of Klook and Vinette (Park Theatre / NAMT Festival NYC), and The Etienne Sisters (Theatre Royal Stratford).

 

Marie-Astrid Mence

is Lead Dancer. Her theatre work includes Then Or Now, Table Talk, The Waiting Game, Courage, Like Water, Click, Pendulum, Captured, Washa, Ingoma, House Of Dream, The Suit, Red Riding Hood, Storyville, A Dream Within A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dépouillement, Tearfall, Melt, Mapping, Until Without Enough, Undivided Love. For television, her work includes Find me in Paris, L’Opera, and Spellbound.

 

Phillip Olagoke

plays Cord Elam. His theatre credits include The Glass Menagerie (Duke of York’s Theatre), A Number (The Old Vic), Farewell Leicester Square (The Talking Horse at The Place) and David Copperfield (Barn Theatre).

 

Sam Palladio

plays Curly McLain. His theatre credits include Dreamboats and Petticoats (Playhouse Theatre/Savoy Theatre) and Can’t Smile Without You(UK tour). For television, his credits include Nashville – as series regular Gunnar Scott, Rebel, Catherine the Great, Humans, Episodes, Cardinal Burns, Walking and Talking, The Hour, Little Crackers; and for film, The Princess Switch, Strange Magic, Runner, Runner and 7Lives.

 

Paige Peddie

plays Ado Annie. Her theatre credits include Dreamgirls – The Musical and The Lion King (UK tour).

 

Sally Ann Triplett

plays Aunt Eller. Her theatre credits include Berlusconi (Southwark Playhouse), Billy Elliot (Curve Theatre), Taboo (London Palladium), Gypsy (Alexandra Palace), White Christmas (UK Tour), Piaf (Nottingham Playhouse/Leeds Playhouse), Anything Goes (National Theatre & Theatre Royal Drury Lane - WhatsOnStage Award winner), Guys and Dolls (Piccadilly Theatre), Chicago (Adelphi Theatre), Acorn Antiques (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Mamma Mia (Prince of Wales Theatre), Cats (New London Theatre), Grease (Dominion Theatre), Jolson (Victoria Palace & Toronto), Follies (Shaftesbury Theatre), Chess (Prince Edward Theatre), A Damsel in Distress (Chichester Festival Theatre), My Judy Garland Life (Nottingham Playhouse, UK Theatre Award Nomination), Carrie (RSC), Absent Friends (The Palace Theatre), The Last Ship (Neil Simon Theatre NY/ Bank of America Theatre Chicago), Finding Neverland (Lunt Fontanne Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Barrow Street Theatre), The Cradle Will Rock (Classic Stage Company) and Must (Theatre at St. Clement's). Recent television credits include Down to Earth.

 

Patrick Vaill

plays Jud Fry – reprising the role he has played in Daniel Fish’s production since its conception. He is currently nominated for Best Musical Performance at this year’s Evening Standard Awards. His US theatre credits include I’m Revolting (Atlantic Theatre Company), OKLAHOMA! (Broadway, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Bard Summerscape - Drama Desk and Grammy Award Nominations), Macbeth (Lincoln Center Theatre), Peter Pan (Bedlam), Cabaret (national tour, Roundabout Theatre Company), Edward II (Red Bull), Camelot, Othello, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Henry V, Richard II, As You Like It, Mrs. Warren’s Profession (Shakespeare Theatre Company, DC), and also work with Bay Street Theatre, Capital Rep, amongst others. For television, his work includes Dash & Lily; and for film, Bleecker, Xmas In July, and short films The Lovers and Research.

 

Lizzie Wofford

plays Gertie Cummings. Her theatre credits include The Phantom of the Opera (His Majesty’s Theatre), The Three Little Pigs (Dorking Halls), A Christmas Carol (Albany Theatre), Sam Snape and the Curse of the Chillesford Cough (Eastern Angles), Letters to Emma (Lichfield Garrick) and The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat (Belgrade Theatre).

 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II

After long and highly distinguished careers with other collaborators, Richard Rodgers (composer, 1902-79) and Oscar Hammerstein II (librettist/lyricist, 1895-1960) joined forces in 1943 to create the most successful partnership in American Musical Theater. Prior to joining forces, Rodgers collaborated with lyricist Lorenz Hart on musical comedies that epitomized wit and sophistication (Pal Joey, On Your Toes, Babes in Arms and more), while Hammerstein brought new life to operetta and created the classic, Show Boat, with Jerome Kern. OKLAHOMA!, the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, introduced an integrated form that became known as “the musical play.” Their shows that followed included Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. Collectively, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals have earned Tony, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Pulitzer and Olivier Awards. The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization is a Concord Company.

 Daniel Fish

Daniel Fish is a New York-based director who makes work across the boundaries of theatre, film, and opera. He draws on a broad range of forms and subject matter including plays, film scripts, contemporary fiction, essays and found audio. His 2019 production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s OKLAHOMA! transferred to Broadway from St. Ann’s Warehouse and won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. Other recent work includes White Noise, inspired by the novel by Don DeLillo (Ruhrfestspiele Recklingshausen, Theater Freiburg, Skirball NYU), Most Happy, based on Frank Loesser’s “The Most Happy Fella” (Williamstown Theater Festival), Michael Gordon’s opera, Acquanetta (Prototype Festival/Bard Summerscape), Don’t Look Back (The Chocolate Factory), Who Left This Fork Here (Baryshnikov Arts Center, Onassis Center), Ted Hearne’s The Source (BAM NEXT WAVE, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera), and Eternal, a video installation. His work has been seen at theatres and festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe including, The Walker Arts Center, PuSH, Teatro Nacional D. Maria, Lisbon/Estoril Film Festival, Vooruit, Festival TransAmériques, Noorderzon Festival, The Chocolate Factory, The Public Theater’s Under The Radar, Opera Philadelphia/Curtis Opera Theater, American Repertory Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center at Bard College, Yale Repertory Theater, McCarter Theater, Signature Theater, The Shakespeare Theater Company, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Staatstheater Braunschweig, and The Royal Shakespeare Company. Residencies and commissions include The MacDowell Colony, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Mass MOCA, and LMCC/ Governor’s Island. In December 2022, he will première a new production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide for Opera National de Lyon. He is graduate of Northwestern University’s Department of Performance Studies and has taught at The Juilliard School, Bard College, and The Department of Design for Stage and Film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.  He is the recipient of the 2017 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts for the Theater.

 

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