Vertigo Announce Full Cast for DIE MOMMIE DIE and PSYCHO BEACH PARTY UK Productions

Award-nominated fringe theatre Production Company Vertigo Theatre Productions from Manchester have announced the full cast line up for their productions of the Charles Busch plays Die Mommie Die and Psycho Beach Party which are to be staged for the first time in the UK at Taurus on Manchester's famous Canal Street as part of Taurus 10th anniversary as one of the leading bars and fringe venues in the city's Gay Village.

Casting for Die Mommie Die sees Dale Vicker in the iconic role of Angela Arden which was originally played by Busch himself Off Broadway and in the movie version that saw him win a Sundance Film Festival award for his performance. Vicker has risen through the ranks of Vertigo and received rave reviews for his performance in Craig Hepworth's award nominated play OUT!

The rest of the cast will include Adele Stanhope as Edith, Tomas Lee Dunderdale as Lance, Paul Graham as Sol, Terry Dixie as Tony and Dawn Mallitt as Bootise.

The cast of Psycho Beach Party is led by Emma Willcox in the role of Chicklet, a role Busch originated Off Broadway and that Lauren Ambrose from the TV series Six Feet Under would play in the film version. Willcox has also risen through that ranks of Vertigo receiving great reviews for her performance in the UK Premiere of Dog Sees God; Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead and 'M'.

Joining Willcox are Rick Carter as Star Cat, Mike Gates as Kanaka, Jay Hobday as Berdine, Louise Allen as Bettina Barnes, Brad Stoloff as Provoloney, Neil Ely as Yo Yo, Liam Grunshaw as Mrs Forrest and Adele Stanhope as Marvel Ann.

Both plays are directed by Craig Hepworth.

Dates originally announced for Psycho Beach Party have changed slightly bringing the show forward. The play will now open on March 15th for 1 week followed by Die Mommie Die opening March 22nd for 1 week. Tickets to go on sale in November.

Check www.vertigotheatreproductions.co.uk for more info.

Die Mommie Die

Angela Arden, a fallen pop diva is trapped in a hateful marriage to film producer Sol Sussman. Desperate to find happiness with her younger lover, an out-of-work TV actor named Tony Parker, Angela gruesomely murders her husband with the aid of a poisoned suppository. Angela's manipulative daughter, Edith, convinces her 'emotionally disturbed' brother, Lance, that together they must avenge their father's death... by killing their mother!

A killer, Campy, Melodrama that pays homage as well as Parodies the 50s and 60s melodrama movies like Dead Ringer, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte.

Psycho Beach Party

"Gidget", Frankie and Annette beach party epics and Hitchcock psychological suspense thrillers such as "Spellbound" and "Marnie" are given a shotgun marriage. Chicklet Forrest, a teenage tomboy, desperately wants to be part of the surf crowd on Malibu Beach in 1962. One thing getting in her way is her unfortunate tendency towards split personalities. Among them is a black check out girl, an elderly radio talk show hostess, a male model named Steve and the accounting firm of Edelman and Edelman. Her most dangerous alter ego is a sexually voracious vixen named Ann Bowman who has nothing less than world domination on her mind.

An hilarious homage/parody of the 60s beach movies that the New York Times gleefully labelled 'Gidget Goes Berserk!, and the associated press called "Fiendishly funny! Zany!"

Charles Busch is one of Off Broadway and Broadway's most successful writers as well as been a star of stage and screen. His plays have included Vampire Lesbians of Sodom than ran for over 5 years Off Broadway, Psycho Beach Party (almost 400 performances and turned in to a hit movie), The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, The Third Story (he co starred in his play alongside Kathleen Turner), Die Mommie Die (Hit Off Broadway and on film earning him a Sundance Film Festival Award for his performance as Angela Arden), Shanghi Moon and his new Off Broadway smash hit The Divine Sister amongst others. He also wrote the Tony Nominated Broadway play The Tale of the Allergists Wife (which ran for over 700 performances on Broadway) as well as the book for the Broadway transfer of the Boy George Musical Taboo. He also had a lead role in prison drama Oz and made his directing debut with his movie A Very Serious Person.