Olivier Award-nominated and WhatsOnStage Award-winning performer Carly Mercedes Dyer has been announced as the final guest star to take on the role of Pluto in The Frogs at Southwark Playhouse Borough.
Dyer will appear in the role from 23 to 28 June, joining a rotating cast of guest Plutos that includes Victoria Scone, Danielle Steers, Sooz Kempner, and Jo Foster.
The Frogs, a musical comedy originally written by Aristophanes in 405 B.C., has been freely adapted by Burt Shevelove and even more freely adapted by Broadway legend Nathan Lane, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
The production is directed by Georgie Rankcom and continues its run at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 28 June.
Carly Mercedes Dyer trained at ArtsEd and made her West End debut in Chicago. She has since become a Curve Theatre favourite with standout performances in West Side Story and A Chorus Line.
She is best known for her award-winning role as Erma in Anything Goes at The Barbican, which earned her a WhatsOnStage Award and an Olivier nomination.
Dyer’s extensive theatre credits include The Drifters Girl, Assassins, Gypsy, The Color Purple, The View Upstairs, Hadestown, Sweet Charity, Dreamgirls, Memphis, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Kiss Me Kate, Rock of Ages, Dirty Dancing, and Chicago.
She was also named one of ‘The Stage 25’, a list of theatre makers expected to shape the industry over the next 25 years.
The cast of The Frogs also features Kevin McHale as Xanthias, Dan Buckley as Dionysos, Joaquin Pedro Valdes as Herakles, Carl Patrick as Charon, and Bart Lambert as Shakespeare.
Additional cast members include Martha Pothen, Alison Driver, Evonnee Bentley-Holder, and Milo McCarthy.
The creative team includes Musical Supervisor Ben McQuigg, Musical Director Yshani Perinpanayagam, Choreographer Matt Nicholson, and Set and Costume Designer Libby Todd.
Lighting is by Samuel Biondolillo, sound by Joshua Robins, and orchestration by Tim Sutton. The production is presented by The Grey Area and partners.
The Frogs asks the timely question: can art save civilisation? Dionysos and his sidekick Xanthias journey to Hades in search of answers, only to be confronted by a chorus of frogs determined to resist change.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
