Michael Harrison and David Ian announce casting for the first-ever UK and Ireland tour of The Drifters Girl, the acclaimed new West End musical which tells the remarkable story of one of the world’s greatest vocal groups and the woman who made them.
Carly Mercedes Dyer, former star of Six the Musical and who delighted audiences with her performances as Erma in Anything Goes, will play music industry change-maker, Faye Treadwell.
Carly will star alongside Ashford Campbell (who hit UK screens in ITV’s The X Factor as member of The Risk and now continues his journey with The Drifters Girl having performed as part of the West End company), Miles Anthony Daley (Tina Turner: The Musical, Aldwych Theatre; Choir of Man, Arts Theatre), Tarik Frimpong (The Wiz, Hope Mill Theatre; Aladdin, Prince Edward Theatre) and Dalton Harris, who won The X Factor in 2018.
Today’s casting announcement also welcomes Jaydah Bell-Ricketts (A Little Princess, Royal Festival Hall; School Of Rock, Gillian Lynne Theatre) to her first touring role as Girl.
Completing the cast is Loren Anderson, Tre Copeland-Williams, Ethan Davis, Matthew Dawkins and Linseigh Green.
Having played to packed houses and nightly standing ovations at the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End (following a triumphant run at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal), the production recently announced a UK Tour to open in 2023, with performances beginning at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, on Tuesday 12th September 2023.
Following huge public demand, initial tour dates were extended through to 2024, where it now concludes in Cardiff, in May 2024. A full list of tour dates follows.
Telling the remarkable story of The Drifters, one of the world’s greatest vocal groups, and the truth about the woman who made them. Faye Treadwell is the legendary manager of The Drifters who fought for three decades alongside her husband (George Treadwell) to turn Atlantic Records’ hottest vocal group into a global phenomenon.
From the highs of hit records and sell-out tours to the lows of legal battles and personal tragedy, The Drifters Girl charts the trailblazing efforts of the world’s first African American female music manager and how she refused to ever give up on the group she loved. Thirty years and hundreds of hit songs later, there is no doubt that Faye Treadwell was and always will be, The Drifters Girl.
The Drifters Girl boasts an incredible soundtrack of some of the most famous songs in history, including Save The Last Dance For Me, Under The Boardwalk, Kissin In The Back Row Of The Movies, Stand By Me, Come On Over To My Place, Saturday Night At The Movies and many more.
The Drifters Girl, with a book by Ed Curtis, is based on an idea by Tina Treadwell and is co-created by Beverley Knight, Adam J Bernard, Tarinn Callender, Matt Henry and Tosh Wanogho-Maud. It is directed by Jonathan Church. Set design is by Anthony Ward, choreography by Karen Bruce, costume design by Fay Fullerton, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Tom Marshall, video design by Andrzej Goulding, orchestrations by Chris Egan and Will Stuart as Musical Supervisor.
