First look rehearsal images have been released for The Book Thief in concert, ahead of its limited run at the Prince of Wales Theatre on Sunday 19 and Sunday 26 October 2025.
The musical, based on Markus Zusak’s 16 million-copy global best-seller, features a book by award-winning authors Jodi Picoult and Timothy Allen McDonald, with music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson.
Starring WhatsOnStage Award winner Melanie La Barrie as Death, the cast also includes Isaac Gryn, Jack Lord, Cat Simmons, Leo Abad, Matthew Caputo, Oonagh Cox, Michał Horowicz, Thomas-Lee Kidd, Nell Martin, Corinna Powlesland, Gleanne Purcell-Brown, Edwin Ray, Timo Tatzber, and Russell Wilcox.
The Book Thief is told by Death – they are haunted by humans, cataloguing the colour of the sky at the precise moment they carry each soul away.
Tonight’s story belongs to Liesel Meminger, twelve years old and unafraid to take what matters: the red of a book found in the snow, the black of a novel rescued from a bonfire, the white of empty pages she will fill with her own defiant words.
Down in a cellar painted in shadows, she reads to Max, a Jewish fist-fighter hidden by her foster family, and together they imagine a world lit by language.
Above, Hans plays the accordion with fingers stained by tobacco and time, Rosa hurls curses wrapped in warmth, and Rudy runs beside Liesel, chasing a kiss that history won’t allow.
The concert production is directed and choreographed by Tom Jackson Greaves, with orchestrations and musical supervision by Matthew Malone. Design is by Good Teeth, lighting by Nic Farman, and sound by Sound Quiet Time.
Producers include Deus Ex Machina Productions, Writers’ Cage and Andrew Paradis in association with Bethany Cooper Productions.
Rehearsal photography is by Pamela Raith. Images can be viewed here (link expires 15 October 2025).
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
