Producers Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment & Carter Dixon McGill Productions today announce the latest stars to join Tony Award-winning Broadway star of Shucked, Grammy nominated Alex Newell, in the upcoming 50th anniversary concert production of PIPPIN, with the score performed by the London Musical Theatre Orchestra.
Patricia Hodge, Lucie Jones, Cedric Neal, Zizi Strallen and Jac Yarrow will co-star.
Due to artist scheduling issues, the two concerts are moving from the London Palladium to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on new dates – April 29 & 30. Ticket holders will be contacted by LW Theatres to confirm their seats for the new dates and venue. More information can be found here.
Olivier Award winner Patricia Hodge will play Berthe in the 50th anniversary concert. She created the role of Catherine in the original 1973 West End premiere of Pippin, directed by Bob Fosse. She recently starred in Private Lives at the Ambassadors Theatre. She is one of the UK’s premier actresses, whose extensive stage and screen roles include A Little Night Music, Look Back in Anger, Travels With My Aunt and her Olivier award winning performance in Money at the National Theatre. She is widely known for her screen roles in Hotel du Lac, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Miranda, Rumple of the Bailey, Downton Abbey and A Very English Scandal.
Lucie Jones will play Catherine. Her West End roles include Jenna in Waitress, Fantine in Les Misérables and Elphaba in Wicked. On UK tour she starred as Meat in the arena tour of We Will Rock You, Elle in Legally Blonde and Maureen in Rent. She was Victoria in the musical American Psycho at the Almeida Theatre. She represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017 with the song ‘Never Give Up on You’.
Cedric Neal (Charlemagne) has just been Olivier nominated Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his recent role as Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre. His many West End roles include Back to the Future (BroadwayWorld Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musica) and Berry Gordy in Motown the Musical. He was also in Porky & Bess and Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).
Zizi Strallen (Fastrada) is best known for her Olivier-nominated role as Mary Poppins in the West End. Her other West End roles include Fran in Strictly Ballroom and Lana in Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man, for which she won Outstanding Female Performance (Modern) at the National Dance Awards, and Young Phyllis in Follies at the National Theatre. Off West End she played Meg in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of Merrily We Roll Along.
Jac Yarrow (Pippin) was Olivier nominated Best Actor in a Musical for his West End debut in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He recently appeared in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends at the Gielgud Theatre and had a starring role in Pantoland at the Palladium at the London Palladium.
Alex Newell (Leading Player) became the first openly nonbinary performer to win a Tony Award in an acting category for their role as Lulu in Shucked, that has just closed on Broadsway. Alex stopped the show at every performance with a standing ovation for their act one song, Indeopendently Owned. They are also known for their role as Unique Adams on the TV series Glee and Mo on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. Newell also starred as Asaka in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island at the Circle in the Square Theatre in 2018.
With Ryan Heenan as Theo and Idriss Kargbo as Lewis, and Amonik Melaco, Jak Allen-Anderson, Sally Frith and Gleanne Purcell-Brown as Players.
With an infectiously unforgettable score from four-time Grammy winner, three-time Oscar winner and musical theatre giant, Stephen Schwartz, including the classic songs Corner of the Sky and Magic to Do, Pippin is a soul-searching exploration of one man’s journey to find himself, his place and purpose in life.
Heir to the Frankish throne, the young prince Pippin is in search of the secret to true happiness and fulfilment. He seeks it in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power (after disposing of his father, King Charlemagne the Great). In the end, though, Pippin finds that happiness lies not in extraordinary endeavours, but rather in the unextraordinary moments that happen every day.
Stephen Schwartz said: “Although there have been some excellent recent productions of Pippin in the UK, the show never gets to be heard with a full live orchestra and choir. This concert, with a cast led by the astonishing Alex Newell and produced under the always first-rate auspices of Katy Lipson’s Aria Entertainment and Carter Dixon McGill, promises to be a once-in-a-blue-moon event. I for one cannot wait to experience it!”
Further cast to be announced.
