Final casting has been announced for the upcoming concert performance of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s iconic musical Carousel for one night only at Cadogan Hall on Sunday 19th May.
Olivier Award winner Matthew Kelly will star as the Star Keeper, joining the previously announced Joanna Riding, Janie Dee, Hadley Fraser, Chizzy Akudolu, Stewart Clarke, Lucy Schaufer and Gavin Spokes. The evening will be narrated by Patricia Routledge. They are joined by The GSA Singers from Guildford School of Acting.
Matthew Kelly is perhaps best known for presenting both Stars in their Eyes and You Bet!. Other TV credits include; Benidorm, Bleak House, Cold Blood, and Moving On. His extensive stage credits include his Olivier Award-winning performance as Lennie in Of Mice and Men at the Savoy Theatre, the original Stanley in Funny Peculiar, Lend Me A Tenor! the musical, Tim Firth’s Sign of the Times, and starring alongside Ian McKellan and Roger Rees in Waiting For Godot.
The 1945 musical marks the second collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II and is based on Ferenc Molnar’s 1909 play Liliom. The story revolved around carousel barker Billy Bielow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan come at the price of both their jobs. He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child; after it all goes tragically wrong, he is given a chance to make things right. A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pepperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow. The show premiered prior to the inception of the Tony Awards, but at the time won eight Donaldson Awards.
This one-night concert performance will feature a thirty-one-piece orchestra conducted by Alex Parker playing Don Walker’s complete original orchestration. It is produced by Jack Maple & Brian Zeilinger for Take Two Theatricals, and Quick Fantastic.
Carousel will play Cadogan Hall on Sunday 19th May at 6.30PM.
