Emphasizing the show’s Broadway roots (the production is miked and includes musical theatre stars Adam Garcia, Caroline O’Connor and Helen Anker alongside opera regulars) director Jude Kelly has declared the March 5 performance a preview, very rare for an opera house (though ticket prices are not reduced). Press aren’t invited until the next performance, on March 10. Alongside Saturday Night Fever star Garcia, Chicago’s O’Connor and Contact’s Anker, the cast includes Willard White, Andrew Shore, Philip Ball, Lucy Schaufer and Greg Winter. White, the biggest opera name in the cast, has previously crossed over into legit theatre when he played Othello for the Royal Shakespeare Company opposite Ian McKellen.
Stephen Mear, fresh from working on Mary Poppins, choreographs. Robert Jones is the designer, with Mark Henderson the lighting designer. The conductor is Simon Lee — a musicals regular, who recently conducted the movie of “The Phantom of the Opera.”
The show plays in rep until May 24. For more information, call (0)20 7845 9378.