San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse has announced the two lead actors for its upcoming production of the new musical comedy Freaky Friday. Heidi Blickenstaff and Emma Hunton will reprise their roles as the mother and daughter, respectively, who trade bodies for a day from the world-premiere staging at the Signature Theatre in Virginia.
The La Jolla engagement is scheduled to run January 31–March 12, 2017, in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.
Developed by Disney Theatrical Productions expressly for licensing to theatres, Freaky Friday features a book by Bridget Carpenter (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) and music and lyrics by the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning team of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal, If/Then). Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley, who directed Blickenstaff and Hunton in the debut staging, returns to direct in San Diego.
“These two dynamo actresses have given electric new life to their iconic characters,” said Ashley in a statement. “I can’t wait for San Diego audiences to experience their thoroughly engaging performances in this joyous new musical that portrays the often tumultuous relationship between parents and children in ways that are at once heartfelt and hilarious—and absolutely universal.”
The world premiere of Freaky Friday began performances October 4 at the Signature Theatre’s MAX Theatre in Arlington, VA, where it played through November 20. Jason Gotay and Alan H. Green starred alongside Blickenstaff and Hunton, though they have not yet been announced for the West Coast production.
Further casting for the La Jolla staging will be announced in the coming weeks.
Here’s how the show is billed: “When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again before mom’s big wedding. Freaky Friday, a new musical comedy based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers and the hit Disney films, is a hilarious, contemporary update of an American classic in which a mother and daughter really see what it is to be a family and experience each other’s lives first-hand, if only for a day.”
Scroll through photos from the world premiere:
For tickets and more information visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org.
