The original production, which won Patricia Routledge a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, ran for just 31 performances. Now Paul Foster, who previously directed another Jule Styne classic, Bells Are Ringing at the Union in 2010, will direct Katy Secombe in the role of Alice Challice, originally played by Routledge.

Secombe, who has been seen in the West End in Mamma Mia!, Mother Clap's Molly House and The Music Man and was in the film of "Les Misérables," is joined by Rebecca Caine in the cast of 14. Caine, who originated the role of Cosette in the original 1986 production of Les Miserables, also played the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera opposite Colm Wilkinson for its Canadian premiere.

The show, set in Edwardian London, was based on a novel by Arnold Bennett. When his valet dies suddenly, a famous painter escapes the limelight by swapping identities and passes himself off as the down-to-earth Henry Leek. His relief at getting out of this world alive is soon complicated by the arrival of Alice Challice, a merry-ish widow with amorous designs on him.

Set and costumes will be designed by Christopher Giles, with musical direction and arrangements by Inga Davis-Rutter and choreography by Matt Flint, the latter of whom won the 2011 BBC series "So You Think You Can Dance."

To book tickets, which are on sale through April 20, contact the box office on 020 7261 9876 or visit www.uniontheatre.biz for more details.