Initial Casting Announced for London Premiere of Tony-Winning Spring Awakening
By Mark Shenton
25 Oct 2008
The U.K. production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening, which begins performances at London's Lyric Hammersmith Jan. 23, 2009, prior to an official opening Feb. 3, has announced that a year-long casting search and a series of workshops at the Lyric have brought together a cast comprising 16–24 year olds from throughout the U.K., many of whom will be making their professional stage debuts.
The cast includes Aneurin Barnard, Lucy Barker, Natasha Barnes, Chris Barton, Jamie Blackley, Hayley Gallivan, Natalie Garner, Mona Goodwin, Evelyn Hoskins, Edd Judge, Harry McEntire, Jamie Muscato, Gemma O’Duffy, Iwan Rheon, Jos Slovick, Richard Southgate and Charlotte Wakefield. The actors playing the adult roles will be announced shortly.
The original Broadway creative team, including Tony-winning director Michael Mayer and Tony-winning choreographer Bill T. Jones, will re-create their work for London audiences.
David Farr, the current artistic director at the Lyric Hammersmith (but who is bowing out after this season to take up a new appointment as associate director at the RSC), saw the original Off-Broadway run of Spring at the Atlantic Theater, and according to press materials at the time the production was first announced, had "asked the entire creative team behind the original production to find a new generation of young British performers to present the musical on the London stage."
In a press statement Farr said, "We at the Lyric are proud of our collaborative approach to making theatre and are celebrated for the modern and diverse audience that we reach with our work. The Spring Awakening team are ground-breaking artists and we're thrilled to be working alongside them to bring this extraordinary work to the London stage. It is truly a musical for everyone."
Based on a play by Frank Wedekind, the show will bring the story of Melchior, a brilliant young teenage student, his troubled friend Moritz, and Wendla, a beautiful young girl on the verge of womanhood, to the British stage. Set against a backdrop of religious and parental repression in 19th century Germany, this fusion of morality, sexuality, and young love reaches out across generations to everyone who has experienced the adolescent journey of personal discovery and sexual awakening.
It was recently announced that the New York production of Spring Awakening would end its run at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. Jan. 18, 2009.
The run at the Lyric Hammersmith is booking to Feb. 28, 2009. To book tickets contact the box office at 0871 2211722 or visit www.lyric.co.uk.
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