Final casting is today announced for the first London production in 20 years of the hit Burt Bacharach/Hal David/Neil Simon Broadway musical Promises, Promises, based on the Billy Wilder film The Apartment.
A triumph of 1960s sexual work-place politics, with a quick witted script and unforgettable songs including Knowing When To Leave, Promises, Promises, Say A Little Prayer For You, A House Is Not A Home and I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, this Tony Award nominated, Grammy Award winning musical comes to Southwark Playhouse from Friday 13 January to Saturday 18 February.
The cast features: Craig Armstrong (who plays Eichelberger/Waiter) was in Billy Elliott, West End, and Whistle Down the Wind; Ralph Bogard (Vanderhof/Watchman), The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Arts Theatre, Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, Ushers the Front of House Musical; Martin Dickinson (Kirkeby/Karl) The Sound of Music, We Will Rock You, The Secret Garden; John Guerrasio (Dr. Dreyfuss) South Pacific, Anything Goes at Grange Park Opera; Charlie Johnson (Sylvia/Patsy/Mrs Sheldrake/Turkey Lurkey Girls) Spend Spend Spend, Union Theatre; Daisy Maywood (Fran) Wonder.land and Medea, NT, A Chorus Line, West End; Natalie Moore-Williams (Miss Olsen/Vivien/Sharon/Turkey Lurkey Girls) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Scrooge, West End; Lee Ormsby (Dobitch) Pumbaa in The Lion King, The Great Jewish American Songbook; Paul Robinson (Sheldrake) Olivier Award nominee for Singin’ in the Rain, NT, The Sound of Music, White Christmas, Guys & Dolls, Chicago; Emily Squibb (Ginger/Kathy/Hostess) Made in Dagenham and Stephen Ward, West End); Gabriel Vick (Chuck Baxter) Sunny Afternoon, Chariots of Fire, West End; Alex Young (Marge/Nurse/Barbara) Showboat, West End.
The creative team are; Director Bronagh Lagan, Musical Supervisor Elliot Davis, Musical Director Joe Louis Robinson, Choreographer Cressida Carré, Set and Costume Designer Simon Anthony Wells, Sound Designer Andrew Johnson, Casting Director Jane Deitch, Producers Aria Entertainment and Senbla.
In Promises, Promises, Chuck Baxter is junior executive at a New York insurance company, where his mid-town residence makes him popular with the executives bosses – who promise him promotion in order to “entertain” at his apartment. A morally tricky dilemma gets worse for Chuck when he realises his own secret crush, Fran Kubelik, has been invited over to his place for a rendezvous by Chuck’s Manager, JD Sheldrake.
