Cast announced for UK tour of OKLAMOMA!

Music & Lyrics Limited and Royal & Derngate Northampton present a new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical OKLAHOMA!, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh and with new choreography by Drew McOnie, which will tour the UK and Ireland next year, opening at the Derngate Theatre Northampton on 19 February 2015.

From the award-winning producers of the highly successful tours of The King & I and Fiddler on the Roof, this new production of one of the great classic American musicals will feature a large cast and chorus led by Belinda Lang (School for Scandal, Ladies in Lavender, The Killing of Sister George) as Aunt Eller, Gary Wilmot (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Pajama Game, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Ali Hakim, Ashley Day (The Book of Mormon, The Wizard of Oz, High School Musical) as Curly, Charlotte Wakefield (The Sound of Music, MAMMA MIA!, Spring Awakening) as Laurey and Nic Greenshields (Guys and Dolls, Billy Elliot, The Phantom of the Opera) as Jud Fry, accompanied by a live orchestra led by musical director Steve Ridley.  Set and costumes will be designed by Francis O’Connor, with lighting by Tim Mitchell and sound by Ben Harrison.

Wonderful Town the Musical: Theatre Review

Wonderful Town is based on the novel My Sister Eileen, which itself is based on a collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney. It was then made into a play, then a film, then the musical! The musical originally ran on Broadway in 1953 and closed the following year. A production then opened in London in 1955 and starred the likes of Shani Wallace and Sid James and a revival opened in 1986 at the Queens Theatre. A Broadway production opened in 2003 staring Donna Murphy (Later Brooke Shields) which earned her a Tony Award nomination.

Recently we saw the return of the show when it toured the UK, this production starred 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?' winner Connie Fisher.

Wonderful Town follows the story of two sisters, Eileen and Ruth both of which want to make it in New York. Ruth who is an aspiring journalist and Eileen who wants to be an Actress move into the city and end up having a very hard time, they can't seem to catch a break. Eileen uses her charm to try and help Ruth in her bid to become a professional journalist but that goes wrong as someone who claims to have been able to help was just using the situation to get to Eileen, the Marilyn Monroe type character.