Hannah Waddingham will star as Desiree in the revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. The production, directed by Trevor Nunn, begins performances on November 22.

Waddingham earned an Olivier Award nomination for her performance of The Lady of the Lake in the West End production of Spamalot. She later made her Broadway debut in the role, and won a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Replacement. Her other West End credits include Chesty Prospects in Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, Suzanne Valadon in Lautrec, Rizzo in Grease and Satan in Tonight’s the Night.
Joining Waddingham in the cast of A Little Night Music will be Alexander Hanson as Fredrik, Jessie Buckley as Anne, Maureen Lipman as Mme. Armfeldt, Alistair Robins as The Count, Gabriel Vick as Henrik, Kaisa Hammarlund as Petra, Grace Link as Fredrika, and Andy Morton as Frid.

A Little Night Music features music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler. The scenic and costume design for the Menier production is by David Farley. The limited engagement is set to end on March 8, 2009.

Alex Hanson ... yay!

(ditto Hannah Waddingham - sounds like a great cast!)

Ohhh i've heard good things about Hannah Waddingham

Alistair Robins is hot. Is he any good?

I'm really not sure about Maureen though. It's not sure why, I do like her but just unsure ...

I sort of feel the opposite - I generally find Maureen Lipman rather irritating but think she'll be very good in that part. Hannah Waddingham will be amazing. Again not a Jessie Buckley fan, but think she will do well as Anne (who is supposed to be a bit annoying anyway). All in all, looks very exciting. I can't wait

Oh man. I love pretty much every performer on that list, with the exception of Jessie, who I dislike so intently that she'd actually put me off going.

The Countess ??

And will "My Husband the Pig" be included?

Haz - you're wrong about Jessie. She is unrefined right now and needs training and maturing (don't think she should have been cast in this yet, too young) but if she plays her cards right and learns from the right people - she will do very well. More so than any of the other finalists from the Nancy, Maria, etc show.

This casting looks amazing. Will be another very sucessful musical at the Menier I have no doubt!

Sounds like great casting to me. Excited about Hannah Waddingham and Alex Hanson. I think Jessie should get the benefit of the doubt until she's actually been seen in this to be honest, strikes me she'll be perfectly capable, its not a bad way to start a professional career!

Any news on Countess? Is Jessie's voice in the right range for Anne? I don't recall her singing anything particularly high in IDA...

Jessie worries me - her acting appeared very wooden. Perhaps working with a decent director might help.

Really pleased for Gabriel Vick.

Rest of the cast is looking strong - glad I have my ticket for January!

How can I be wrong in expressing an opinion that says I dislike her?

I'm not saying that she hasn't got potential. In fact, I think she has. But I think she needs a LOT of training. If this cast was announced in 3 years time after she's gone away and grafted then maybe my reaction would be different but as it stands, I think she is completely inappropriate for this and she makes me not want to see the show.

You may not agree with me, but my own opinion can't be 'wrong'.

An opinion is not wrong, true. What I meant was - I believe you are wrong about having Jessie put you off the show. I agree with you that she is not ready (and maybe not even suitable for Anne) but I wouldn't let that put me off this show which otherwise, proves some very interesting casting. Opinions can be proven wrong in time if someone is succesful despite them. So we shall see...but Jessie has something all the other female contestants in these shows lacked - star quality (rather than just being a decent working actress good at what she does). Whether it remains or she figures out what to do with it - is another question.

Very excited about Kaisa Hammarlund as Petra!
Think we should all give Jessie a break too and let her prove herself. Anne is afterall supposed to be young,innocent and inexperienced..

I think Kaisa is amazing casting for Petra and she thoroughly deserves this chance.

Any news on the rest of the cast? Especially the 5 singers?

IMHO, I don't like Maureen Lipman and think that Hannah W. is too young for Desiree. Would be interested to know who the covers are for those roles?

Kelly Price is in talks for the countess..

1 of the singers is John Addison but not sure about the rest.

Hannah Waddingham is in her 40's and Trevor Nunn has decided to cast this production younger than usual and follow the original Ingmar Bergman film it is based on.

Hannah Waddingham is not in her 40s...she is at most 33 or 34....

That's what I thought as well...

I believe she's 34(ish). It's not at all implausible that a Bohemian type from her background wld have had a child young and the daughter herself is only supposed to be a slip of a girl. Imaginative casting, in my view, and it will be interesting to see how it works

She's 34 according to IMDB

Liebeslieder singers are: John Addison, Laura Armstrong, Lynden Edwards, Charlotte Page and Nicola Sloane.

I like Hannah but agree she's too young for Desiree. And Jessie is woefully miscast as Anne - what a travesty when there are so many more suitable people out there. The show will no doubt be a hit, but I'll be going to see with some reservations.

Anyone know who is playing Fredrika. Would need to be young singer if laying daughter of Hannah Waddingham

Fredrika is supposed to be 13 or 14 with developing breasts: "Don't push your bosoms against the chair, it will stunt their growth". In her mother's words "she happened", which doesn't specifically say anything about Desirée's age but implies to me that she was more than 20. More to the point Fredrika was born after Desirée's affair with Fredrik which happened when Desirée was already playing the great classical leads. What is the youngest recorded Hedda Gabler? Also it is implied that Fredrik and Desirée are of a similar age and Fredrik is regaining his "long distant youth". His son is 19/20 and his first wife long dead; he is solid middle-class professional stock and would not have been married younger than 24/25, which would put him at mid-40s, which I think is Alex Hanson's age. It seems odd for Desirée to be 10 years younger than Fredrik. There's also that scene where she shows him her naked body and he comments favourably; with Hannah there isn't the possibility that she could have suffered the ravages of time. The other subjective factor is the pitch of Desirée's music: low to make an absolute contrast with young Anne.

But perhaps we old people are influenced too much by the memory of Glynis Johns, Jean Simmons, Liz Taylor, Dorothy Tutin, and Judi Dench. Or did somebody already say that in this thread?

"losing my timing this late in my career" doesn't make much sense sung by a 34 year old who looks fantastic!

I did intend booking for this but really can't stand the prospect of it now that the casting has been announced. I'm glad I held off!

Oh where is your imagination, you people?

What's this new rule that actors can only play characters their own age? I thought the whole point about actors was that they become people they're not.

Give them a chance.

I sort of vaguely half-sense that this Trevor Nunn guy knows what he's doing here.

Having got over my initial disappointment with the casting, I agree with the above poster..

In defence of Jessie (who I didn't rate at all as an actor in the brief clips on IDA and initially thought it was a wind-up when she was rumoured for the role), I imagine that she is probably one of the most talented 18 or 19 year olds around. Of course she's not as good as many people in their mid-twenties who have trained and had more years to hone their acting abilities, but I think having someone as young as her might add something to the role, and is even more necessary now they're casting such a young Desiree. Also, I think that vocally she is probably pretty strong - again, much better than most 18 year olds - and there are weeks to work on her acting in what is actually not a particularly large role.

I also hope that Hannah Waddingham will be very good as Desiree. She's very far from my idea of the role at the moment, but I think it will be interesting to have another interpretation of it. Personally, I would be more excited at the idea of an actor who I really rate taking on the role, but casting was always going to be an anti-climax after Emma Thompson was rumoured for it. And although I've never seen Hannah W on stage, she got terrific notices for Spamalot.

Alex Hanson I think is terrific casting, by the way, as is Gabriel Vick and Maureen Lipman.

Mmmm.... yes I would agree with the reservations of the above posters. Hannah Waddington was fabulous in Spamalot as the Lady of the Lake - a very different role to Desiree!! I think she is too young. As for Jessie, again there must be stronger actresses for the role, however, the psrt is not large. Trevor Nunn - direct from the hit Gone With the Wind seems keen on casting these TV talent show folk - look at Darius in GWTW although to be fair he was great in the part, the cast were not to blame for that shows demise. We shall have to wait and see - go with an open mind, pay our money and unleash our opinions on here afterwards rather than before the event!

While I haven't done any naysaying in this topic and I'm a big fan of not knocking something until I've tried it, I do have to ask: were you just lucky enough to miss 'Gone With the Wind' or something?

I am more worried about Maureen Lipman, will she really give some proper class to Madame A - I doubt it somehow. But I agree we shouldn't knock it until we see it, but it's not the cast I'd have hoped for. Let's hope Trevor Nunn makes up for GWTW with a classy production here.

When I went to see Lauren Kennedy at the Menier this year, Trevor Nunn was sitting at the end of my row and he seemed very taken by Lara Pulver, I'm sure he'll be interested in getting her on board. Has she done anything since Parade?

She's currently filming the new series of Robin Hood for BBC, playing Isabella, Guy of Gisborne's sister. Should be on our screens in the New Year

I do think Trevor Nunn cast GWTW rather well, though logistically it was something of a disaster.

I have to say I do have strong reservations about some of the casting. Most especially about Hannah Waddingham who just seems wrong in almost every way (and I loved her in Spamalot). Whatever the special pleading in other posts she simply is not old enough nor experienced enough either as a person or an actress. Also, and I am aware this sounds a weird criticism, her voice is far too strong. The best Desiree's (Dench, Tutin, Johns etc) have been great actresses with only ok singing voices. Sondheim was specific in his vocal writing especially in "Clowns". That number sung in a beautiful strong voice actually sounds cheap and tawdry. Sung in a vulnerable almost sperechgesang way, however, it is one of the great moments in music theatre.
BTW I notice all the previous posters are acepting this cast as established fact despite there being no announcement on the Menier site....

Sebastian

Not official Menier site but fairly authoritative:
Playbill

Actually the Menier site does have a list of cast members though it doesn't assign roles.
http://www.menierchocolatefactory.com/a_li...ight_music/team

Lara Pulver was approached but it clashed with her filming commitments for Robin Hood. Shame!

Yes the more I think about this I think HW is wrong for Desiree. First, she is a singer with a great voice and the part was written for Glynis Johns who created the part on Broadway who Sondheim knew was not a singer and the song Send in the Clowns has a deliberately limited range. Second, she is too young to play the part. Johns was about 50 when she created it. How will she sing "losing my timing this late in my career" with any conviction?

I had been looking forward to this production for months and have been monitoring the gossip about possible casting, and wondering how Trevor is going to get a revolve in the Mernier, but all this has come to nothing as I now have no intention of going. I have always encouraged people to give things a go before knocking it but this is the theatrical equivalent of being told that you are going to be taken to Mayfair for a meal and ending up with food poisoning from a greasy spoon in Wapping, how can a silk purse be made from these ingredients, Ms Waddingham as Desiree at a very, very long stretch but Maureen Lipman with European Royalty eating out her hand? Oy vay!

I’m still very much looking forward to it. Revolve or no revolve The claustrophobic space could work brilliantly for the first act, not so sure about the second though …Giant dinner table: At the NT it was brought on through the drum and in Leicester from the flies but at the MCF?

Hannah’s age. Desiree can be played younger and lines can be cut to accommodate this (although this is Trevor Nunn!). The last professional Sondheim I saw was Company and Barbara Walsh was much younger then the average run of Joanne’s and it worked brilliantly, you didn’t notice.

I think Alex Hanson is a great casting choice. In Marguerite he did look older then his publicity shots. Was it talc in the hair?

Alex Hanson certainly looked much younger & dishier when he emerged from Stage Door!

Just to show you how to REALLY do it...

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/122310.html

[quote name='showtoones' date='Oct 9 2008, 08:55 PM' post='50232']
Hannah Waddingham will star as Desiree
/quote]


Isn't she a bit young for the role?
I mean Judi Dench was sixty when she played Desiree!

Now that's more like it. Would love to see this especially with 27 piece orchestra and the lovely Laura Benanti

With this cast it certainly won't better the NT production. The Roundhouse Theatre's Gala performance could better the NT production with their great cast.

Let's just wait and see... The Menier have a pretty impressive record with their Christmas musicals - 3 west end transfers (+ a Broadway transfer) from as many shows, and I think they were all worthy of that honour. I am quite prepared for this to be a duff production (and, dare I say it, I think Sondheim has written much better scores in his time - some of the songs are great but all the waltzing really grates after a couple of hours!), but similarly I am ready for it to be their best yet. I guess that the fact that it hasn't been cast to type means that Trevor Nunn (probably) has some very distinct ideas about how he wants to make this production different. By all means, don't buy tickets if you don't want to, but to say things like "it certainly won't better the NT production." is mighty unfair when it probably hasn't even started rehearsing yet.

Kelly Price is playing Charlotte

The understudy for Hannah Waddingham is Charlotte Page.
Lynne

Lynne Chapman
Administrator
The Stephen Sondheim Society
Website: http://www.sondheim.org
E-mail: sondheimsociety@sondheim.org