Romantics Anonymous musical stream at Bristol Old Vic announces casting and live audience night

Casting has been announced for the upcoming global live-stream of Romantics Anonymous.

Presented live on stage at Bristol Old Vic, the play will have tickets priced from £15 for streams from 22 to 26 September. The show will be a fully-staged production broadcast, rather than an archived recording of the show.

Appearing in the show will be Marc Antolin (Jean-René), Carly Bawden (Angélique), Me'sha Bryan (Suzanne/Mimi), Harry Hepple (Ludo/Remi), Laura Jane Matthewson (Young Woman), Sandra Marvin (Magda/Brigitte/Dr Maxim), Philip Cox (Father/Pierre/Receptionist), Gareth Snook (Mercier/Mumbler/Marini) and Omari Douglas (Salesman/Fred), who joins the cast.

The show has design based on Lez Brotherston's original, musical supervision by Nigel Lilley, choreography by Etta Murfitt, orchestrations by Simon Hale, lighting by Malcolm Rippeth and sound by Simon Baker.

Producers Wise Children will partner with venues to present a "digital tour" – in essence allowing individual organisations to sell tickets for the online stream for specific nights.

In special news, the show will also welcome socially distanced audience members for one night only on 27 September.

Venues featuring include Belgrade Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, Bristol Old Vic, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Curve Theatre Leicester, Derby Theatre, Eden Court Highlands, Exeter Northcott, HOME, Lighthouse Poole, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Marlowe Theatre, New Zealand Festival, Norwich Theatre Royal, Oxford Playhouse, Royal & Derngate, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Spoleto Festival USA, St. Ann's Warehouse, Storyhouse, The Festival Theatre, The Lowry, The Old Vic (where Wise Children are a Company in Residence), Theatr Clwyd, Theatre Royal Bath, Theatre Royal Nottingham, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and York Theatre Royal.

Cast members will isolate together and form a Covid-tested bubble (similar to rules for sports and films), allowing the show to be presented in full without social distancing.

Based on the French film Les Émotifs Anonymes, the piece follows Angélique, a shy chocolate maker and the awkward boss of a chocolate factory in a love story. The show first ran at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2017. It was recently revived at Bristol Old Vic, with a subsequent North American tour cut short by the pandemic.

Captioned and audio-described versions of the production will be available.