Lydia White joins The Last Five Years musical at Southwark Playhouse

Lydia White will step into The Last Five Years revival at Southwark Playhouse, it has been announced.

White, a recipient of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Scholarship, has credits including Chess and CinderELLA at Nuffield Southampton Theatres, where she took on one of the lead roles of Cinders, and "offers stunning vocal talent" according to WhatsOnStage reviewer Jo Fisher.

White will join Oli Higginson in the show while one of the show's stars Molly Lynch is "signed off with illness", according to Southwark Playhouse's social channels. Her first performance will be tomorrow (12 March).

The five-star revival opened at the end of February, with Lynch and Higginson lauded for their "completely exceptional" performances in our write-up. Brown's cult classic musical was first seen in 2001 and ran off-Broadway in 2002. It was turned into a film in 2014 starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan. It follows a five-year relationship between two lovers – Jamie and Cathy – but is told in reverse chronological order for one of the pair.

The creative team includes director Jonathan O'Boyle, choreographer Sam Spencer-Lane, set and costume designer Lee Newby, lighting designer Jamie Platt and sound designer Adam Fisher. Musical direction and orchestration are by George Dyer. The pair of performers is accompanied by a four-piece band led by Dyer.