Musical costume designers pledge to make scrubs for NHS staff

Costume designer Sue Simmerling, owner of designer company "Carry On Costumes", with the help of the producers of Sleepless, A Musical Romance, will create NHS scrubs for frontline staff during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

According to the production: "Sue had just finished designing and making the costumes for the world premiere of Sleepless, A Musical Romance and was delighted when her producers, Michael Rose and Damien Sanders, offered to share the costs with her to pay for 800 metres of fabric. This will be despatched to seamstresses around the country who will make PPE to protect the NHS heroes on the front line."

The company is are already in the process of making 70 sets of scrubs for Guy's Hospital in London, with a crowdfunding initiative in place to help produce more sets of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).

The producers of Sleepless, Rose and Sanders, have also announced that they will be hosting a special performance for NHS workers once theatres have re-opened.

Entitled "A Night for Sleepless Heroes", the evening will see NHS workers able to watch the production for free at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre.

Jay McGuiness and Kimberley Walsh will reunite to perform in the musical based on the hit film following their turns in Big the Musical in 2019. They are joined by Daniel Casey as Walter, Harriet Thorpe as Eleanor, Tania Mathurin as Becky and Jake Sharp as Rob.

The new musical has a book by Michael Burdett, music by Robert Scott and lyrics by Brendan Cull. It will be directed by Morgan Young (Big the Musical), with set design by Morgan Large, costume design by Sue Simmerling, lighting by Tim Lutkin, video design by Ian William Galloway, sound design by Avgoustos Psillas and Terry Jardine for Autograph, orchestrations by Larry Blank, musical supervision and direction by Stuart Morley, wig and hair design by Richard Mawbey and casting by Sarah Bird and Michael Donovan.