Jeanine Tesori and Ben Crawley's Violet to have UK premiere at Charing Cross Theatre

Violet, the award-winning musical by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline, or Change) and Brian Cawley (The Little Princess), will have its UK premiere at Charing Cross Theatre in January.

Directed by award-winning director Shuntaro Fujita, the piece is based on The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris Betts. Set in the US in 1964, the show follows the facially disfigured Violet who embarks on a personal journey from her home.

The piece premiered Off-Broadway and won the Drama Critics' Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, before transferring to Broadway where it was nominated for four Tony awards. Tesori's other musical Caroline, or Change is about to run at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End.

The production will first run in London before transferring to Tokyo, as part of a major co-production for Charing Cross Theatre and Umeda Arts. The London venue's artistic director Thom Southerland said: "This collaboration marks the beginning of an exchange of both work and artists between Charing Cross Theatre and Umeda Arts and we will soon announce further projects including the development of new work and further UK premieres."

Casting for the show is to be announced, with choreography by Cressida Carré, set design by Morgan Large, costume by Jonathan Lipman, lighting by Howard Hudson, sound by Andrew Johnson, and music direction by Dan Jackson.

The piece runs from Monday 14 January to Saturday 6 April, with tickets for the show on sale now.