Theatre News

Cast for LIFT musical revival announced

The show runs at Southwark Playhouse this summer

| London |

7 April 2022

The cast of LIFT
© Michael Wharley and Rebecca Pitt

Casting has been revealed for the new production of Craig Adams and Ian Watson's hit musical LIFT.

The piece, which follows a group of strangers in a lift as their lives converge for 54 seconds, was first seen at the Soho Theatre in 2013, with a cast including Cynthia Erivo and George Maguire.

Appearing will be Luke Friend (he/him, American Idiot) as Busker, alongside Hiba Elchikhe (she/her, Everybody's Talking About Jamie) as Secretary, Kayleigh McKnight (she/her, Heathers) as the French teacher, Jordan Broatch (they/them, Anyone Can Whistle) as Avatar and Marco Titus (he/him, Mandela – A New Musical) as BYT.

The cast is completed by three company members making their professional debuts – Cameron Collins (he/him) as the Ballet Dancer, Tamara Morgan (she/her) as the Lap Dancer and Chrissie Bhima (she/her) as Avatar.

Friend said: "I'm absolutely delighted to be a part of the wonderful cast of LIFT! This show is going to be so intimate and unique. Being a songwriter and Busker myself for many years, I feel as though I completely and utterly relate to my character's story andthe message he is trying to bring across. I can't wait to give everything to this role and perform at Southwark playhouse for the first time. This is a real treat for me."

Elchikhe added: "I am really looking forward to being a part of LIFT the musical with this incredible group of people. I can't wait for you all to see it."

See cast portraits here:

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The show, which runs from 13 May to 18 June, is directed by Dean Johnson (he/him, BKLYN), with musical direction and new arrangements by Sam Young (he/him, White Christmas) and choreography by Annie Southall (she/her, The Jungle Book).

Johnson said today: "Since we first began the journey of our revival of LIFT, we knew casting would be integral to how we could present the show as a snapshot of London in 2022. We had the most sensational audition process and the UK is certainly not short of incredible and diverse talent, and this allowed us to find an incredible group of people that can bring this story to life in a fresh way. I really believe our cast demonstrates how exciting the talent pool is in our industry with a mixture of established and incredible artists alongside fresh new faces. I really think they are going to blow the roof off Southwark Playhouse as a collective group of artists!"

The creative team will include Andrew Exeter (he/him, High Fidelity) as production designer, Natalia Alvarez (she/her) as associate designer, Xinyi Du (she/her) as assistant designer and Eden Howes (she/her) as assistant director. Casting is by Pearson Casting.