Casting announced for West Side Story at Manchester Royal Exchange

Casting has been announced for the Royal Exchange's upcoming production of West Side Story.

Andy Coxon will play Tony and Gabriela García will play Maria in the musical, which runs from 6 April to 25 May 2019.

Coxon's previous credits include Pieces of String at Mercury Theatre, Hair at the Vaults and Yank! at Charing Cross Theatre. García played the lead role of Nina in In the Heights at the King's Cross Theatre and played Vanessa/Cover Fran in Strictly Ballroom in the West End.

Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sonhdeim and Arthur Laurents' West Side Story will be re-orchestrated by Jason Carr and directed by the theatre's artistic director Sarah Frankcom.

Casting has also been announced elsewhere in the season, with Tony Jayawardena taking on the role of Hari Hobson in Tanika Gupta's Hobson's Choice, directed by Pooja Ghai. The piece has been relocated to a tailor's shop in the warehouse district of Manchester in the 1980s. It runs 31 May to 6 July 2019.