Cool Rider musical anniversary concert announces further casting
Exclusive: Additional casting has been revealed for the tenth anniversary concert of Cool Rider at The London Palladium.
The cult musical sequel, an unofficial parody of Grease 2, initially played to sold-out audiences with spells at the Duchess Theatre and the Lyric Theatre. Fans of the show also funded an original studio cast recording through a Kickstarter campaign.
As previously reported, the cast will include Aaron Sidwell (The Lord of the Rings, Wicked) and Ashleigh Gray (Wicked, Only Fools and Horses The Musical) reprising their roles as Michael Carrington and Stephanie Zinone, respectively, alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Kitty Scott-Claus (Death Drop) as The French One and Grease 2 star Maxwell Caulfield (Chicago, Guys and Dolls), the original Michael Carrington, as Mr Stuart.
Joining them on stage will be Tom Senior (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, School of Rock) as Johnny, Hannah Levane (We Will Rock You, Flashdance) as Paulette, Jacob Fowler (Heathers, Before After) as Louis, Courtney Bowman (Legally Blonde, Six) as Sharon, Kyle Cox (Ain’t Too Proud, Crazy for You) as Goose, Harry Francis (Mary Poppins, Cats) as Davey and Lucinda Lawrence (9 to 5, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Rhonda.
Levane, Francis and Lawrence will all be reprising their roles from previous runs of Cool Rider.
Completing the company will be Selena Barron (Grease), Pamela Blair (Curtains), Angus Good (Mamma Mia!), David McIntosh (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast), Ashley-Jordon Packer (Cats) and Emily Ann Potter (Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat).
Billed as a loving tribute to, and unofficial parody of, what is considered by many as the greasiest sequel ever made, Cool Rider features numbers such as “Back to School,” “Score Tonight,” “Cool Rider,” “Who’s That Guy?” and many more.
The creative team includes Christopher D Clegg as director, Lee Freeman handling musical direction and orchestrations, Matt Krzan as choreographer, and Guy Unsworth, the original director. Lighting design is by Toby Darvill, with costumes by Ryan Webster and sound design by Will Thompson. Cool Rider was originally conceived and co-produced by Clegg and James DP Drury.
Presented by TuckShop, Cool Rider runs at The London Palladium on Sunday 14 April at 7 pm.
