Frozen star Samantha Barks to go on maternity leave with Jenna Lee-James set to cover as Elsa

Congratulations to Samantha Barks, who has revealed the news of her pregnancy today!

Barks, who currently stars as Elsa in the West End premiere of Disney’s Frozen at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, will depart the production later this month but is currently scheduled to return in 2024.

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From 23 August Jenna Lee-James will join the company and assume the role of Elsa. Her previous stage credits include Cats, Mamma Mia!, We Will Rock You and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat among others.

Lee-James will join current Frozen cast members Emily Lane (as Anna), Djavan van de Fliert (as Kristoff), Craig Gallivan (as Olaf), Oliver Ormson (as Hans), Richard Frame (as Duke of Weselton) and Mikayla Jade and Ashley Birchall (alternating the role of Sven), alongside Rhianne Alleyne, Marianne Bardgett, Jeremy Batt, Danny Becker, Rebecca Botterill, Char Burnett (as Bulda), Collette Coleman, Laura Emmitt, Davide Fienauri, Jemal Felix, Jordan Fox, Molly Francis, Matt Gillett, Ben Irish (as Pabbie), Justin-Lee Jones, Aoife Kenny, Jordan Livesey, Joshua Robinson, Harriet Samuels, Jacqui Sanchez (as Queen Iduna), Isabella Glanznig Santos, Jak Skelly (as Oaken/Bishop), Kerry Spark (as King Agnarr), Caitlin Tipping, Rodney Vubya, Anna Woodside, and Luke Fraser Yates.

Directed by Michael Grandage and based on the two-time Oscar-winning animated classic, Frozen features music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and a book by Jennifer Lee. It received a glowing review from WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton, being described as “the most enormous fun.”

Winner of seven WhatsOnStage Awards, the production also features choreography by Rob Ashford, set and costume design by Christopher Oram, lighting design by Neil Austin, sound design by Peter Hylenski, video design by Finn Ross, puppet design by Michael Curry and musical supervision and arrangements by Stephen Oremus.

Tickets are on sale below.