My Neighbour Totoro announces new West End cast

New casting has been announced for the West End production of My Neighbour Totoro, which marks one year at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in March 2026.

Helen Chong will join the company, making her West End principal debut as Satsuki. She joins Victoria Chen as Mei, Dai Tabuchi as Tatsuo, Jacqueline Tate as Granny and Ai Ninomiya as the Singer, all of whom continue in their roles.

New members have also been announced for the Kazego Puppetry Ensemble. Joining the company are Karen Barredo, Melisa Camba, Jeffrey Chekai, Chui Yen, Eero Chen Liu, Natsumi Kuroda, Yui Minari, Michelle Miners, Gun Suen, Si Rawlinson, Sango Tajima and Bai Zhijin.

Continuing in the ensemble are Rachel Clare Chan, Phyllis Ho, Victor Itang, Gabriel S. Janoras, Kumiko Mendl, Steven Nguyen, Richard P Peralta and Jamie Zubairi, with swings Ronnie Lee, Wenhsin Lee, Amber Lin and Sera Maehara.

The production is presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company in collaboration with Nippon TV and Improbable, with executive producer Joe Hisaishi. The stage adaptation is directed by Phelim McDermott and adapted by Tom Morton-Smith from Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 animated feature film.

My Neighbour Totoro opened at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in March 2025 following two runs at the Barbican Centre. The production previously broke the Barbican’s box office record for tickets sold in a single day in April 2022. The show has received six Olivier Awards and five WhatsOnStage Awards.

It was heralded as a “sumptuous Studio Ghibli staging” in our review of the original Barbican spell.

The creative team includes production design by Tom Pye, puppetry design and direction by Basil Twist, costume design by Kimie Nakano, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun and movement by You-Ri Yamanaka. Music is drawn from Joe Hisaishi’s score in a new orchestration by Will Stuart, performed live with sound design by Tony Gayle. Casting is by Hannah Miller.

The production continues performances at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, where it is booking until 30 August 2026.