Royal Exchange & Hallé Wonderful Town Tours with Fisher

The production, which had previously announced dates at the Lowry with performances from 31 March to 14 April 2012, will subsequently tour to Milton Keynes Theatre, Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre, the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, Birmingham Hippodrome, the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, Newcastle’s Theatre Royal, New Victoria Theatre, Woking and the Theatre Royal, Plymouth finishing in Cardiff at the Wales Millennium Centre on 6 July 2012.

Wonderful Town is helmed by Royal Exchange co-artistic director and founder Braham Murray with the Hallé’s Mark Elder, which will accompany the production at the Lowry. The Hallé’s musical director will also choose the tour orchestra. Choreography is by Andrew Wright.

Connie Fisher in the poster image for Wonderful Town. Photo credit: Greg King

In Wonderful Town, Connie Fisher – who went on to star in West End and touring productions of The Sound of Music after winning the BBC and Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s televised search for a Maria – plays aspiring writer Ruth Sherwood who arrives in New York with her beautiful younger sister Eileen. The indomitable pair meet an array of colourful characters along the way, creating chaos at every turn in their search for romance, success and a free meal at Walgreens deli.

Full casting for Wonderful Town is set to be announced in January 2012.

Wonderful Town first premiered in New York in 1953 where it won five Tony Awards including Best Musical. The 2003 Broadway revival also won further Tony and Drama Desk Awards. The show was last seen in the West End in 1986.

Wonderful Town has a book by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The musical is based upon Fields and Chodorov’s play My Sister Eileen and the stories of Ruth Mckenney.

Set and costumes for the new tour are by Simon Higlett. Lighting is by Chris Davey.