The Book Thief musical announces full cast for its return

Complete casting has been revealed for the upcoming new production of The Book Thief, which returns following its initial spell in Bolton last year.

The show, based on Markus Zusak’s hit novel of the same name, will play at  the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry before a follow-up spell at Curve in Leicester. It has a book by Jodi Picoult and Timothy Allen McDonald and music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson, and was nominated for Best Regional Production at the 23rd Annual WhatsOnStage Awards.

Telling the story of an illiterate girl who steals an abandoned book in 1930s Germany, the stage version of Zusak’s best-seller will star Obioma Ugoala (Frozen the Musical) as Narrator, Mina Anwar (The Sarah Jane Adventures) as Rosa Hubermann, Jack Lord (West Side Story) as Hans Hubermann and Daniel Krikler (The Secret Life Of Bees) as Max Vandenburg.

Joining them are Storytellers Matthew Caputo (Hamilton) as Referee, Katy Clayton (The Band) as Liesel’s Mother, Oonagh Cox (Matilda: The Musical) as Nurse, Mark Dugdale (Les Miserables) as Alex Steiner, Michał Horowicz (The Band’s Visit) as Max’s Mother, Thomas-Lee Kidd (Beauty and the Beast) as Mayor Hermann, Anu Ogunmefun (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) as a swing, Simon Oskarsson (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as a swing, Corinna Powlesland (Grease) as Social Worker, Purvi Parmar (The Jungle Book) as Barbara Steiner, Wendy Somerville (Billy Elliot) as Ilsa Hermann, Edwin Ray (Chicago) as Walter Kugler, Lee V G (Only Fools and Horses: The Musical) as Gravedigger and Russell Wilcox (The Producers) as Wolfgang Edel.

The character of the young Liesel Meminger will be played by Tilly-Raye Bayer (Frozen The Musical), Mollie Casserley (The Sound of Music) and Eirini Louskou (Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), while Rudy Steiner will be played by Thommy Bailey Vine (Matilda: The Musical), Preston Cropp (professional debut) and Oliver Gordon (Newsies).

The show is directed by Lotte Wakeham (The Book Thief, Shirley Valentine, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), with libretto by Jodi Picoult (Breathe, Between The Lines) and Timothy Allen McDonald (Roald Dahl’s James & The Giant Peach and Willy Wonka), and music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson (Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, Central Park).

Set and costume design is by Good Teeth (Little Shop of Horrors, Jack and the Beanstalk), choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves (Rent, Whistle Down the Wind, Romeo & Juliet), orchestrations and arrangements, musical supervision and musical direction by Matthew Malone (Peter Pan, Carousel),  lighting design by Nic Farman (Allegiance, The Diary of a CEO Live), sound design by Andy Graham (Aladdin, The Wizard of Oz), video design by Dick Straker (A Monster Calls, Peer Gynt), casting by Abby Galvin for Jessica Ronane Casting (The Glass Menagerie, Girl from the North Country), casting consultancy by Jessica Ronane, puppetry design by Sam Wilde (A Christmas Carol, The Fir Tree), production management by Andy Fox and Lee Batty for Setting Line Production Management (Newsies, The Cher Show), associate direction by Martha Geelan (Fiddler on the Roof) and Anna Pool (A Little Night Music), associate choreography by Tinovimbanashe Sibanda (Moulin Rouge), and associate musical direction by George Strickland (Allegiance). 

It is produced by Deus Ex Machina Productions (Ride: A New Musical, Adrian Mole) with Writer’s Cage, Andrew Paradis, and Christopher Ketner in association with Belgrade, Coventry. 

The show will open first at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry (running from 11 to 16 September) ahead of a spell at Curve in Leicester from 29 September to 14 October. Future plans for the production are to be revealed in due course.