Wild Rose musical announces lead casting for world premiere

Lead casting has been announced for the world premiere stage adaptation of Wild Rose, written by BAFTA Award winner Nicole Taylor (Three Girls) and based on the BAFTA Award-winning film of the same name.

John Tiffany (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) is set to direct the piece, which will feature songs from such country music favourites as Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Wynonna Judd, Chris Stapleton, Caitlyn Smith, The Chicks, and Patty Griffin, as well as the film’s original song “Glasgow (No Place Like Home).”

Wild Rose follows the trials and tribulations of Harlan, fresh out of jail for past misdemeanours and dreaming of a career as a singer in Nashville – except she is faced with the realities of raising two young children in Glasgow.

Set to lead the show will be Olivier nominee Dawn Sievewright, who received critical acclaim for her performance in Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, which ran in Scotland and London. Other credits include No Love Songs and The Welkin. 

She said today: “It’s hard to put into words how I feel about this story, how I feel about Rose-Lynn Harlan. I don’t think there’s ever been a character to come my way that has so perfectly spoken to the world I grew up in. She defies her surroundings and speaks to the wee muddled up lassie in me. To the ‘too aggressive’, to the ‘calm doon!’ and to the massive beating heart of Scotland that sometimes…can only be expressed through music. She scares me – in the best possible way.  

“Nicole Taylor has written the guts of Glasgow and woven it so expertly with a soundtrack of such gallus music that the Lyceum audiences are going to be leaping from their seats. I am beyond buzzing to get back into a rehearsal room with the legend that is John Tiffany and his incredible creative team.” 

Choreography is by Steven Hoggett (a long-term collaborator of Tiffany’s) and Vicki Manderson, with set design by Chloe Lamford, costume design by Katrina Lindsay, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, sound design by Tony Gayle, music supervision, orchestration and arrangements by Sarah Travis and Davey Anderson, and casting by Charlotte Sutton.

Co-presented by Caledonia Productions and Gavin Kalin Productions, Wild Rose will run from 6 March until 5 April 2025, with a press night scheduled for 14 March. Further casting for the production is to be announced.

Sievewright concluded: “We’re bringing Rose-Lynn home… I can barely keep my heart in my chest.”