WOS TV: Lloyd Owen is Bodyguard, tickets on sale today

Lloyd Owen will join Heather Headley in the musical version of The Bodyguard which opens at the Adelphi in December.

Owen will play Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer, the role created in the original 1992 film by Kevin Costner.

He was last on stage in London playing leading roles in Loyalty at Hampstead Theatre and Blood and Gifts at the National Theatre. On television he is best known for playing Paul Bowman-MacDonald in the BBC drama series Monarch of the Glen. He played Indiana Jones’ father in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

As already announced, he plays opposite Tony Award-winning Broadway actress Heather Headley who take the role of singing superstar Rachel Marron (played in the film by Whitney Houston who died in February this year at the age of 48).

Headley won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her 2000 outing in the title role of Aida. Her other credits include originating the role of Nala in the Broadway production of The Lion King.

The show tells the story of Former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer who is hired to protect superstar Rachel Marron from an unknown stalker. The two fall in love.

The Bodyguard will feature all of the film’s songs, as well as ten other Houston hits. The score includes “Queen of the Night”, “So Emotional”, “One Moment in Time”, “Saving All My Love”, “I’m Your Baby Tonight”,”How Will I Know”, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and, of course, “I Will Always Love You”.

Both “Run to You” and “I Have Nothing”, which will be included in the stage production, were nominated for Oscars for best New Music.

Thea Sharrock directs The Bodyguard which has a book is by Alex Dinelaris, designs by Tim Hatley, lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Richard Brooker. Choreography is by Arthur Pita, orchestrations by Chris Egan and musical supervision by Mike Dixon. It is produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian.

At today’s launch, Sharrock, whose previous credits include After the Dance and Equus, said she was “the world’s biggest Whitney fan”. She added that when it came to the casting of Headley, she told the producers that if “she was in, I was in”.

Headley, who admitted she was daunted to be stepping into “Whitney’s very big – and high – shoes”, then took to the stage to perform two songs from the show, “I Have Nothing” and the iconic “I Will Always Love You” (see the video for interviews with Headley and Owen).

Tickets for The Bodyguard go on sale today (1 May 2012) and the show opens on 5 December 2012 with previews from 6 November. It is currently booking until 27 April 2013 .