Gossip

New musical version of Peter Pan flies into West End?

West End stars Louise Dearman (Wicked), Tim Driesen (Never Forget), Gerard Carey (Masterclass) and Lucy Sinclair (We Will Rock You) will lead a workshop presentation of a brand new musical comedy version of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan later this week.

The workshop, which will take place in front of an invited audience at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue at 1.00pm on 28 June, will feature Dearman as Tinker Bell, Driesen as Pan, Carey as Hook and Sinclair in the role of Wendy.

A musical menagerie of 35 other characters will be played by a supporting cast of 7 comprising Allyson Ava-Brown, James Ballanger, Natasha J Barnes, Matt Corner, Anthony Lawrence,Sion Lloyd and Kit Orton.

The workshop of Peter Pan is directed by Christian Durham (Chicago, We Will Rock You), with movement by Lucie Pankhurst, musical direction by Dean Austin (Taboo, Zorro, Spamalot), casting by Anne Vosser and orchestrations by Tom Curran. Music, book and lyrics are by Jimmy Jewell, with additional book and lyrics by Nick Stimson

Barrie’s much-loved story was originally written for the stage and has been adapted into countless other mediums over the years. It is frequently used as the basis for pantomimes in the UK, though more ‘straight’ versions are regularly staged – including the 2009 production in Kensington Gardens, where the original story is set.