Cameron Mackintosh is delighted to announce that Killian Donnelly will star as ‘Jean Valjean’. He joins “Les Misérables” fresh from Broadway where he is currently playing the lead role of ‘Charlie Price’ in “Kinky Boots”. West End leading lady and former Hollyoaks star Carley Stenson, will join the company as ‘Fantine’ and Hayden Tee returns to play ‘Javert’ from 17 July having performed the role at The Queen’s Theatre until 22 April this year.
Also joining the company are Steven Meo as ‘Thénardier’; Karis Jack as ‘Eponine’, Jacqueline Tate as ‘Madame Thénardier’ and Hyoie O’Grady as ‘Enjolras’. Paul Wilkins will continue in the role of ‘Marius’ and Charlotte Kennedy will continue in the role of ‘Cosette’ having both originally joined the company in 2015.
From 17 July 2017 the full company will be: Emma Barr; Adam Bayjou; Oliver Brenin; Ciarán Bowling; Hugo Chiarella; Andy Conaghan; Killian Donnelly; Alice Ellen Wright; Sophie-May Feek; Hyoie O’Grady; Catherine Hannay; Antony Hansen; Holly-Anne Hull; James Hume; Karis Jack; Ciaran Joyce; Charlotte Kennedy; Katie Kerr; Rebecca Lafferty; Jo Loxton; John Lumsden; Anna McGarahan; Steven Meo; Jonny Purchase; Lauren Soley; Carley Stenson; Jacqueline Tate; Shaq Taylor; George Tebbutt; Hayden Tee; Lee Van Geleen; Danny Whitehead and Paul Wilkins.
Killian Donnelly is currently playing the role of ‘Charlie Price’ in “Kinky Boots” on Broadway, a role he originated at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End in 2015, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award. His other theatre credits include: ‘Jackie Day’ in “Donegal”, a new play by Frank McGuinness, at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin and ‘Huey’ in the original London cast of “Memphis” at the Shaftesbury Theatre for which he was also nominated for an Olivier Award. He created the role of ‘Deco’ in “The Commitments” at the Palace Theatre and has also played ‘Tony’ in “Billy Elliot” at the Victoria Palace Theatre as well as’ Raoul’ in “The Phantom of the Opera” at Her Majesty’s Theatre. He first joined the company of “Les Misérables” in 2008, going onto play the role of ‘Enjolras’ from 2009 to 2011. In 2010, he played the role of ‘Courfeyrac’ in the “25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables” at The O2 Arena and also played the role of ‘Combeferre’ in the multi-award-winning film of the show, released in 2012.
Carley Stenson’s West End credits include ‘Elle Woods’ in “Legally Blonde”, ‘Princess Fiona’ in “Shrek The Musical” and ‘Lady of the Lake’ in “Spamalot”. Carley also starred as ‘Christine Colgate’ in the tour of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”. She is probably best known for playing the regular role of ‘Steph Cunningham’ in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, for which she was nominated for several awards during her 10 years with the show.
Hayden Tee returns to the West End production of Les Misérables having played the role of ‘Javert’ in the West End from 9 January 2017 to 22 April 2017. He has previously played the role on Broadway and in Dubai. He has also previously played the role of ‘Marius’. His other theatre credits include: “South Pacific”; “Little Women”; “Titanic”; “Cats” and “Into the Woods”.
Steven Meo’s previous theatre credits include “Pride & Prejudice” at The Regents Park Open Air Theatre and on UK tour; “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Boeing Boeing”, “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog” all for Theatre Clwyd; “The Distance” for Sheffield Crucible/Orange Tree Theatre and “Flesh and Blood” for Hampstead Theatre and on tour.
Karis Jack’s theatre credits include “The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin” at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East & Belgrade Theatre, Coventry; “Baddies: The Musical” at the Unicorn Theatre’ “Hairspray” at Curve, Leicester and on UK tour; “Little Shop of Horrors” at the Salisbury Playhouse and Mercury Theatre, Colchester; and “Urinetown: The Musical” at the Apollo Theatre and St James Theatre.
Jacqueline Tate’s previous theatre credits include: “Allegro” at the Southwark Playhouse; “Avenue Q” at the Wyndham’s Theatre, Gielgud Theatre and national tour; “South Pacific” at The Barbican Theatre and UK tour; “The Phantom of The Opera” at Her Majesty’s Theatre and “My Fair Lady” and “Evita” on international tour.
Hyoie O’Grady is making his professional and West End debut in “Les Misérables”.
Paul Wilkins has previously played the role of ‘Marius’ in “Les Misérables” in Manila, Singapore and Dubai. He made his West End debut in “Les Misérables” in 2015.
Charlotte Kennedy made her West End debut in “Les Misérables” in 2015. She has also appeared in “Elaine Paige in Concert” at the Royal Albert Hall.
PANIC! AT THE DISCO’S BRENDON URIE TO STRUT ON BROADWAY THIS SUMMER AS CHARLIE PRICE IN
“KINKY BOOTS”
Producers Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig announced today that Grammy Award-nominated Panic! At the Disco front man Brendon Urie will make his Broadway debut as ‘Charlie Price’ in Kinky Boots, beginning Friday, May 26 through August 6, 2017. Urie succeeds Killian Donnelly in the hit musical, which just celebrated its 4-year anniversary on Broadway. He joins a cast that includes J. Harrison Ghee as ‘Lola,’ and Taylor Louderman as ‘Lauren.’
“I’m thrilled to be making my Broadway debut with this fantastic company,” Urie said. “I’m a huge fan of Kinky Boots and musical theatre, and am honored to be joining the cast.”
Brendon Urie is the frontman of the Grammy-nominated, award-winning, internationally acclaimed rock band, Panic! At The Disco. The band’s fifth-studio album, Death Of A Bachelor, debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart with their single “Victorious” debuting at No. 1 on iTunes Top Songs, iTunes Alternative Songs, Billboard + Twitter’s Trending 140 charts just hours after its release. In addition, platinum-certified Death Of A Bachelor was the #4 biggest selling album released in 2016 just behind Drake, Beyonce, and Rihanna respectively and has amassed over 500 million streams.
The winner of six 2013 Tony® Awards, including Best Musical, Kinky Boots features a Tony® Award-winning score by Cyndi Lauper, a book by Tony® Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and direction and choreography by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell. Kinky Boots tells the uplifting and heartwarming tale of Charlie Price, a young man reluctantly taking over his family’s struggling shoe factory and looking for a fresh idea. Charlie meets and finds inspiration in Lola and together, they discover that it takes a good friend to make a great pair.
Kinky Boots has won every major Best Musical Award and is represented around the world with the Tony Award-winning Broadway company now in its fifth year, a North American First National Tour in its third year, a London production in its second year (where it won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Musical), an Australian production that opened in October 2016 and an upcoming production in Germany. Other previous productions include an extended run in Toronto, two productions in Korea, and a Japanese language production. The Grammy Award-winning Original Broadway Cast Recording of Kinky Boots is available on Sony Masterworks Broadway.
The current Broadway cast of Kinky Boots includes J. Harrison Ghee (as Lola), Killian Donnelly (as Charlie Price), Taylor Louderman (as Lauren), Daniel Stewart Sherman, Shannon O’Boyle, Marcus Neville, Sean Patrick Doyle, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Fred Odgaard, Kyle Post, Eric LaJuan Summers, Hernando Umana, Adinah Alexander, Eugene Barry-Hill, Stephen Berger, Damien Brett, Devin Trey Campbell, Christopher Convery, Holly Davis, Jesus Del Orden, Stephane Duret, Christy Faber, Mia Gentile, Blair Goldberg, Natalie Joy Johnson, Jake Katzman, Jeff Kuhr, Ross Lekites, Eric Leviton, Ellyn Marie Marsh, John Jeffrey Martin, Michael Milkanin, Nathan Peck, Jennifer Perry, and Stephen Tewksbury.
The design team for Kinky Boots includes Tony® Award nominee David Rockwell (Scenic Design), Tony® Award-winner Gregg Barnes (Costume Design), Tony Award-winner Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design), Tony® Award-winner John Shivers (Sound Design), Josh Marquette (Hair Design), Randy Houston Mercer (Make-up Design), Telsey + Company, Justin Huff, CSA (Casting), Brian Usifer (Musical Direction), with Musical Supervision, Arrangements and Orchestrations by Tony and Grammy Award-winner Stephen Oremus.
