Kaisa Hammarlund is set to play the titular character in the UK premiere of Violet. Hammarlund’s previous stage credits include Alison Bechdel in Fun Home at the Young Vic, Petra in A Little Night Music at the Garrick Theatre and Menier Chocolate Factory, and Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Starring alongside Hammarlund are Matthew Harvey (Loserville) as Monty, Jay Marsh (Miss Saigon) as Flick, and Amy Mepham, Rebecca Nardin and Maddie Sellman, as young Violet. The cast is completed by Angelica Allen, Danny Michaels, James Gant, Janet Mooney, Keiron Crook, Kenneth Avery-Clark, and Simbi Akande.
Left horribly facially disfigured as a child, Violet, now grown up in the year following Kennedy’s assassination, prays that her life savings will bring her success halfway across the USA. Follow Violet on her pilgrimage to finding the American Dream.
Violet was co-created by American composer Jeanine Tesori, whose major works include her Tony Award-winning score for Fun Home and her scores for Shrek The Musical and Caroline, or Change, and Brian Cawley, who is behind the show’s libretto. The musical is based on Doris Bett’s anecdote, The Ugliest Pilgrim, from her 1973 anthology, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories.
Before becoming a smash-hit musical on Broadway in 1997, Violet was made into a short film in 1982, which won an Academy Award. The '90s Broadway show was nominated for four Tony Awards and won both a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical.
Violet is directed by the highly lauded Japanese director, Shuntaro Fujita (Danny and the Deep Blue Sea). Following the premiere of Violet, the show will transfer to the Tokyo stage as part of its co-production with Umeda Arts.
Jeanine Tesori and Ben Crawley’s Violet premieres on 14 January 2019 at the Off-West End Charing Cross Theatre where it is booking until 6 April 2019.