Natasha J Barnes To Play Title Role In London Palladium Cinderella As Final Casting Announced
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Jacob Porteous
Natasha J Barnes who will play the title role of Cinderella, Suzie Chard and Wendy Sommerville who will play The Wicked Stepsisters complete the casting for the London Palladium Pantomime this Christmas. They join the previously announced Paul O’Grady (The Wicked Stepmother), Julian Clary (Dandini), Amanda Holden (The Fairy Godmother), Lee Mead (Prince Charming), Paul Zerdin (Buttons), Nigel Havers (Lord Chamberlain) and Count Arthur Strong (Baron Hardup).
Qdos Entertainment’s production of Cinderella will run at the London Palladium for five weeks only over the Festive season from Saturday 10 December 2016 to Sunday 15 January 2017, with press night on Wednesday 14 December 2016.
Cinderella, the most enchanting rags-to-riches fairy tale of them all will grace the stage of the West End’s most famous theatre this Christmas as pantomime returns to the London Palladium for the first time in nearly three decades.
Cinderella is produced by Nick Thomas and Michael Harrison for Qdos Entertainment. Directed by Michael Harrison and co-directed and choreographed by Andrew Wright, Cinderella is designed by Ian Westbrook with costume designs for Paul O’Grady and Julian Clary by Hugh Durrant. Lighting design is by Ben Cracknell with projections by Duncan Mclean, sound by Gareth Owen, musical supervision and orchestration by Gary Hind, musical direction by Greg Arrowsmith and visual special effects by The Twins FX.
Natasha J Barnes is currently understudying and performing the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the Savoy Theatre which previously opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Her previous theatre credits include American Idiot at the Arts Theatre, The Boy Who Fell Into a Book for the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Chess at the Union Theatre, Snow White for the Old Vic Theatre and on tour, Lend Me a Tenor at the Gielgud Theatre, Come Dancing and I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky for Theatre Royal Stratford East and Spring Awakening at the Lyric Hammersmith and Novello Theatres. On television her credits include Doc Martin and Doctors and for BBC Radio Drama her credits include The Day I Finished Off Charlotte Brontë, The Wonderful World of Allaetitia and Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Suzie Chard’s more recent theatre credits include Soho Cinders for Soho Theatre, Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be for the Union Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East, National Tours of Business Affairs, Stepping Out, The Tart and the Vicars Wife and Oliver and Scrooge the Musical at the Mayflower Theatre Southampton. Her pantomime credits include Mother Goose, Pinocchio, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Dick Whittington and Cinderella. Her television credits include Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher, The Comic Songbook and Rude Britannia – Bawdy Songs and Lewd Photos.
Wendy Sommerville’s theatre credits include The Threepenny Opera for the National Theatre, Billy Elliot The Musical at the Victoria Palace Theatre, the UK tour and West End production of Hairspray, Sleeping Beauty for Hull New Theatre and Wolverhampton Grand, Sweeney Todd for Chichester Festival Theatre and the Adelphi Theatre, Sleeping Beauty for the Theatre Royal Newcastle, Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre and Macbeth for Bitesize Theatre Company.
Michael Harrison has previously produced over 100 pantomimes for Qdos Entertainment where he is also Managing Director. He has directed 12 consecutive pantomimes at Newcastle Theatre Royal and 6 productions at Birmingham Hippodrome and as a producer in the West End his credits include Gypsy, The Bodyguard and Mrs Henderson Presents. Award-winning Andrew Wright’s recent West End choreography credits include Mrs Henderson Presents, Singin’ In The Rain and Follies In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Regionally his many credits include Barnum, 42nd Street, Wonderful Town, Betty Blue Eyes, High Society and Saturday Night Fever. He has previously directed and choreographed the pantomimes Dick Whittington, Cinderella and Snow White.
Qdos Entertainment is the only pantomime producer to stage shows throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and this year will present 24 pantomimes. It is expected that over 1.6 million people will see a Qdos Entertainment pantomime this season. Over the past 34 years Qdos has produced over 650 pantomimes, establishing itself firmly not only as the UK’s true nationwide pantomime producer, but also the world’s biggest pantomime producer.