Multiple guest actors will play the role of Daddy Brubeck in Josie Rourke’s production of Sweet Charity at the Donmar Warehouse including Shaq Taylor, Adrian Lester, Le Gateau Chocolat, Beverley Knight and Clive Rowe with further casting to be announced. The musical will run from 6 April to 8 June 2019 (press night is 17 April).
Shaq Taylor will play the role from 6-13 April 2019, Adrian Lester will play the role from 15-27 April to include press night, Le Gateau Chocolat will play the role during the week beginning 29 April, Beverley Knight will play the role during the week beginning 6 May and Clive Rowe during the week beginning 13 May.
They will join cast members Lizzy Connolly, Arthur Darvill, Lauren Drew, Anne-Marie Duff, Jo Eaton-Kent, Will Haswell, Charlotte Jaconelli, Stephen Kennedy, Debbie Kurup, Martin Marquez, Ryan Reid, Amy Ellen Richardson and Danielle Steers.
Sweet Charity has been choreographed by the world-renowned Wayne McGregor, who reunites with Rourke after collaborating on her debut film Mary Queen of Scots. Rourke returns to the music of Cy Coleman who wrote the score for her Olivier Award-winning production of City of Angels. The book is by Neil Simon and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.
Also in the creative team are designer Robert Jones, musical supervisor Gareth Valentine, lighting designer Mark Henderson, sound designer Nick Lidster for Autograph, orchestrators Larry Blank and Mark Cumberland, original orchestrator Ralph Burns, video designer Finn Ross and casting director David Grindrod.
For Rourke’s farewell production, all tickets at every Friday performance of Sweet Charity from 26 April will be free to those aged 25 and under through the Sweet Fridays ballot.
Bios
Shaq Taylor (Daddy Brubeck/Ensemble) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut in Sweet Charity. His theatre credits include Hadestown (National Theatre), Sweet Charity (Nottingham Playhouse) and Les Misérables (Queen’s Theatre).
Adrian Lester (Daddy Brubeck) is an award-winning actor and director. He returns to the Donmar Warehouse following his Olivier Award-winning performance in Company at both the Donmar and in the West End. His career started with a string of successful West End productions including Company, Six Degrees of Separation (Royal Court) and Sweeney Todd (National Theatre), before he took the lead role in Mike Nichol’s film Primary Colors. Lester has also played the title roles in Henry V and Othello (National Theatre), for which he won Best Actor at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards; Rosalind in As You Like It (Declan Donnellan & Cheek By Jowl); Ira Aldridge in Red Velvet (Tricycle Theatre/St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York/Garrick Theatre), for which he won Best Actor at the Critics Circle Awards; Hamlet in Peter Brook’s The Tragedy Of Hamlet (London, Paris, Japan and New York), Guys & Dolls (Royal Albert Hall) and the recent Cost of Living (Hampstead Theatre).
Le Gateau Chocolat (Daddy Brubeck) makes his Donmar Warehouse debut in Sweet Charity. Theatre credits include Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Bear and the Proposal, Tobias and the Angel (Young Vic), Threepenny Opera (National Theatre), Porgy and Bess (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Imago (Glyndebourne), Varjak Paw (Royal Opera House), Duckie (Southbank Centre), Black (Soho Theatre/Tour), Le Gateau Chocolat (Menier Chocolate Factory), La Soiree (Roundhouse), Hair (Old Market), Jesus Christ Superstar, La Cage Aux Folles (Theatre Royal Brighton), La Traviata (Barn Theatre) and Peter Pan (Theatre Lighthouse).
Beverley Knight (Daddy Brubeck) makes her Donmar Warehouse debut in Sweet Charity. Theatre credits include Cats (London Palladium), Memphis The Musical (Shaftesbury Theatre), for which she received an Olivier Award Nomination as Best Actress in a Musical, The Bodyguard (Dominion Theatre and Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto) and Sylvia (The Old Vic). Knight has released eight studio albums, and her latest album ‘Soulsville’ was released in June 2016 and went straight into the UK Top 10.
Clive Rowe (Daddy Brubeck) returns to the Donmar Warehouse following his roles in Company and Donmar Divas. Theatre credits include In The Willows (UK Tour), Guys and Dolls (Royal Albert Hall), Me and My Girl (Chichester), Jack and the Beanstalk (Wimbledon), The Light Princess (National Theatre), The Hothouse (Trafalgar Studios), The Ladykillers (West End and UK Tour), Kiss Me Kate (Chichester & Old Vic Theatre), No Naughty Bits (Hampstead Theatre), The Wiz (Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Fantastics (Duchess Theatre), Twelfth Night, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Trolius & Cressida (Regent’s Park Theatre), Chicago (Adelphi Theatre), Carousel, Fuente Ovejuna, Caroline or Change, The Villains Opera, Money, Candide, Peter Pan, Guys and Dolls, Trackers (National Theatre), As You Like It (Wyndham’s Theatre), Simply Heavenly (Young Vic/Trafalgar Studio), Zenobia, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night (RSC), Once On This Island (Birmingham Rep), Carmen Jones (Old Vic), Just So (Tricycle Theatre), School for Scandal (Royal Exchange Theatre) and The Boys from Syracuse, Lady Be Good, Twelfth Night and Carmen Jones (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield).
