Dawn French and Julian Clary will lead the cast of Snow White when Qdos Entertainment brings pantomime back to the West End for a third year, playing at the London Palladium from 8 December 2018 until 13 January 2019 and directed by Michael Harrison.
Produced by the Olivier Award-winning team behind last year’s Dick Whittington, Snow White will star Dawn French as The Wicked Queen and sees the return of Julian Clary as The Man in The Mirror, Paul Zerdin as Muddles, Nigel Havers as The Understudy and Gary Wilmot as Mrs Crumble.
Joining them are Vincent and Flavia as The King and The Queen and Josh Bennett, Simeon Dyer, Craig Garner, Ben Goffe, Jamie John, Blake Lisle and Andrew Martin as The Magnificent Seven. Final casting for the role of the Prince and title role of Snow White as well as members of the ensemble will be announced at a later date.
A third brand-new production created especially for the London Palladium will again have scenery designed by Ian Westbrook, with costumes designed by Hugh Durrant, visual special effects by The Twins FX, lighting by Ben Cracknell and original music by Gary Hind.
Bios
Actor, writer and comedian Dawn French, who is making her pantomime debut as The Wicked Queen, is an original member of The Comic Strip and one half of the comedy duo French and Saunders. She was last on the West End stage in October 2016 in her one woman show 30 Million Minutes at the Vaudeville Theatre. Her previous stage credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, An Evening with French and Saunders, French and Saunders Live, French and Saunders Still Alive, Le Fille du Regiment, Side by Side by Sondheim, Silly Cow, When I was a Girl I Used to Scream and Shout and Smaller.
Julian Clary returns to the London Palladium for the third year following his triumphant successes as The Spirit of the Bells in Dick Whittington and Dandini in Cinderella. In 2016 he toured with his one man show The Joy of Mincing and in 2017 was seen in Le Grand Mort at the Trafalgar Studios.
Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin took the US by storm when he won America’s Got Talent, which was swiftly followed by his own residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. He has previously appeared at the Palladium as Idle Jack in Dick Whittington and as Buttons in Cinderella.
Nigel Havers’ numerous West End appearances include Art and The Importance of Being Earnest, plus touring productions of Rebecca, Single Spies and Basket Case. Havers played Captain Nigel in Dick Whittington and Lord Chamberlain in Cinderella, both at the London Palladium.
Gary Wilmot’s multiple theatre credits include last year’s Palladium pantomime Dick Whittington, The Wind in the Willows also at the London Palladium, Big The Musical for the Theatre Royal Plymouth, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Savoy Theatre and on UK tour, The Pajama Game at the Shaftesbury Theatre, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium, Copacabana at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Carmen Jones at the Old Vic, Pirates of Penzance for Regent’s Park Theatre and Me and My Girl at the Aldephi Theatre.
Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace-Mistry are one of the country’s most successful Ballroom, Latin American and Argentine Tango performers and choreographers. After competing successfully together for many years, they gained a strong following after joining BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2005. Since leaving the show, they have starred in and co-choreographed productions including Midnight Tango, Dance ’til Dawn and The Last Tango.
