Actor, comedian and presenter Rufus Hound and actor, writer and comedian Katy Brand will be joining the cast of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in March 2020 to play Hugo/Loco Chanelle and Miss Hedge at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End.
Katy Brand said: Joining the cast of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a truly thrilling opportunity for me. If I could tell my teenage self that I would one day have the chance to perform in a huge hit show on the West End stage, that girl would pinch herself. Jamie gets to realise his dream every night, and now so do I!”
Rufus Hound added:
‘I’m absolutely thrilled to be going into the cast of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – a brilliant, brave and British smash hit. I have been waxing for the last year in anticipation and am currently so tucked I may as well be a Ken doll. Bring. It. On.”
Brand will play Miss Hedge from 3 March until 20 June 2020 and Hound will play Hugo/Loco Chanelle from 16 March until 30 May 2020. They join current cast members: Noah Thomas (Jamie New), Melissa Jacques (Margaret New), Sejal Keshwala (Ray), Hiba Elchikhe (Pritti Pasha), David O’Reilly (Laika Virgin), James Gillan (Tray Sophisticay), Leon Craig (Sandra Bollock), Marlon G Day (Dad), Jordan Ricketts (Dean Paxton), Alexander Archer (Mickey), Zion Battles (Levi), Zahra Jones (Becca), Emily Kenwright (Vicki), Keenan Knight (Sayid), Jordan Laviniere (Cy), Harriet Payne (Bex), Tilly La Belle Yengo (Fatimah), Rico Bakker (Swing), Ebony Clarke (Swing), Rachel Seirian (Swing), Joe Wolstenholme (Swing), Gillian Forde (Alternate Miss Hedge/Understudy Margaret/Ray) and Brian James Leys (Understudy Jamie’s Dad/Drag Queens).
Inspired by a true story, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has songs by lead singer-songwriter of The Feeling, Dan Gillespie Sells and book and lyrics by writer Tom MacRae, from an idea by Jonathan Butterell who also directs. The musical has won seven major theatre awards and was nominated for five Olivier Awards.
The musical, which has just begun a UK and Ireland tour at Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre, has also been made into a major film by Sheffield-based production company Warp Films, completing the fairy-tale journey from a 16-year-old approaching a documentary maker to hit West End Show and now the big screen.
Bios
Rufus Hound is an award-winning actor, presenter and comedian. His extensive list of stage credits include Freddy in the original West End production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Francis Henshall in One Man Two Guv’nors (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Toad in Wind In The Willows (London Palladium) and more recently Sancho Panzo in Don Quixote (Garrick Theatre). He has also appeared in Utopia (Soho Theatre); Neville’s Island, What The Butler Saw, Present Laughter (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Wars Of The Roses (Rose Theatre); Dusty and The Provoked Island (RSC). Hound originated the role of Dad in the recent RSC production of The Boy In The Dress.
On screen Hound has appeared as a series regular in the hit comedies Zapped (Dave) and Trollied (Sky). His other TV credits include Doctor Who, Cucumber, A Touch Of Cloth and as the eponymous hero in the BBC’s Hounded.
Katy Brand devised and starred in her award-winning ITV sketch show Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show which ran for three series and later became a nationwide tour. She won a British Comedy Award for the show in 2008. During this time, she also co-wrote and performed in Mouthtrap with Katherine Parkinson which ran for two series on BBC Radio 4. Her acting credits cover a wide array of TV, film and radio shows.
In 2016, Brand took her first stand-up comedy show I Was A Teenage Christian to the Edinburgh Fringe and later toured with it nationwide. She returned to the Fringe in 2017 with the follow-up show, I Could’ve Been An Astronaut. Her debut play 3Women starring Anita Dobson opened at Trafalgar Studios 2 in May 2018.
