Beverley Knight and Tristan Gemmill to head new Bodyguard cast
Posted on 14 June 2013
Current The Bodyguard leads Heather Headley and Lloyd Owen will bow out of the hit Adelphi Theatre show later this year. Stepping into their roles will be UK soul singer Beverley Knight and Tristan Gemmill, best known for his longrunning role as Dr Adam Trueman in BBC1's medical drama Casualty. Debbie Kurup will continue in her role as Nikki Marron.
Triple MOBO award winner Knight, often dubbed 'The Queen of British Soul', has racked up a long string of chart hits since her 1995 debut album including Made It Back, Shoulda Woulda Coulda, Keep This Fire Burning and Come As You Are. Twice nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize the singer-songwriter has been nominated at the Brits on three occasions. She performed in front of a worldwide audience of one billion at the opening of last year's Olympic Games singing I Am What I Am and has featured on ITV's singing duets show Just The Two Of Us.
She admits she has been "mesmerised" by the music of Whitney Houston since hearing Saving All My Love For You when she was thirteen years old, adding: "I am so excited about playing Rachel Marron on stage in The Bodyguard. To be making my West End theatre debut playing such an iconic role is both somewhat challenging and highly exhilarating and it will be nothing but a privilege to perform the best of Whitney Houston’s extraordinary catalogue each night on stage at the Adelphi Theatre. After seeing the show as a member of the audience I thought how brilliant it would be to join such a fantastic company on stage as they performed one iconic song after another and I couldn’t be happier that this is now to become a reality."
As well as his Casualty role Gemmill's has starred in other tv shows London's Burning, Cape Wrath and Strictly Confidential. His theatre credits include A Street Car Named Desire for Theatre Clwyd, Design For Living for English Touring Theatre, Dangerous Corner for Chichester Festival Theatre and Henry V for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He describes his upcoming return to the West End as "a real thrill."
Gemmill reveals: "It’s going to be a huge challenge but one I can’t wait to get started on. Being responsible for protecting my co-star, the phenomenally talented Beverley Knight and to hear her performing Whitney Houston’s timeless classics each night, will be something very special and I’m very much looking forward to getting on board and starting rehearsals with this incredible company.”
The other featured roles is the refreshed cast that take residence from the 9th September will be filled by Richard Lloyd King (Bill Devaney), Stephen Marcus (Tony), Dominic Taylor (Sy Spector), Michael Rouse (Stalker) and Stuart Reid (Ray Court). On Wednesday and Saturday matinees the role of Rachel Marron will be performed by Joelle Moses.
The Bodyguard musical has been a critical and commercial success since making its world premiere at the Adelphi Theatre in December 2012. As well as the new casting announcement, the current booking period has been extended until 8 March 2014. The theatre production is based on the 1992 blockbuster movie of the same name starring the late Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. As well as the film's hit score including I Have Nothing, Queen Of The Night and Houston's signature song I Will Always Love You, The Bodyguard London show adds more of the divas classic hits such as So Emotional, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, One Moment In Time, How Will I Know and I'm Your Baby Tonight.
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