Casting announced for upcoming The Boy Friend revival at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Who is starring in The Boy Friend Menier Chocolate Factory cast?

Set to star in the cast of the Off-West End musical theatre production of The Boy Friend are Adrian Edmondson (Twelfth Night) as Lord Brockhurst, Amara Okereke (Oklahoma!) as Polly, Dylan Mason (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) as Tony, Issy Van Randwyck (A Little Night Music) as Lady Brockhurst, Jack Butterworth (Hamilton) as Bobby Van Husen, Janie Dee (Follies) as Madame DuBonnet, and Tiffany Graves (The Wild Party) as Hortense. The casting news comes after the revival announcement earlier this month.

Spotlight on Ade Edmondson, Amara Okereke and Janie Dee

Hailing from Bradford, Adrian Edmondson is a highly prolific TV, film and stage actor as well as an active comedian and musician. From the early stages of his career, Edmondson is perhaps best known for his roles on The Young Ones (1982-84), The Comic Strips Presents..., and Bottom (1991-95). He has appeared on such television series as Hell's Kitchen, Holby City, Jonathan Creek, Miss Austen Regrets, Celebrity Masterchef (during which he was crowned the winner in 2013), BBC's EastEnders (in which he portrayed Daniel Cook), and Upstart Crow (in which he portrayed Sergeant Dogberry and which is now a feature-length stage play at the Gielgud Theatre).

Edmondson's film credits include Captain Peavey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Charles in Eat The Rich (1987), and Father Rookie in The Pope Must Die(t) (1991). His most notable stage credits include Gordon in Neville's Island (2013) at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Bits of Me Are Falling Apart at the Soho Theatre, and Bottom Live 1, 2, and 3 (1993, 1995, 1997) at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, England.

Amara Okereke is a graduate of Arts Educational Schools, London and is best known for playing Cosette in Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre (formerly the Queen's Theatre). Her other stage credits include Diva in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the ensemble of Bullets Over Broadway, Maria in West Side Story (Manchester Warehouse, NYMT), Cassie in 13 The Musical (Apollo Shaftesbury Avenue, NYMT), and Emly Talentire in The Hired Mand (The Other Palace, NYMT).

Janie Dee is a multi-award-winning musical theatre actress who is best known for her roles as Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel at the Royal National Theatre (1993); Jacie Triplethree in Comic Potential at the Lyric Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Stephen Joseph Theatre (1998, 2000); Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly! at the Curve, Leicester (2012); and Phylis Rogers Tone in Follies at the National Theatre (2017).

Dee won her first Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical in 1993 for her role in Carousel while her role in Comic Potential garnered the 1999 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress, the 1999 Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Actress, and the 2001 Obie Award. Her role in Follies earned nominations for the 2017 Evening Standard Award for Best Musical Performance and the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

What is The Boy Friend about?

The Boy Friend takes place at a southern French finishing school where taboo boy friends pop in through the girls' windows to dance and sing the night away. The acclaimed 1953 musical by Sandy Wilson was adapted into a feature-length film that starred one of the world's first supermodels, Twiggy, whose performance earned two Golden Globes.

The Boy Friend creative team

This love letter to the 20s is directed by Matthew White (She Loves Me, Little Shop of Horrors) and features choreography and associate direction by Bill Deamer (Top Hat), design by Paul Farnsworth (Barnum, A Pack of Lies), hair and wig design by Richard Mawbey (Urinetown, Death in Venice, Finding Neverland), lighting by Paul Anderson (A Taste of Honey, The Encounter), musical supervision and direction by Simon Beck (Sweet Charity), orchestration by David Cullen (Cats, The Phantom of the Opera), and sound design by Gregory Clarke (The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, The Bridges of Madison County).

Tickets for The Boy Friend on sale soon! Stay tuned!

You won't want to miss this long-awaited revival of The Boy Friend, set to play in London once again after nearly a decade! The Boy Friend will enjoy a relatively long run at London's Menier Chocolate Factory from 22 November 2019 until 7 March 2020. Official opening night is slated for 3 December, just in time for the Christmas holiday season.