It doesn’t get more big time American musical than the long-awaited stage debut of The Greatest Showman. Which is why it’s quite charming that Disney’s latest megabucks musical will be debuting next year in our own humble Bristol.
It makes sense, of course. The family-friendly mega corporation’s most recent shows have had a British connection: Frozen was directed by Michael Grandage, and the imminent Hercules is co-written by former Young Vic boss Kwame Kwei-Armah; Frozen also lasted rather longer here than on Broadway.
So that’s nice for the good people of Bristol: The Greatest Showman will debut at the city’s Hippodrome venue next spring.
In terms of the show itself: well you know the deal. A gargantuan smash in 2017 – both theatrically and its massively successful soundtrack – The Greatest Showman started life on screen, though you’d be forgiven for assuming it pre-existed as a stage musical. It’s vanishingly rare these days for a live-action musical to debut on screen and not stage, and The Greatest Showman has a similar premise to the pre-existing Barnum, both being about the legendary circus impresario PT Barnum.
The musical will be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, whose other works include The Book of Mormon and Mean Girls (both on in London right now) and Hercules (which arrives this summer). Naturally it’ll include the songs from EGOT-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul… and word has it they’ve written five new ones for the stage version, which will have a script by Tim Federle.
It’s not yet cast, and indeed a casting call is out for unknowns to audition in cities across the UK and Ireland – find out more information here. The odds are that you can expect more seasoned actor in the older roles, notably to follow in the footsteps of Hugh Jackman as Barnum.
It would of course be the height of eccentricity for Disney to spunk millions of dollars on a lavish musical for it to only run for a few weeks in Bristol. Nothing is confirmed officially, but Deadline has reported that it’ll be heading into London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane next, which makes sense as that’s where Frozen went and Hercules is going.
For now, though, the good people of Bristol and other interested parties can sign up here to be the first to hear more information including exact The Greatest Showman dates and when they go on sale.
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