Words by Léna Fontaine

The musical has found its Maria and Tony.

Ahead of the release of the upcoming Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story Movie, a new production of the hit-musical will start on november 23rd at Curve Leicester. The piece will run from November 23rd, 2019 to January 11, 2020.

Jamie Muscato (Heathers) will play Tony, opposite Adriana Ivelisse as Maria. This will mark the professional UK debut of the Puerto Rican native and 2019 Spotlight Prize finalist in the production.

Carly Mercedes-Dyer will play Anita while Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez (Grease) will play Bernardo and Ronan Burns (Kiss Me, Kate) will play Riff -Tony’s Best Friend.

About the cast, Nikolai Foster said :

“West side story really is one of the greatest musicals ever written theatre. To bring to life any piece of theatre you need an astonishing group of collaborators and we are proud to have assembled such a talented, imaginative and quintessentially 21st century group of actors, who will celebrate the heritage of this play, whilst rediscovering it for an entirely new generation. Adriana, Carly, Jamie, Jonathan and Ronan lead an outstanding company of actors, who all recognise how important the musical’s message of love and acceptance is in 2019.”

Also joining the cast, Darren Bennett (Grease) as Lieutenant Schrank, Ryan Anderson (Grease) as A-Rab, Damian Buhagiar (Grease) as Chino, Thea Bunting (Grease) as Graziella, Alex Christian (Oklahoma!) as Baby John, Abigail Climer (Grease) as Consuelo, Isaac Gryn (Oklahoma!) as Action, Beth Hinton-Lever (Hadestown) as Anybodys, Katie Lee (Matilda) as Velma, Mireia Mambo (Evita) as Rosalia, Michael O’Reilly (Dirty Dancing, ) as Diesel, Dominic Sibanda (Aladdin) as Indio, Dale White (Grease) as Big Deal and Christopher Wright (The Ladykillers) as Officer Krupke and Doc.

The show will be directed by Nikolai Foster with choreograhy by Ellen Kane and musical supervision from Sarah Travis. The creative team also includes : set design by Michael Taylor, costume by Edd Lindley, musical direction by George Dyer, lighting by Guy Hoare, sound by Tom Marshall and casting by Kay Magson.

Photo Credit: Ellie Kurttz