Award-winning Australian actress Genevieve Lemon is to make her West End debut on 31 May, replacing Joanna Riding as dance teacher Mrs Wilkinson in hit show Billy Elliot The Musical.
The star of the Australian stage has previously played the role down under at both Sydney’s Capitol theatre and Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s theatre, collecting a slew of awards for her performance.
Lemon’s credits include classic Australian dramas The Flying Doctors and Neighbours alongside a host of productions for the Sydney Theatre Company including The Seagull, Once In A Lifetime, The Madras House and Merrily We Roll Along. She has also appeared in the Australian production of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert The Musical.
Young performer Aaron Watson also joins the Billy Elliot cast in May, joining Dean-Charles Chapman, Oliver Gardner and Rhys Yeomans alternating in the show’s title role.
The tale of a young boy with a talent for dance growing up amid the 1980s miners’ strikes recently celebrated its fifth West End birthday with a special performance attended by writer Lee Hall, director Stephen Daldry and composer Elton John.
Since opening at the Victoria Palace theatre in 2005, the show has been staged in Australia, in Chicago and on Broadway, with more productions scheduled for Korea, Toronto, Japan, Germany and Holland.
MA