Stage and screen star John Barrowman is to return to the West End this autumn, donning the stunning sparkling dresses of Albin in musical comedy La Cage Aux Folles.
Barrowman will follow Roger Allam, who is currently playing the role of the headlining drag act, from 14 September and will stay with the production until 28 November.
A multi-talented entertainer, Barrowman became known to millions of TV viewers and science fiction fans as Captain Jack Harkness, a reoccurring character in Doctor Who so popular that his own, more adult, spin-off series, Torchwood, was created.
Having raised his profile, he returned to his musical theatre roots, joining the judging panel of the BBC’s searches for new West End stars, I’d Do Anything, Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? More recently he has hosted his own Saturday night light entertainment show Tonight’s The Night.
Before television fame, Barrowman got his big break on the London stage, starring opposite Elaine Paige in the 1989 production of Anything Goes, a show he returned to for Trevor Nunn’s successful National Theatre revival in 2002. His other West End credits include Miss Saigon, The Phantom Of The Opera, Beauty And The Beast, The Fix, Sunset Boulevard and Chicago.
La Cage Aux Folles tells the story of nightclub owner Georges and his partner and star performer Albin, whose lives are thrown into turmoil when Georges’s son announces the impending visit of his future father-in-law, a right wing politician with a hatred of everything George and Albin believe in.
The production, which won the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production, originated at the Menier Chocolate Factory in late 2007, where current Georges Philip Quast led the cast opposite Douglas Hodge, who went on to win the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, as Albin. Its success with theatregoers and critics alike saw it transfer to the Playhouse theatre, where it is currently running, in October 2008.
MA