Darius Campbell will join Sheridan Smith in the hugely anticipated Menier Chocolate Factory production of musical Funny Girl this winter.
The reality TV star-turned-West End performer follows London productions including From Here To Eternity, Chicago and Gone With The Wind to join two-time Olivier Award winner Smith in the latest musical offering from the theatre renowned for its hugely successful stagings of classic shows.
Playing from 20 November, the pair will be joined by a host of fellow musical theatre regulars including Valda Aviks (Sweeney Todd), Natasha J Barnes (American Idiot), Marilyn Cutts (Wicked), Bruce Montague (The Phantom Of The Opera), Joel Montague (Urinetown), Gay Soper (Sunday In The Park With George) and Maurice Lane who, alongside credits including Dirty Dancing and Fiddler On The Roof, was in the original cast of Funny Girl when it made its West End premiere in 1966.
Michael Mayer’s Menier Chocolate Factory production marks the first time the show has been seen on the London stage since that legendary 1960s production, which saw Barbra Streisand star in the lead role following the huge success on Broadway that launched her to stardom.
Luckily for London, Smith is already a bona fide star and will lead as Fanny Brice, the woman who rose from the Lower East Side of New York to become one of Broadway’s biggest stars. Featuring a revised book by Kinky Boots’ Harvey Fierstein, the show will include all the numbers from the classic score including Don’t Rain On My Parade, People and You Are Woman, I Am Man.
Funny Girl will play at the intimate London Bridge venue until 5 March. People will no doubt be gunning for a West End run following the venue’s many transfer successes including Merrily We Roll Along and Sweet Charity, as well as the addition of one of London’s leading producers, Sonia Friedman, already on board for the production’s Off West End premiere.