Following its hugely successful European premiere at the Southwark Playhouse, the company of Dogfight will reunite for a special one off concert at the St James Theatre next month.
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s musical adaptation of the Vietnam War-set film found huge success in London when Matt Ryan’s production ran at the Off West End venue in 2014, earning two Evening Standard Theatre Awards and receiving a showering of critical praise.
Offering audiences another chance to catch the original cast perform the show’s moving songs, the show will bring its tale back to the stage for the one-night concert version on 11 October.
Jamie Muscato and Laura Jane Matthewson will reprise their roles as Corporal Eddie Birdlace and the idealistic waitress Rose, the musical’s romantic leads who meet the night before Eddie’s deployment to Vietnam.
While Eddie may have been expecting an evening of debauchery, his life is changed forever when Rose rewrites the rules of the game and opens his eyes to what really matters in life.
Collecting a string of five star reviews when it opened at the intimate London Bridge venue last October, The Independent’s Paul Taylor hailed it as “the most enjoyable, moving and stimulating new musical I have seen in ages,” describing the company as “well-nigh perfectly cast”.
Commenting on its one-night concert revival, Dogfight’s producer Danielle Tarento said: “Dogfight was such a special project for everyone involved. Now we have a wonderful opportunity to reunite the Dogfight family to once more sing the magical score by Pasek and Paul and relive again the heartbreaking love story between Eddie and Rose. As the lyrics to the show’s opening song say: ‘Take me back…’”
Reprising their roles alongside Muscato and Matthewson are Cellen Chugg Jones, Nicholas Corre, Joshua Dowen, Ciaran Joyce, Amanda Minihan, Rebecca Trehearn and Samuel J. Weir.