Cast announced for regional premiere of FUN HOME at Royal Exchange
The Royal Exchange has announced the cast for the regional premiere of the Tony-Award winning musical FUN HOME, featuring music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, which plays at the venue from 3 July - 1 August.
The musical’s Northern debut, which marks the 20th anniversary of Alison Bechdel’s iconic graphic novel, is directed by former Royal Exchange Artistic Director Sarah Frankcom who is making her ‘Homecoming’ to the theatre in its 50th anniversary season of the same name.
FUN HOME is an exhilarating and heartbreaking musical about coming out and coming of age. Cartoonist Alison Bechdel takes audiences on a journey into her childhood memories remembering what it’s like to grow up in a funeral home, undergo a sexual awakening in college, and try to make sense of the secrets at the heart of her family, including her dad Bruce Bechdel.
This groundbreaking modern masterpiece is a tale of grief and love, queer tragedy and queer joy, told through soaring, revelatory songs.
The cast includes Jodie McNee (King Lear, Shakespeare’s Globe) as Alison Bechdel, opposite award-winning actor Nigel Harman (Shrek, West End) as Bruce Bechdel, Alice Audrey O'Hanlon (Billy Elliot, West End) as Medium Alison, and Lillie Babb (Till The Stars Come Down, National Theatre), Felicity L.J. Moore (Love Life, Leeds Grand Theatre) and Harriet O’Shea (Miracle on 34th Street, HOME Theatre) will alternate as Small Alison, with Natasha Cottriall (Henry VIII, Shakespeare’s Globe) as Joan, Alex Young (Stranger Things: The First Shadow, West End) as Helen Bechdel, and Lucca Chadwick-Patel (Mean Girls, West End) as Roy / Bobby / Mark / Pete, with Reggie Kempson (Les Miserables, World Tour), Finley Litchfield and Reuben Shepherd (professional stage debuts) alternating as John, and Arthur Lyons (Peter Pan, PHA), Morris McKinley (professional debut) and Theo Wake (Macbeth, West End) as Christian.
The cast is completed by Jennifer Caldwell (SIX, UK, Ireland & Korea Tour/West End) as Offstage cover for Alison, Medium Alison, Helen & Joan, and Alfie Richards (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, UK Tour) as Offstage cover for Bruce and Roy / Bobby / Pete / Mark.
The creative team includes choreographer and intimacy director Jenni Jackson, music supervisor Matthew Malone, designer Peter Butler, lighting designer Bethany Gupwell, sound designer Tony Gayle, and casting director Natalie Gallacher CDG (for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting).