Full casting and additional tour dates announced for 20th anniversary UK tour of GLORIOUS!
Photo credit: Chris Davis
The full cast who will be joining the previously announced Wendi Peters in the 20th anniversary UK tour of the critically acclaimed West End hit comedy, Glorious, from February 2026 has been revealed.
Glorious! is the true story of American socialite Florence Foster Jenkins (Peters), dubbed ‘the worst singer in the world’, who staged and starred in classical recitals in major venues including Carnegie Hall.
Mocked, for her flamboyant performance costumes and poor off key singing, she nonetheless became a cult-figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and celebrated composer and songwriter Cole Porter and classical conductor Sir Thomas Beecham were among her dearest celebrity fans.
Glorious! follows Florence’s journey as she prepares for her biggest ever sold-out recital at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall, building an unlikely friendship with her accompanist, Cosme McMoon, and defying her army of critics to follow her dreams.
The Olivier nominated comedy is by Peter Quilter, whose Olivier and Tony-nominated West End and Broadway play End of the Rainbow became the hit movie, Judy, starring Renée Zellweger - her performance as Judy Garland winning her the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe Award, SAG Award, BAFTA Award and Critics’ Choice Movie Award.
Joining Wendi Peters will be Matthew James Morrison (EastEnders, BBC) as Cosme McMoon, Caroline Gruber (Witness for the Prosecution, London County Hall) as Florence’s long-suffering maid, Maria and society busybody Mrs Verrinder-Gedge; and Sioned Jones (Thirteen; Women Beware Women; All’s Well That Ends Well, National Theatre) as Florence’s best friend and biggest fan, Dorothy. Sioned will also cover the role of Florence Foster Jenkins, as she did 20 years ago alongside Dame Maureen Lipman in the original West End production.
Completing the cast are Ella-Maria Danson as ASM/Cover Maria/Dorothy and Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, and Ryan Hall as ASM/Cover Cosme McMoon.
The tour will open at The Lighthouse in Poole on 10 February before visiting Eastbourne, Derby, Ipswich, Windsor, Liverpool, Barnstaple, Malvern, Oxford, Basingstoke, Cheltenham, Guildford, Darlington, Coventry, Mold, Tunbridge Wells, and Exeter.
Glorious! wowed audiences in its original long-running West End production starring Dame Maureen Lipman in 2005, before coming to the silver screen, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant in what critics simply called “Glorious!”. The show has since been seen by millions of people around the world, translated into 25 languages, and performed in 36 countries to date. The current production, directed by Kirk Jameson, premiered at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre.
Produced by Thomas Hopkins, the creative team also includes UK tour casting director JJ Bee, musical supervisor Nick Barstow, scenographer and costume designer Ingrid Hu, lighting designer Mike Robertson, sound designer Mark Goggins, wig designer Helen Keane, and Italian translation and dialect coach Judith Blazer.