Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment and Guy James present

FOREVER PLAID

Directed and staged by Grant Murphy. Lighting design by Ben Rogers.

Designed by Nik Corrall. Musical direction by Anthony James Gabriele.

Cast: Jon Lee. Keith Jack. Matthew Quinn. Luke Striffler.

St. James Studio, London

5 – 24 April 2016

Press Performance: Friday, 8 April at 8pm

Full cast announced for three-week run of Forever Plaid at St. James Theatre Studio

Jon Lee stars alongside Keith Jack, Matthew Quinn and Luke Striffler

Forever Plaid is one of the most popular and successful musicals in America and now performed internationally to great acclaim

Jon Lee plays Jinx. He recently played Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys in the West End (Prince Edward Theatre). Other credits include Marius in Les Misérables (Palace Theatre, Queen’s Theatre and 25th anniversary concert at the 02) and the title character in Aladdin (02). He played Oliver at the Palladium in the original production of Oliver alongside Jonathan Pryce. He is well known for being an original member of S Club 7 and was part of the reunion in 2015 which was launched as part of Children In Need and then went on to sell out an 11 date tour to over 100,000 people.

Keith Jack plays Sparky. He was a runner-up in BBC’s Any Dream Will Do. His credits include Joseph in the UK tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Ralph in HMS Pinafore (UK Tour).

Matthew Quinn plays Smudge. His credits include Dreamboats and Petticoats (West End), Saturday Night Fever (Theatre Royal Bath and UK Tour) and Carnaby Street (UK Tour).

Luke Striffler plays Francis. His credits include Hairspray (UK Tour) and Avenue Q (UK Tour). He was a semi-finalist, as part of The Kingdom Tenors, in Britain’s Got Talent 2015.

Forever Plaid is directed and staged by Grant Murphy with musical direction by Anthony James Gabriele, lighting design by Ben Rogers and set design by Nik Corrall. It is produced by Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment and Guy James, the producing team behind previous Studio hits Jerry Girl’s, Marry Me a Little and Miss-Leading Ladies. Casting is by Jane Deitch.

Join the boys of Forever Plaid on a humorous ‘heavenly’ journey through some of the greatest close-harmony songs of the 50’s.

With one final chance to give the concert they never gave, The Plaids sing nostalgic hits Rags To Riches, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, Catch A Falling Star, Three Coins In A Fountain and many more – all in glorious harmony with patter that will keep any audience rolling in the aisles.

Come and join The Plaids as they deliver a 50’s roller-coaster ride of comedy and music in this classic hit musical…

Forever Plaid was first performed off-Broadway in 1990 and continues to be performed internationally. It was made into a film in 2008.

Director Grant Murphy trained at Arts Educational School on the Andrew Lloyd Webber Scholarship. Most recently he directed and staged Seasons of Larsons (Lyric Theatre). Other directing credits include When Midnight Strikes (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Gangsters of Love (Charing Cross Theatre). He was an Associate Director on Saturday Night Fever (UK tour) and Assistant Director on Guys and Dolls (Cadogan Hall).

Musical director Anthony James Gabriele has conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the British Philharmonic Orchestra, the Guernsey Camerata Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. He spent 3 years as Musical Director and Conductor on The Phantom of the Opera (West End) during which time he conducted the record-breaking 10,000th performance. Most recently he was Musical Director for the West End revival of Cats (UK tour and London Palladium). Other musical theatre credits include South Pacific, Blood Brothers, A Grand Night for Singing, Chess, Cats (Australian Tour), Grease, The Wizard of Oz, Bye Bye Birdie, The Lion King (West End, Sydney, Melbourne and Shanghai). He also has numerous opera credits including Don Carlo, La Traviata, The Happy Prince, The Moonrakers Opera, Orpheus in the Underworld, Madama Butterfly, La Cenerentola, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. He has worked at Principal Conductor of the British Sinfonietta and, in association with IMG Artists London, presented Psycho Live! at various orchestral venues across the UK.

Aria Entertainment was founded in 2012 by producer Katy Lipson. Recent productions include Seasons Of Larson (Lyric Theatre), See What I Wanna See (Jermyn Street Theatre), The Adventures of Pinocchio, Tommy (Greenwich Theatre), Miss-Leading Ladies (St. James Studio), Bette Midler And Me (Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Tour), The House of Mirrors & Hearts (Arcola Theatre), The Jewish Legends (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Portia Coughlan and The Verb, ‘To Love’ (Old Red Lion Theatre), Jerry’s Girls (St. James Studio and subsequent transfer to Jermyn Street Theatre), Marry Me A Little (St. James Studio), The Return Of The Soldier (Jermyn Street Theatre), RAGS The Musical – In Concert (Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue). Other productions include The Mystery Of Edwin Drood (Arts Theatre) and The Secret Garden (UK Tour). Katy also launched the From Page to Stage season of new musicals. She has produced three seasons to date, each of which showcased 8 new musicals. The next season is planned for Autumn 2016. Current projects include the revival of Jule Styne, Don Black, Jack Rosenthal’s Bar Mitzvah Boy and The Great Jewish American Songbook (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) and The Toxic Avenger (Southwark Playhouse).

Guy James’s producing credits include The Toxic Avenger (Southwark Playhouse), Seasons of Larson (Lyric Theatre), Lonely Robot (Scala, London), The Adventures of Pinocchio, Tommy (Greenwich Theatre), Jerry’s Girls (St. James Theatre Studio and subsequent transfer to Jermyn Street Theatre), When Midnight Strikes (Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Finborough), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Landor), The Fantastiks (Pentameters), Walking on Sunshine (UK No. 1 Tour) and Rock ‘n’ Roll Aladdin (Shaw Theatre)

Listings

Forever Plaid

Tuesday 5 April – Sunday 24 April 2016 (no performances on Mondays)

Running time: 2 hours

Tickets: £15 – £30 / Box Office 0844 264 2140 / Book online at www.stjamestheatre.co.uk Address: St. James Studio, 12 Palace Street, London. SW1E 5JA.

Twitter: @ForeverPlaidLon

Full performance below.

Overall Performance Schedule

Tuesday 5 April – 8pm (preview) Wednesday 6 April – 8pm (preview) Thursday 7 April – 8pm (preview) Friday 8 April – 8pm (press performance) Saturday 9 April – 3pm and 8pm

Tuesday 12 April – 8pm Wednesday 13 April – 8pm Thursday 14 April – 8pm Friday 15 April – 8pm Saturday 16 April – 3pm and 8pm Sunday 17 April – 3pm and 7pm

Tuesday 19 April – 8pm Wednesday 20 April – 8pm Thursday 21 April – 8pm Friday 22 April – 8pm Saturday 23 April – 3pm and 8pm Sunday 24 April – 3pm