Klein, Reide and Rowe Star in New UK "Into the Woods"

Beverley Klein, Anne Reid and Clive Rowe are to star in a new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's acclaimed Into the Woods at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House opening on 18 June 2007.

This new production for ROH2 of a favourite of the modern musical theatre stage marks the musical directorial debut of Will Tuckett, whose interpretations of The Wind in the Willows and Pinocchio have quickly become Royal Opera House Christmas classics. The cast, drawn from the worlds of opera and music theatre also includes Gillian Kirkpatrick, Peter Caulfield, Elizabeth Brice, Martin Nelson, Suzanne Toase, Linda Hibberd, Nicholas Garrett, Katrina Murphy, Nic Greenshields and Byron Watson. They will be accompanied by 14 musicians with James Holmes, Head of Music for Opera North, one of the foremost interpreters of Sondheim's music in the UK conducting.

'I wish…' a baker and his wife who wish for a child, a young girl who wishes to go to the palace festival, a mother and her simpleton son who wish for money - that's just the opening minute of Into the Woods, Stephen Sondheim's once-upon-a-time fairytale world in a musical. Still to add are the comic agony of two bemused princes in love with unobtainable women – one long-haired but locked in a tower, one who has run away leaving only her shoe – a wicked witch protective of her garden produce and an unusually feisty Red Riding Hood. It's a fabulous collision of well-known storybook characters told with a twist in wonderfully witty words and shot through with melody. And what would happen if we actually got what we wished for, but didn't care how we got it? Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine bring a dark and contemporary adult view to this childhood world when, in the second act, an unexpected threat arrives to provoke uncomfortable thoughts for everyone.

Beverley Klein's stage credits include Arms and The Cow and Sweeney Todd (Opera North, plus London, Leeds and National Tour) Six Pictures of Lee Miller and How to succeed in Business (Chichester Festival), Holy Terror (The Duke of York's Theatre) Camille (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith) Jerry Springer – the Opera (Edinburgh Festival), Candide, Summerfolk, Romeo & Juliet, The Villains Opera and Honk! The Ugly Duckling (National). She was a member of the original cast of Les Miserables (Barbican/Palace Theatre) and in The Threepenny Opera (Donmar Warehouse and Scottish Opera). Television credits include Doctors, Casualty and The Hello Girls.

Bafta nominated actress Anne Reid is perhaps best known for her role in the film The Mother with Daniel Craig and her work with Victoria Wood, particularly the popular television series Dinnerladies. She has appeared in numerous television series including Doctor Who, Bleak House, Jayne Eyre and Life Begins. She also spent over ten years in Coronation Street as Valerie Barlow. She was most recently seen on ITV1 in The Bad Mother's Handbook with Catherine Tate and in the feature film Hot Fuzz.

Clive Rowe's extensive CV includes David Lan's production of As You Like It, Simply Heavenly (Young Vic), Chicago (Adelphi), The Villain's Opera, Candide, Money, Peter Pan, Guys and Dolls, Carousel (National), Tribute to Sondheim (Barbican) and Carmen Jones (Old Vic). Film and television work includes Manderlay, Crime Strike, Tracy Beaker and Dalziel and Pascoe.

Set and costume designs by Lez Brotherston and lighting by Tim Mitchell will conjure up the woods of fairytale imagination in the intimate Linbury Studio Theatre.

Into the Woods is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited on behalf of Music Theatre International of New York

Preview Tickets: £18, £14.50, £12, £6 standing (£9 students and ROH Access List) Performance Tickets: £27.50, £22.50, £18, £9 standing (£14 students and ROH Access List)

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