Cast Announced for Finborough's VALLEY OF SONG, Running Jan 5-25

The Finborough Theatre's acclaimed Celebrating British Music Theatre series returns with Ivor Novello's very last musical, Valley of Song, playing a week of Sunday and Monday evening and Tuesday matinee performances from Sunday, 5 January 2014 (Press Night: Monday, 6 January 2014 at 7.30pm), followed by a two week run from Sunday, 12 January 2014.

Left unfinished at the time of his sudden death, and completed by his longtime collaborator Christopher Hassall, Valley of Song is a unique - and final - opportunity to see a world premiere of Novello's work upon the stage.

Set in a world of optimism on the eve of the Great War, Valley of Song is a homage to Wales - Novello's homeland - and a touching farewell to the music of his youth.

The Welsh Valleys, 1913. Nan Brewster is the largest landowner in the valley and supports the local valley choir, run by choirmaster David. David's love for Lily, his leading soprano, creates beautiful music for the choir. But when Lily is given an opportunity to sing in Venice, she jumps at the chance, and into the arms of Ricardo, a wealthy count set on making her an international star. But, by opening night, it becomes clear that Ricardo's intentions are not entirely honourable... As Europe is plunged into the First World War, how much is David willing to sacrifice for the woman he loves?

Welsh-born composer, author and actor Ivor Novello (1893-1951) was one of the most eminent British entertainers of the 20th century. The Finborough Theatre recently enjoyed huge success with sell-out productions of two of his musicals - Perchance to Dream (2011) and Gay's The Word (2012) which subsequently transferred to the Jermyn Street Theatre. As a composer, he trained in Cardiff, Gloucester (alongside eminent British composers Ivor Gurney and HerBert Howells) and at Magdalen College School, Oxford. His musicals include Glamorous Night, The Dancing Years and King's Rhapsody; his more than 250 songs include Keep the Home Fires Burning, I Can Give You the Starlight and Waltz of My Heart. As an actor, he was one of Britain's first major film stars, appearing in over twenty films including playing the title role in the original silent version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger; while his long stage career included many of his own plays and musicals. Novello's musical legacy is commemorated in the Ivor Novello Awards, established in 1955 to honour excellence in British music writing.

Director Benji Sperring recently directed Maurice Maeterlinck's The Blind and The Intruder at the Old Red Lion Theatre which received an OffWestEnd Award nomination for best design and a transfer to the Tabard Theatre. Directing includes Assassins (Palace Theatre, Manchester), Sweet Charity (Kings Theatre, Southsea), The Monk (Barons Court Theatre), Fun Like Stalingrad (Hen and Chickens Theatre), Six Characters In Search Of An Author (Caccia Studio) and Under Milk Wood (Caccia Studio).

CELEBRATING BRITISH MUSIC THEATRE: In 2006, the Finborough Theatre began the Celebrating British Music Theatre series with a sell-out production of Leslie Stuart's Florodora. Productions since then have included sell-out rediscoveries of Lionel Monckton's Our Miss Gibbs, Harold Fraser-Simson's operetta The Maid of the Mountains, A "Gilbert and Sullivan" Double Bill featuring Gilbert's play Sweethearts and Sullivan's opera The Zoo, Dame Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate, Sandy Wilson's The Buccaneer, Oscar Asche's Chu Chin Chow, Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, Ivor Novello's Perchance to Dream and Gay's The Word, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Grand Duke, Edward German's Merrie England and Paul Scott Goodman's Rooms: A Rock Romance. Other productions include a new musical by Phil Willmott - Lost Boy - playing concurrently with Valley of Song in January 2014.

THEGREATWAR100: THEGREATWAR100 series is a new occasional series of works to be presented by the Finborough Theatre from 2014 to 2018 to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. Other productions include a new musical by Phil Willmott - Lost Boy - playing concurrently with Valley of Song in January 2014.

PRESS NIGHT: MONDAY, 6 JANUARY 2014 AT 7.30PM. All performances run at the Finborough Theatre, The Finborough, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED. Box Office 0844 847 1652. http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk. Shows run: Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, 5, 6, 7 January 2014; Sunday and Monday evenings at 7.30pm. Tuesday matinees at 2.00pm. Tickets £18, £16 concessions. FOLLOWED BY: Sunday, 12 January - Saturday, 25 January 2014; Tuesday to Sunday evenings at 7.30pm. Sunday matinees at 3.00pm. Tickets £18, £16 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £16 all seats, and Friday and Saturday evenings £18 all seats.

The Cast:

Laura Allen | Ensemble
Trained at Guildford School of Acting.
Theatre includes Tommy (Shaftesbury Theatre), Twelfth Night (Gaiety Theatre, Douglas), Spring Awakening: The Musical (Bull Theatre, Barnet) and Can't Stand Up For Falling Down (White Bear Theatre).

Katie Arundell | Ensemble
Trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Theatre includes The Wish, Cabaret, Spring Awakening, Into The Woods and Richard II (Embassy Theatre).

Amelia Clay | Ensemble
Trained at ALRA.
Theatre includes The Rubber Room (The Old Vic), The Scandalous Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Twelfth Night (Tabard Theatre), Present:Tense (Watford Palace Theatre) and Butterflies Are Free (English Theatre, Vienna).

Film includes The Philosopher King, Elder Jackson, Splitting, Scratch, and Sold.

Lee Van Geleen | Ensemble
Trained at the London School of Musical Theatre.
Theatre includes H.M.S. Pinafore (Union Theatre), Applause and My Favourite Year (Bridewell Theatre) and 'Tis The Season (Jermyn Street Theatre).

Linford Hydes | David
Trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes The Importance of Being Earnest (Etcetera Theatre), Closer Than Ever, Time and the Conways and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Bute Theatre, Cardiff).
Recordings include Palamino Party.
Concerts include Accidental Festival (Roundhouse Theatre).

Matthew Lloyd Davies | Gwilim
Trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Theatre includes The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre), Chicago (Cambridge Theatre), The Madness of George III (National Theatre), The Taming Of The Shrew, The Just and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Royal Shakespeare Company), Mamma Mia! (International Tour), and repertory theatre seasons at Pitlochry, Birmingham, Stoke, Theatr Clwyd Cymru, York, Greenwich, Plymouth, Southampton and Northampton.
Film includes The Madness of King George, Muppet Treasure Island, Catching The Stars.
Television includes Inspector Alleyn, Playing The Field, Wives and Daughters, Shrinks, My Good Friend, Over Here and A Rather English Marriage.
Radio includes Mrs Lirriper, Bypassing Jenny, Blind Man's Buff and Puss in Boots.
Directing includes The Shape of Things (Arts Theatre), The 8: Reindeer Monologues (Above The Stag), BASH and Small World (Brighton Fringe) and Profumo: The Musical (Waterloo East Theatre).

Richard Mark | Ricardo
Trained at Drama Studio London and Bristol University.
Theatre includes The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Chichester Festival Theatre and Duchess Theatre), The Incredible Book Eating Boy (MAC, Belfast), Edward II (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), The Wind In The Willows (York Theatre Royal) and Spike Milligan's 'Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall' (Bristol Old Vic and National Tour).
Television includes Dancing on The Edge, Sofia's Diary and Sweet Swan of Avon.

Amira Matthews | Maria
Trained at the Arts Educational Schools.
Theatre includes Miss Saigon (National Tour) Annie (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Merrily We Roll Along (Theatr Clwyd Cymru), Evita (National Tour), Jekyll and Hyde (National Tour), Fiddler on the Roof (National Tour), Victor/Victoria (Southwark Playhouse), The Merry Widow and La Traviata (Holland Park Opera).
Television includes Tipping The Velvet.

Jill Nalder | Olwen
Trained at Mountview Theatre School.
Theatre includes Les Miserables (Palace Theatre), Oliver! (London Palladium), Cabaret, Gypsy, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Harlequinade, and Black Comedy (Grand Theatre, Swansea), Annie (Grand Theatre, Swansea, and National Tour) Godspell, Gypsy (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield), Sugar [Some Like It Hot] (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Oliver!, The Hobbit (Nottingham Playhouse and National Tour), Nunsense (National Tour), Stepping Out (Arts Depot London) and WestEnders (Three National and International Tours).
Concerts include Hello Dolly and My One And Only (London Palladium).

Ross McNeill | Ensemble
Trained at the MTA.
Theatre includes Ushers (Hope Theatre), Billy and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (Union
Theatre), Tommy - The Musical (Prince Edward Theatre), Christmas in New York (Prince of Wales Theatre) and Back To The Musicals (The Pheasantry).
Film includes Territory.

Harrison Rose | Ensemble
Trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes Assassins (Bute Theatre, Cardiff) and Jesu, Meine Freude (St Mary's Church, Swansea).
Film includes Submarine, Princess Lillifee.
Television includes Eisteddfod Yr Urdd.

Philippa Tozer | Ensemble
Trained at Guildford School of Acting.
Theatre Includes Vocalarity (St James Theatre and Tour), Life In The Middle (Class) Lane (Canal Café Theatre), Jason and the Argonauts (New Players Theatre), Spin The Wheel and Judge Me (Henley Festival), Goldilocks and Aladdin (National Tour).
Film includes Any Minute Now.

Katy Treharne | Lily
Productions at the Finborough Theatre include Ivor Novello's Perchance To Dream (2011).
Trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre), Only Men Aloud at Christmas (National Tour), Dear World (Charing Cross Theatre), Love Beyond (Brighton Centre) and Calling of Maisy Day (Wales Millennium Centre).
Concerts include Songs from the Shows (St David's Hall, Cardiff) and Wales in the West End (National Eisteddfod).

Carla Turner | Ensemble
Trained at Italia Conti and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes RIP (King's Head Theatre), Tick, Tick...Boom! (Dylan Thomas Theatre, Swansea), Monologueslam - Winner (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Under Milk Wood (The Space, Edinburgh) and Early Doors (National Tour).
Film includes Fog of Sex.
Television includes The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.

Sandy Walsh | Nan
Productions at the Finborough Theatre include Patience (2005).
Sandy studied in Birmingham.
Theatre includes Blood Brothers (Phoenix Theatre and National Tour), The Birthday Party, Peer Gynt, Oh, What a Lovely War, The Shoemaker's Holiday and A Man for All Seasons (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield), The White Devil, Shadow of a Gunman, Fight for Shelton Bar, Richard III, Relatively Speaking and A Doll's House (The New Vic Theatre, Stoke) Barney and The Puzzlemaster (Birmingham Rep), On Golden Pond (Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham,) Bed Among the Lentils (English Speaking Theatre Frankfurt) and This Wide Night (Gothenburg English Studio Theatre) and seven one-woman shows including Ecocide (Edinburgh Festival Fringe First), Soldiering On and Dancing in Shadows (Bridewell Theatre) and Correspondent (Bridewell Theatre and The Assembly Rooms Edinburgh)
Television includes Frances Marsden in Emmerdale, Peep Show, Holby City and Doctors.
Radio includes Vanity Fair, White Out, Falling Through Italy, Tales The Countess Told and For Richer, For Poorer.
Radio presenting work includes the Sony award-winning Talking Point and anchoring World Briefing, Reporting Religion, The Proms, Meridian Live and Good Books.

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