Declan Bennett And Bronté Barbé Lead The Cast In Off-Broadway Hit Musical STRIKING 12

Ben Lockwood, Rupert Henderson and Oliver Kaderbhai today announce the full cast for the hit Off-Broadway musical Striking 12 from Tony Award-winning Rachel Sheinkin and musical duo Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda. Oliver Kaderbhai directs Declan Bennett (Brendan), Bronté Barbé (The Match Girl), Danielle Kassaraté (Narrator), with Kate Robson-Stuart and Leon Scott completing the cast. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl, Striking 12 will open at the Union Theatre on 3 December, with previews from 28 November and runs until 23 December.

It's New Year's Eve and Brendan is done. His fiancée has left him, he's going to lose his job and his boss is making him work late. The last thing he wants to do is celebrate. A chance encounter with a lightbulb seller changes everything.

Springing to life with a punchy score of pop, rock, jazz and more, Striking 12 is the perfect way to see out 2018. Where will you be when the clock strikes 12?

Director, Oliver Kaderbhai said today, "Striking 12 feels like the perfect Christmas show. It's brilliantly witty and beautifully poignant with songs that evoke those classic American Christmas movies. We've got an incredible cast who'll be providing the music too, and I'm extremely excited to see what we build in rehearsals together. Let's see if we can capture just some of the essence of this magical season to present to our audiences each night, and make those dark winter nights a little brighter."

Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda are co-founders of GrooveLily. Their credits include Toy Story The Musical (Disney Cruise Line), Sleeping Beauty Wakes (Deaf West Theatre/Center Theatre Group/McCarter Theatre - winner of two 2007 Ovation Awards), Long Story Short (City Theatre of Pittsburgh/TheatreWorks Palo Alto/San Diego Rep), A Midsummer Night's Dream (McCarter Theatre/Paper Mill Playhouse), Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (La Jolla Playhouse/TheatreWorks Palo Alto). Together, Milburn and Vigoda are 2009 winners of the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, as well as a two-time winners of the Jonathan Larson Award for Excellence in Writing for the Theatre.

Rachel Sheinkin is a frequent collaborator with GrooveLily. Her other musical theatre credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Circle in the Square - for which she won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book for a Musical), Blood Drive (O'Neill National Music Theatre Conference) and Serenade (Baryshnikov Arts Center). She has been a Manhattan Theatre Club playwriting fellow and is currently an adjunct faculty member at NYU's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.

Bronté Barbé plays The Little Match Girl. Her theatre credits include Beautiful (Aldwych Theatre), The Wild Party (The Other Palace), The Donkey Show (Proud London), Shrek the Musical, Momentous Musicals (UK tours), Carnival of the Animals (Riverside Studios) and Hairspray (International tour); and for television, Call the Midwife.

Declan Bennett plays Brendan. His theatre credits include Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Kiss of the Spider Woman (Menier Chocolate Factory), Once (Phoenix Theatre), American Idiot (St. James Theatre, Broadway/Berkeley Rep), Rent (Nederlander Theatre/ US tour), Taboo (The Venue/UK tour), It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow and Our Day Out (Belgrade Theatre). His television credits include as series regular Charlie Cotton in EastEnders; and for film, Inside Llewyn Davis.

Danielle Kassaraté plays Narrator. Her theatre credits include Wildfire (Hampstead Theatre), Blues and Soul (European tour), Dusty (Charing Cross Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (Theatr Clwyd), The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time (Gielgud Theatre/international tour) and Guys and Dolls (Royal Exchange Theatre).

Kate Robson-Stuart is part of the ensemble. Her theatre credits include Once (New Wolsey Theatre/Queen's Theatre Hornchurch), Crazy For You, Strictly Confidential, Chess (UK tours), Ragtime (Charing Cross Theatre), Untold Stories (The Watermill Theatre), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Sherman Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Stafford Gatehouse Theatre), Betty Blue Eyes (West Yorkshire Playhouse/UK tour), Little Voice, Love, Lies and Lust, Satin & Steel, Can't Pay Won't Pay, The Merchant of Venice, Peter Pan (Queen's Theatre Hornchurch), and The Pajama Game (Union Theatre).

Leon Scott is part of the ensemble. His theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, Othello (Shakespeare's Globe), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Hercules, Cyrano de Bergerac (Chester Performs), Richard III (Southwark Playhouse), Unmythable, Norsesome (St James' Theatre/UK tour), Midnight, Honk! (Union Theatre), The Wind in the Willows, Angus Thongs and Even More Snogging (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Sleeping Booty (Leicester Square Theatre) and Bicycle Boy (Oxford Playhouse); and for television, Byker Grove.

Oliver Kaderbhai is a director, movement director and actor. He is Artistic Director of theatre company Delirium, established in 2009. His credits as Director include Peter Pan (Chichester Festival Theatre), Songs of Abdulkarim (59 Productions/JACC), One Minute (The Vaults) Your Nation Loves You (Pegasus Theatre), Go To Your God Like A Soldier (Courtyard Theatre), From Where I'm Standing (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). His credits as Associate Director and Movement Director include Killer Joe (Trafalgar Studios), Bug, The Dazzle (Found111) and Guys and Dolls (PlayMakers Rep); and as Assistant Director, Jesus Christ Superstar and Running Wild (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre).

Ben Lockwood completed an MA Creative Producing from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and previously a BA English Literature and Language from King's College, London. He has worked for Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, Sonia Friedman Productions and Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and most recently he was Professional Licensing Manager for Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

Rupert Henderson is an actor and producer, trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He recently completed a run in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre). Prior to training, he worked with the National Youth Theatre and National Youth Music Theatre and was in the West End cast of Billy Elliot The Musical (Victoria Palace Theatre).

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