Matthew Kelly and Julie Legrand Join Theatre Royal Windsor's FILUMENA

Matthew Kelly and Julie Legrand will join the previously announced Felicity Kendal in the Bill Kenwright Ltd/Theatre Royal Windsor production of Filumena directed by Sean Mathias.  The production will run at Theatre Royal Windsor from 4 to 19 October, with a press night on Wednesday 9 October, and will then tour until 25 November. 

Also joining Felicity Kendal as Filumena, Matthew Kelly as Don Domenico and Julie Legrand as Rosalia will be George Banks as Michele, Gavin Fowler as Umberto, Jamie Hogarth as Alfredo, Ben Nealon as Nocella, Lee Peck as Waiter, Fabrizio Santino as Ricardo, Jodie Steele as Diana, Hilary Tones as Teresina and Sarah Twomey as Lucia, with Eliza Le Touzel Teale as the understudy.  

Filumena, Eduardo De Filippo’s classic comedy (with English version by Keith Waterhouse & Willis Hall) is set in the balmy heat of Naples and questions the family ties that bind us and whether we can ever escape our past.  Often cited as the writer’s best work, the show is a sparkling comedy-drama full of entanglement and intrigue.  In a battle of wills between all involved, Filumena mixes de Filippo’s charm and optimism with acerbic wit and a moral examination of how where we come from can define who we become.

Felicity Kendal was an original member of the Actors’ Company, formed by Ian McKellen and Edward Petherbridge.  She won the Variety Club's Best Stage Actress Award for her performance as Marain in Michael Frayn's Clouds in the West End in 1978 and, in 1979, she played Constanze Mozart in Amadeus, directed by Peter Hall at The National Theatre.  Other theatre credits include the original productions of On the Razzle, The Real Thing and Hapgood and the revival of Jumpers.  She won the Evening Standard Theatre Award in 1989 for her performances in Much Ado About Nothing and Ivanov.  Later West End roles include Winnie in Happy Days, Esme in Amy’s View, Florence in The Vortex, Mrs Warren in Mrs Warren’s Profession, Sheila in Relatively Speaking and Judith Bliss in Hay Fever.  She took her first role in a musical as Evangeline Harcourt in the 2021 London revival of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre and last year, she starred as Dotty Otley in the London revival of Noises Off.  Felicity’s television work includes Barbara in The Good Life, Gemma Palmer in Carla Lane’s Solo, Maxine in Carla Lane’s The Mistress, Helena Cuthbertson in The Camomile Lawn and Rosemary Boxer in Rosemary & Thyme.

Matthew Kelly’s West End roles include the original Stanley in Funny Peculiar, Waiting For Godot with Ian McKellen and Roger Rees, Tim Firth’s Sign of the Times, the musical Lend Me A Tenor!, Lennie in Of Mice and Men at the Savoy Theatre, for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Actor, Noises Off, Big the Musical and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.  Matthew’s television work includes Inside No 9, Murder They Hope, Cold Blood, Benidorm, Bleak House and Moving On.  Matthew is also known for his presenting credits, including You Bet! and Stars in their Eyes. 

Julie Legrand’s theatre credits include The Forest, The Cherry Orchard, The Critic, The Duchess of Malfi, Way Upstream, The Trojan War Will Not Take Place and Don Quixote (all for The National Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Cymbeline, The Revenger’s Tragedy and Oedipus (all for the Royal Shakespeare Company) and West End musicals An American in Paris, Gypsy, The Fiddler on the Roof and Wicked.  Her television credits include Ludwig, Romantic Getaway, Silent Witness, Call the Midwife, Paula Burrow in Holby City, Doctor Who, Nurse Bradshaw in Night and Day, Jeanette Dunkley in Footballers’ Wives, North Square, Bad Girls, Marji in Starting Out, Kavanagh QC, Inspector Morse, The House of Bernarda Alba and El CID.

Filumena is directed by Sean Mathias and designed by Morgan Large, with lighting design by Nick Richings.

Filumena is produced by Bill Kenwright Ltd and Theatre Royal Windsor.

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