Michelle Gayle and Alice Barlow Announced For SON OF A PREACHER MAN at Storyhouse

MIchelle Gayle and Alice Barlow will star in the heart-warming new musical Son of a Preacher Man when it visits Chester next year.

Michelle will play the role of Alison and Alice will play the role of Kat at Storyhouse for a one week run from 27-31 March 2018.

Featuring the soulful music of Dusty Springfield, with a book by Warner Brown and directed and choreographed by Craig Revel Horwood, Son of a Preacher Man embarked on a national tour in September 2017.

Three broken hearts, one Soho hang-out, and the only man who could ever help them...

Welcome to the Preacher Man, the swinging 1960s Soho joint where the kids danced the night away to the latest crazes and dared to dream of love, while the legendary owner, the Preacher Man himself, dispensed advice to cure the loneliest of hearts.

Only, that was a long time ago and all that remains are the memories, the stories and the myths. Until now, that is, when three random strangers, generations apart but all in need of help with their hopeless love lives, are inexplicably drawn to the site of the original venue. The Preacher Man is long gone, but his son, with help from the wonderful Cappuccino Sisters, might just find it in himself to channel the spirit of the Preacher Man and once more give these three lovesick strangers the look of love.

Featuring the greatest hits of Dusty Springfield, including "The Look Of Love", "I Only Want To Be With You", "Spooky" and of course, the classic "Son Of A Preacher Man", this sparklingly funny and sweetly touching new musical by internationally renowned writer Warner Brown will have you laughing, crying and singing your heart out to some of the greatest songs ever written.

Directed and choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood, Son of a Preacher Man comes to Storyhouse Chester for one week only. You only want to be with us!

Choreographer Craig Revel Horwood said:

"I am delighted to bring to life for the very first time this wonderful story created by Warner Brown, with soulful songs from the legendary Dusty Springfield's iconic music catalogue. I hope that audiences in Chester will come to love this warm-hearted and uplifting new musical as much as I do."

MIchelle Gayle plays Alison. Michelle is an actress and singer best known for her roles in Grange Hill and EastEnders, and for achieving six top 20 hits and selling a million records with both of her albums receiving a nomination for a Brit award in the Best British Female category. On stage, Michelle has played the leading role of Belle in Disney's West End production of Beauty and The Beast and toured with plays including Mum's The Word, The Brother's, and Hopelessly Devoted, which was produced by Paines Plough and written by award winning poet, Kate Tempest. Other Film and television credits include Wolfblood, Joy Division, The Naked Poet, Doctors, Holby City, Family Affairs and True Crimes.

Alice Barlow plays Kat. Alice is best known for her roles on television, with credits including Coronation Street, Swipers, Drifters series 1, 3 & 4, Benidorm, Banana, Staff Room, Casualty, Crime Stories, Hollyoaks, and was also a contestant on The Voice.

Warner Brown works internationally and is well known for his work in musical theatre and straight plays, encompassing both traditional and avant-garde forms.

He wrote 'the most popular family show of all time', the arena production Walking With Dinosaurs, creating an entirely new genre of theatrical presentation and winning many international awards. Currently playing in venues from Madison Square Garden to the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai, an episode of CSI: Las Vegas has been based upon the show and it has even been parodied on The Simpsons.

Warner is currently working on multiple developing projects, including the Broadway musicals The Gold Room and The Thomas Crown Affair, both with composer Michael Feinstein; the opera Empty Spaces, with composer Joshua Schmidt, for Florentine Opera in the USA; the musical A Little Danger, with composer Michael Reed, for the St Petersburg Theatre in Russia; and the screenplay for the movie A Minute To Midnight for Bill Kenwright Films. He is part of the consortium, including choreographer Arlene Phillips and musical director Mike Dixon, for the new internet based project Reality.

Writing credits include Half A Sixpence (UK Tour), The Biograph Girl (Phoenix Theatre), Cinderella (London Palladium), The Black and White Ball, which opened in London and for which The Cole Porter Trusts grantEd Warner stage rights to the songs of Cole Porter, Flickers (Broadway's Circle-In-The Square Theater), The House on the Corner (Edinburgh International Festival) and, in addition, Tallulah For A Day and Sleep With Friends. Plays include Laughing Dove, Wavelength and The Prospero Suite, directed by John Doyle.

Warner has worked extensively in Europe, most recently writing the musical Garbo, with music by 'Meatloaf' rock legend Jim Steinman. He also has extensive writing credits for the BBC and was Script Associate of the BBC Classic Musicals Series, for which he adapted fourteen musicals featuring many international stars. Warner was the subject of the BBC Two TV documentary The Making Of A Musical. Warner is co-sponsor of the international music prize The S&S Award, named in honour of his late parents.

Craig Revel Horwood is a well-known face on television in the UK and now internationally for his role as a judge on all fifteen series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing and for directing and appearing as a judge in the Live Tour.

Craig's recent credits as director and choreographer include the current UK tour of Sister Act, the previous UK tours Brother Love Travelling Salvation Show and Chess; for television, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Just the Two of Us; and for film, the feature film Paddington 2. In addition, he recently directed the all-star concert version of Stephen Sondheim's Follies at the Royal Albert Hall. Other credits as a theatre director and choreographer are: West Side Story (Prince Edward), Miss Saigon (Drury Lane), Hey, Mr Producer! (Lyceum), Spend Spend Spend! (Piccadilly Theatre; Olivier nomination for Best Choreography), Pal Joey (Chichester Festival Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Sheffield Crucible), Paradise Moscow (Opera North), Carmen (Holland Park), My One and Only (Piccadilly Theatre; Olivier nomination for Best Choreography), Beautiful and Damned (Lyric Theatre), Arms and the Cow (Opera North), The Ballet Boyz: Yumbo Vs Nonino (Festival Hall, Sadler's Wells, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), The Hot Mikado (Watermill Theatre and UK Tour; Martin Guerre (Watermill Theatre), Sunset Boulevard (Watermill Theatre and Comedy Theatre, West End), Spend Spend Spend! (Watermill Theatre and UK Tour) and Copacabana (Watermill Theatre).

He recently returned to his roots as a performer in musical theatre, starring as Miss Hannigan in the UK national tour of Annie, and in Christmas 2016 as Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley. Other performing credits include Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Orchard, Dartford in 2014 and at the Swan, High Wycombe in 2015. Previously, Craig starred as the Wicked Queen in Snow White at Venue Cymru, Llandudno in 2009, The Hawth, Crawley in 2010 and The Orchard, Dartford 2011. He reprised his role at The Swan Theatre, High Wycombe in 2012 and the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend in 2013.

Amongst his numerous TV credits, highlights include winning the BBC Two series Maestro at the Opera, the final of which saw him conduct Act II of La Bohème at the Royal Opera House. He was also a grand finalist on the hit cooking show, Celebrity MasterChef and participated in and won Ready, Steady, Cook.

Book Warner Brown

Director & Choreographer Craig Revel Horwood

Set & Costume Designer Morgan Large

Musical Supervisor & Arrangements Paul Herbert

Lighting Designer Richard G Jones

Sound Designer Richard Brooker

Musical Director Brady Mould

Associate Director & Choreographer David James Hulston

Casting Director Anne Vosser

Further casting for the to be announced.

Son of a Preacher Man is produced by BrIan Berg, John Sachs, Andrew Berg & Kimberley Sachs for

Eclipse Live, Michael Park for The Infinite Group, Paul Tyrer & Jamie Clark for TBO Productions,

Churchill Theatre Bromley and executive producers Andrew Green and Ben White, all on behalf of Dusty Touring Ltd.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT: www.sonofapreachermanmusical.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.