Beverley Knight Will Star As Manager Of The Drifters In New Musical

Michael Harrison and David Ian today announce The Drifters Girl, a brand new musical starring Beverley Knight, which tells the remarkable story of one of the world's greatest vocal groups The Drifters and the woman who made them. It will make its World Premiere at Newcastle Theatre Royal next year, before transferring to the Garrick Theatre in London for a strictly limited season of 20 weeks.

The Drifters Girl, to be directed by Jonathan Church (Singin' In The Rain), will begin performances in Newcastle on Saturday 5 September 2020, playing until Saturday 19 September. Performances at the Garrick Theatre start on Thursday 1 October 2020 (Press Night: Thursday 22 October 2020).

Beverley Knight stars as Faye Treadwell, the legendary manager of The Drifters, who, alongside her husband, fought for three decades to turn Atlantic Records' hottest vocal group into a global phenomenon.

From the highs of hit records and sell out tours to the lows of legal battles and personal tragedy, The Drifters Girl charts the trailblazing efforts of the world's first African American, female music manager and how she refused to ever give up on the group she loved. Thirty years, and hundreds of hit songs later, there is no doubt that Faye Treadwell was and always will be, The Drifters Girl.

With an incredible soundtrack of some of the most famous songs in history, including Save The Last Dance For Me, Under The Boardwalk, Kissin In The Back Row Of The Movies, Stand By Me, Come On Over To My Place, Saturday Night At The Movies and many more, The Drifters Girl will play for just 15 performances in Newcastle before transferring to London for a limited 20 week season.

Beverley Knight is the Queen of British Soul. She has enjoyed several Top 10 Albums, including the platinum selling Voice: The Best Of Beverley Knight. Her most recent solo album Soulsville was released in June 2016 and went straight into the UK Top 10. She was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2007 for services to British music and charity, has won three MOBO Awards, and been nominated for Best Female at the Brit Awards three times and for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. 2019 sees her celebrating 25 years in the music business with a live album, 'BK25', recorded with the Leo Green Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, out November 8th on Warner Music.

Beverley has also made several, highly acclaimed performances in the West End. Her debut in London was in the star role of Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard in 2013. In 2014 she received an Olivier Award Nomination as Best Actress in a Musical for her much praised role of Felicia Farrell in the Tony Award winning hit show Memphis The Musical, and in 2015 she played the iconic role of Grizabella in Cats at The London Palladium. In 2018 she starred as Emmeline Pankhurst in much praised new funk and hip hop musical Sylvia at The Old Vic, for which she won a best supporting actress award at the inaugural Black British Theatre Awards.

The Drifters Girl, with a book by Ed Curtis, will be directed by Jonathan Church, designed by Anthony Ward, choreography by Karen Bruce, lighting design by Ben Cracknell and music supervision and orchestrations by Chris Egan.

Further casting and full creative team will be announced at a later date.

The Drifters Girl is produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian.

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