Whatsonstage.com reports that Ian Bartholomew (Tommy, Into the Woods), Michael Jibson (Our House, Brighton Rock), Sam Kenyon (Sweeney Todd, Amadeus) and Elliot Levey (Beauty and the Beast) and Whatsonstage.com Award winner Sally Ann Triplett (Guys and Dolls, Chicago) will star in the world premiere of Take Flight, the new musical by Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire, set for its world premiere at London's Menier Chocolate Factory July 13, before running July 25-September 22.
Take Flight tells the inspirational stories of the pioneers of flight - the Wright Brothers (Kenyon and Levy), Charles Lindbergh (Jibson) and Amelia Earhart (Triplett). Bartholomew plays Earhart's husband, explore Charles Putnam. Press notes state that the show honors "the spirit of invention in us all, the obscure as well as the famous, and that it is just as noble in those who fail as in those who succeed."
The new musical features a score by Shire and lyrics by Maltby, with book by frequent Sondheim collaborator
John Weidman (
Assassins,
Pacific Overtures,
Bounce). The premiere production reunites director
Sam Buntrock, designer
David Farley and musical director Caroline Humphri, all of whom previousyl worked on The
Menier Chocolate Factory's five-time Olivier Award-winning, Broadway-bound revival of Sondheim's
Sunday in the Park with George.
As a team, Maltby and Shire have penned the song cycles
Starting Here, Starting Now and
Closer Than Ever, as well as the book musicals
Baby and
Big. Maltby is currently contributing books and lyrics to the Broadway-bound
The Pirate Queen. He has also worked on lyrics for
Miss Saigon, and created and directed the revues Ain't Misbehavin' and Ring of Fire. Shire's other Broadway credits include
Saturday Night Fever. He has also scored dozens of films. Their new revue
A Time for Love, a two-person song cycle, was recently seen at the
Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura, CA.
For more information, visit
www.menierchocolatefactory.com.
Photo - Sally Ann Triplett
