Darren Day, Michael Xavier and Jessica Martin to Lead BUMBLESCRATCH at the Adelphi

As previously announced, there will be a special Gala Charity Concert of Robert J. Sherman's new musical Bumblescratch at the Adelphi Theatre on Sunday 4 September 2016 at 6.30pm. This performance is in aid of Variety, the Children's Charity, and is part of commemorations for the 350th Anniversary of the Great Fire of London, which raged in the East End for four days from 2 to 5 September 1666.

Today, initial casting is announced:

Darren Day plays Melbourne Bumblescratch. His first starring theatre role was Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (West End and international tour). Other West End credits include Summer Holiday, Grease and Copacabana. Touring work includes Alfie, Carousel, Great Expectations, Godspell, The Rocky Horror Show, We Will Rock You and Hello Dolly. He has presented The Children's Royal Variety Performance twice. He is an established television actor, with leading roles in Hollyoaks, Holby, Crime Stories, Doctors, and The Bill. In 2016 he co-starred in the feature film White Island, he toured internationally with his solo concert show and he also starred in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (UK tour).

Jessica Martin plays Bethesda and Widow MacGregor. She recently appeared in Elf (Dominion Theatre). Other credits include Me and My Girl (Adelphi and UK tour), Mack and Mabel (Southwark Playhouse), Spamalot (UK tour), Sunset Boulevard (Comedy Theatre), Me, Myself and I (Orange Tree), South Pacific (Churchill Theatre and UK tour), Mack and Mabel (Piccadilly Theatre), Shakers (Nottingham Playhouse), The Card and Babes in Arms (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre). Prior to working in musical theatre, she was a comedian and has appeared in a number of television roles including Copycats, Spitting Image and Doctor Who.

Michael Xavier plays Hookbeard. He recently played the lead role of Joe Gillis opposite Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard (ENO/London Coliseum). He was nominated for two Olivier Awards in 2011: Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for Into The Woods (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre) and Best Actor in a Musical for Love Story (Duchess Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre). Other theatre credits include Show Boat (Sheffield Crucible), The War of the Roses (Rose Theatre, Kingston), Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory), The Pajama Game (Shaftesbury Theatre), The Sound of Music (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Hello Dolly! (Leicester Curve), Soho Cinders (Soho Theatre), Oklahoma! (Chichester Festival Theatre), Spamalot (Palace Theatre), The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre), My Fair Lady (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) and Miss Saigon (original UK tour).

Further casting is to be announced.

Tickets are available from the Adelphi Theatre Box Office 020 3725 7060 or www.rutlive.co.uk and are priced £16.50, £26.50, £36.50, £41.50, £51.50, and £81.50, with gala packages available at £151.50.

Bumblescratch is a new musical comedy. Set in London during the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of 1666, it is told from the perspective of a demented, lascivious plague rat named Melbourne Bumblescratch (Darren Day), who demonstrates his unique and twisted love affair with the ancient city through telling his marvellously gruesome tales.

Bumblescratch has music, lyrics and book by Robert J. Sherman, continuing the enduring legacy of his father and uncle, Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman, a.k.a The Sherman Brothers, the songwriting duo behind childhood classics including Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. It is directed by Stewart Nicholls, who also collaborated with Robbie Sherman on the critically acclaimed Love Birds and A Spoonful of Sherman.

For more information, visit bumblescratch.com.

Robert J. Sherman stems from a long, illustrious line of songwriters spanning more than four generations. At 16 Sherman joined BMI and is an alum of BMI's Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Theatre: Love Birds (Pleasance, Edinburgh), A Spoonful of Sherman (St. James Theatre), Bumblescratch (Network Theatre) and A Christmas Held Captive (Beverly Hills Playhouse). Other credits include: The Adventures of Amazon Jack (Columbia TriStar) and The Magic 7 (Pulse Entertainment). Books: Moose: Chapters From My Life (as Editor). Notable Song: "Disneyana!" (The Official Theme Song of the Disneyana Fan Club), "Mondays" (from Ms: A Song Cycle). Sherman is the CEO/President of Music World LLC and MusicWorld UK and is the trustee of the Robert B. Sherman Family Estate and Archives which includes one half of The Sherman Brothers and Al Sherman estates. He resides in London. Website: robbiesherman.com Twitter: @robbiesherman

Variety, the Children's Charity, believes that neither disability nor disadvantage should prevent a child from realising his or her full potential. Since setting up its UK division in 1949, Variety has raised over £200 million and supported more than 800,000 children, affected by ill-health, disadvantage and disability. With a focus on helping children to make the most of their childhood, Variety, the Children's Charity, provides a wide range of services, each designed to deliver practical help that immediately improves the everyday lives of children and young people, across the UK. They are: Sunshine Coaches for schools and organisations that cater for children with special needs; Wheelchairs tailored to each child's particular medical condition; and Great Days Out fun treats and educational experiences for children who are disabled or disadvantaged.

Grants: equipment for children's hospitals and hospices to help improve care and treatment, and especially neonatal life-saving technology; specialist equipment for sick or disabled children who are cared for at home; equipment for youth clubs so they can help children be part of their community - not part of a gang; equipment to meet individual children's specific needs hoists, motorised beds, specialist car seats etc.

Variety's roots are firmly in the film and entertainment industry, having been founded when a new-born baby was abandoned in a cinema in Pittsburgh, USA. When all attempts to find the mother failed, a group of people from many different parts of showbusiness, who had recently formed a social and networking club ("Variety Club"), agreed to underwrite the cost of the child's upbringing and education. From that single act of compassion, grew a worldwide charity that, today, has a global network of 43 offices in 13 countries.

Variety is a registered charity in England and Wales (209259) and Scotland (SC038505). For more information, or to donate to Variety, visit www.variety.org.uk. Follow Variety, the Children's Charity, on www.facebook.com/VarietyGB.

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