Finborough Theatre's LITTLE FISH Closes November 21

A vibrant new musical from one of Broadway's leading new writers receives its European premiere at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre with an outstanding West End cast including Ashley Campbell (The Rat Pack, Fame), Michael Cantwell (Mary Poppins, Sweeney Todd, Cats, Into The Woods), Katie Foster-Barnes (Peter Pan, The Pirates of Penzance, Dangerous Corner), Nick Holder (The Drowsy Chaparone, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Jesus Christ Superstar), Alana Maria (Dancing in the Streets, 125th Street, The Blues Brothers), Laura Pitt-Pulford (Sunset Boulevard), Lee William- Davis (Mary Poppins, Anything Goes, On the Town) and Julia Worsley (Les Miserables, Oliver!, films of Evita and Phantom of the Opera).

When Charlotte decides to give up smoking, she doesn't realise quite how difficult it will be. As she attempts to fill her nicotine-starved days, the events of a troubled past slowly begin to resurface; an abusive ex-boyfriend, a new life in New York, a bizarre roommate and a boss who is a little too hands on. As her emotional debris accumulates, we see Charlotte's vivid memories juxtaposed against her present day life. But even with her friends trying to help, can this Little Fish learn to survive in a pond as big as New York City? Little Fish introduces us to a darker New York than that seen in most musicals. Inhabiting the lesser-seen corners of the city, Michael John LaChiusa blends a pulsating, jazzy and resonant score with intelligent and witty lyrics. Combined with a sharply observed book filled with humour, this is a truly modern musical that no one should miss.

Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa
Suggested by the short stories of Deborah Eisenberg
Presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Limited
Directed by Adam Lenson
Musical Direction and Orchestrations by Richard Bates
Choreography by Nicholas Cunningham
Set and Costume Design by Bec Chippendale
Lighting by James Smith
Cast: Ashley Campbell. Michael Cantwell. Katie Foster-Barnes. Nick Holder. Alana Maria. Laura Pitt-Pulford. Lee William-Davis. Julia Worsley.
Presented by JQ Productions and Treasuretrove Productions in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre

The European Premiere of a new musical

Tuesday, 27 October - Saturday, 21 November 2009
Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm.
Saturday Matinees at 3.00pm (from 7 November 2009).
Sunday Matinees at 3.00pm.
Tickets £18, £14 concessions, except Tuesday Evenings £14 all seats, and Saturday evenings £18 all seats.
Previews (27 and 28 October) £14 all seats
Performance Length: Approximately 90 minutes

"I had never known what I was really like until I stopped smoking, by which time there was hell to pay"

Michael John LaChiusa is one of Broadway's most exciting new music theatre voices. A five time Tony nominee, he has written many critically acclaimed productions including The Wild Party (originally starring Toni Colette and Mandy Patinkin), Marie Christine, Hello Again, Bernarda Alba and See What I Wanna See (starring Idina Menzel). His new musical Giant, opened at the Signature Theatre in Washington DC this year.

The narrative of the show is based on two short stories by renowned American short story writer Deborah Eisenberg. She is a writer that The New York Times have called "Nothing less than extraordinary" and John Updike has said that "she strikes me as a writer with really something new to say about female experience" who "writes out of a whirlwind; she has found words for sensations and emotions I have never seen described before". She has written four collections of short stories and is regularly published in both The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books.

Director Adam Lenson returns to the Finborough Theatre with the team that produced last year's sell-out production of the new musical Ordinary Days which featured a West End cast including Julie Atherton. He trained on the National Theatre Studio Directors' Course 2009 and took part as a Director in this year's 24 Hour Plays at the Old Vic. He has assisted Terry Johnson on La Cage Aux Folles (Menier Chocolate Factory and Playhouse Theatre), Rachel Kavanaugh on The Music Man (Chichester Festival Theatre), Stephen Daldry on An Inspector Calls (2009 National Tour and Novello Theatre) and Victoria Wood on Talent (Menier Chocolate Factory).

The outstanding West End cast includes:
Ashley Campbell whose theatre includes Jack and the Beanstalk (Barbican Centre), The Rat Pack (American Tour), High Heel Parrot Fish (Stratford East Theatre Royal), Bomb-Mitty Of Errors (New Ambassadors Theatre) and Fame (Victoria Palace Theatre) and whose TV credits include Hollyoaks
Michael Cantwell whose theatre includes Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre), One Touch of Venus (The Lost Musicals), Sweeney Todd (Royal FestivAl Hall), Cats (New London Theatre), Into the Woods (Leicester Haymarket Theatre), Romance Romance (Gielgud Theatre), Passion (Queens Theatre), The Beggar's Opera (Royal Shakespeare Company), Assassins (Donmar Warehouse), Merrily We Roll Along (Leicester Haymarket and Manchester Library), Les Miserables (Palace Theatre), Barnum (Victoria Palace), Look to the Rainbow (Apollo Theatre), The False Servant (National Theatre), Waste (Playhouse Theatre) and The Changeling, Travesties (Royal Shakespeare Company).
Katie Foster-Barnes whose theatre includes Florodora (Finborough Theatre), A Trip to Scarborough, Relatively Speaking and Forget Me Not Lane, Gameplan - Ayckbourn at 70 Gala, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Royal and DernGate Theatre, Northampton), Dracula (The Touring Consortium), Peter Pan, The Pirates of Penzance (Savoy Theatre), Dangerous Corner (West Yorkshire Playhouse and Garrick Theatre), and Beautiful and Damned (Lyric Theatre)
Nick Holder whose theatre includes South Pacific, Sweeney Todd, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Resistable Rise of Arturo UI, L'assommoir, The Wind in the Willows, The Miser and Wolfpit (National Theatre), The Drowsy Chaperone (Novello Theatre), Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse), Jesus Christ Superstar (Lyceum Theatre), Les Miserables (Palace Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra, The Beggar's Opera, As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Company), Miss Saigon (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Richard III and The Music Man (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park and whose TV credits include The League of Gentlemen and Psychoville.
Alana Maria was in the first original London cast of Dancing in the Streets, as well as Peter Pan (Manchester and Milton Keynes), Nunsense (Eastbourne Theatre and Windsor Theatre Royal), 125th Street (Shaftesbury Theatre), Golden Boy (Greenwich Theatre), and The Blues Brothers (Whitehall Theatre)
Laura Pitt-Pulford's credits include Sunset Boulevard (Comedy Theatre and Watermill Theatre), The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Follies (Royal and DernGate Theatre, Northampton), and Carousel (Bridewell Theatre)
Lee William-Davis' theatre includes Ordinary Days (Finborough Theatre), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre), Love's Labours Lost, Anything Goes (National Theatre), Aladdin (Old Vic), Mamma Mia (Prince Edward Theatre), On The Town (English National Opera), Chicago (Adelphi Theatre) and Beauty and the Beast (Dominion Theatre).
Julia Worsley whose stage credits include the original cast of Sam Mendes' Oliver! (London Palladium), Sunday in the Park with George, Rock Hard (Leicester Haymarket Theatre), Les Miserables (Palace Theatre and National Tour), Suppliants (Gate Theatre). Film credits include The Phantom of the Opera and Evita.

 

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