MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS to Make West End Debut at the Criterion Theatre

Kenny Wax Family Entertainment is delighted to announce the West End debut of new family musical - Mr Popper's Penguins, which will open at the Criterion Theatre for a magical Christmas season from the 15 December to 31 December. Mr & Mrs Popper and their remarkable family of performing penguin puppets come to London direct from a UK tour and US première at New York's renowned New Victory Theatre.

Painter and decorator by day, Mr Popper dreams of Antarctic adventures. He is astounded when one day a packing crate arrives on his doorstep, out of which waddles a penguin!

With original music & lyrics, and a family of performing penguins brought vividly to life through the magic of puppetry, this delightful musical adaptation of Richard and Florence Atwater's popular book (also made into a Hollywood film starring Jim Carrey) is brought to you by the producer of Hetty Feather (Olivier Award Nominee).

The cast includes Lucy Grattan (Greta/Admiral Drake), Scott Jones (Understudy/ASM), Toby Manley (Captain Cook/Mr. Greenbaum), Russell Morton (Mr. Popper) and Roxanne Palmer (Mrs. Popper).

Directed by Emma Earle, designed by Zoe Squire with puppetry design by Nick Barnes, co-founder of London's Blind Summit. Mr Popper's Penguins features lyrics by Richy Hughes (Stiles and Drewe Prize winner, 2015) and music byLuke Bateman. Lighting design is by Ric Mountjoy and sound design is by Jason Barnes.

Russell Morton plays Mr Popper. His recent theatre credits include As Is (Trafalgar Studios), Molly Wobbly and Spike Milligan's Puckoon (Leicester Square Theatre), Alice in Wonderland (Bolton Octagon), Piaf (Leicester Curve), Once upon a Christmas (Covent Garden), Sweet Smell of Success & The Cradle Will Rock (Arcola Theatre), You Once Said Yes(Roundhouse London), Not Another Musical (Latitude), Bent (Landor/Tabbard), Poppy's Promise (Union Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Barons Court). Television credits include Young Doctors and Urban Legends. Morton is also a writer, voice-over artist and a member of comedy troupe Jam Sponge Comedy.

Roxanne Palmer plays Mrs Popper. Her West End theatre credits include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Legally Blonde the Musical and Viva Forever. She has also worked extensively for mask theatre company Strangeface. Credits with Strangeface include The Last Resort, A Christmas Carol and Pinocchio. She also writes and performs her own sketches on her YouTube channel MissBizUK.

Lucy Grattan (Female Puppeteer). Her theatre credits include Bell Weather (Curious Directive), Much Ado About Nothing (Reading Between the Lines), Birdsong (national tour), Lobsters (PEEP at Latitude Festival/Assembly, Edinburgh Fringe), Sam Rose in The Shadows (Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe/Greenwich Theatre), Hag (Bristol Old Vic), Superjohn (Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Fringe), 'Ave It (Old Vic Tunnels), Visions of Kerouac (Half Moon), Drunk Enough To Say I Love You (Arch 468) and Where The Air is Perfect (Latitude Festival/Theatre 503); and for film, The Boat That Rocked.

Toby Manley (Male Puppeteer). His theatre credits include Alice's Adventures Underground (The Vaults, Waterloo), The Love Project (Every Day Productions), Once Upon A Christmas, Above And Beyond, You Once Said Yes, Nola, The Caravan (Look Left Look Right), 21 Breaths (Little Pieces of Gold/Park Theatre), Early Days (Five Wits/The Finborough), Love Re-imagined (Only Connect), Short Plays By Joel Horwood (Kristopher Milnes Productions/Soho Theatre) andAccomplice: London (Menier Chocolate Factory). For television his credits include Siblings, Enid, and Identity; and for film, Electric Man and Dating Eliza.

Luke Bateman (Composer). Current musicals in development include The Little Beasts, The Sorrows of Satan and Personality based on the Andrew O'Hagan novel of the same name. Previous credits include Dark Tourism (Park Theatre), Mother Adam, On Approval and St John's Night (Jermyn Street Theatre) and All I Want for Christmas (Upstairs at the Gatehouse & Jermyn Street Theatre). His arrangements include West End Recast (Duke of York's Theatre), West End Recast 2 (Phoenix Theatre) and two arrangements for the Sarah Brightman Album Classics with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a company member and Assistant MD in A Chorus of Disapproval directed by Trevor Nunn (Harold Pinter Theatre). He had three award-winning songs with Mary Evans: My Sexual, Christmas Swapping, and The Christmas Table. For The Sun, he produced the 2010 World Cup song If I Can Dream featuring Terry Venables, Ian Wright, Harry Redknapp, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Bateman is a founding member of the Book, Music, and Lyrics (BML) workshop.

Richy Hughes (Lyricist) learnt his craft at The Book, Music and Lyrics (BML) Workshop in London. He has contributed songs to A Song Cycle for Soho, (Soho Theatre) and Mercury Musical Development's 25th Anniversary Gala (Novello Theatre). He is currently working with composer Joseph Finlay and librettist Michael Conley on The Superhero, a mono-musical that follows one man's journey through the family courts as he fights to maintain contact with his daughter. His song 'Don't Look Down,' from the show won last year's Stiles and Drewe Prize (in association with The Stephen Sondheim Society) for Best New Musical Theatre Song of the Year. His comic parodies of popular songs have had over half a million YouTube hits.

Emma Earle directs. Emma trained at the National Theatre Studio and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She is Co-Artistic Director of Pins and Needles Productions. Emma adapted and directed Raymond Briggs' The Bear (Polka Theatre - remounted Christmas 2016) and Father Christmas (Lyric Hammersmith - remounted Christmas 2016 for its 5th consecutive year). Also for Pins and Needles: Scoop (Latitude); Flies (Tobacco Factory), Ernest and the Pale Moon(Edinburgh); Holly and Ivan's Christmas Adventure (Lyric Hammersmith). Emma is an Associate Director of Les Enfants Terribles. Credits include Olivier nominated Adventures in Wonderland and immersive dining experience The Twits (both at The Vaults, Waterloo); and a host of touring shows including The Marvellous Imaginary Menagerie; The Fantastical Flying Exploratory Laboratory; and Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs. Emma is an Associate Artist of the egg (Theatre Royal Bath) and has directed Glengarry Glen Ross, The Grapes of Wrath and The Shape of Things for their young company. She is currently developing a new adaptation of The Little Mermaid with the egg.

Nick Barnes (Puppet Designer). Until recently he was joint Artistic Director of the puppetry company Blind Summit Theatre, which he co-founded to make new shows with puppets for adult audiences. He designed and made puppets and performed for Blind Summit, whose own productions include Mr. China's Son, The Spaceman, Low Life, Call of the Wild, 1984, The Heads and The Table - which has won many awards and continues to be invited to festivals around the world. Collaborations include Madame Butterfly (ENO, Metropolitan Opera, Anthony Minghella), A Dog's Heart(ENO/DNO), Shunkin and Master and Margarita (Complicite), El Gato Con Botas (Tectonic Theatre, Moises Kaufman), On Emotion (Mick Gordon), Faeries (Royal Opera House, Will Tuckett), His Dark Materials (Birmingham Rep/West Yorkshire Playhouse), Kommilitonen! (Royal Academy of Music, David Poutney). In 2012 Blind Summit oversaw the puppetry in Danny Boyle's spectacular opening ceremony for the London Olympic Games. More recently he co-designed puppets for The Lorax (Old Vic, London) and Ariodante (Festival d'Aix-en- Provence, DNO), he was Associate Puppet Designer for Running Wild (Chichester Festival Theatre/Regents Park) and he designed a spectacular firebird for the BBC proms (Royal Albert Hall). He is currently co-directing and designing a new adaptation of David Walliams children's book The First Hippo on the Moon for Les Enfants Terribles.

Pins and Needles Productions was formed in 2009 by Emma Earle and Zoe Squire who met while training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. For more information about Pins and Needles visit www.pinsandneedlesproductions.co.uk

Kenny Wax Family Entertainment Ltd (Producer) Kenny Wax is renowned for bringing some of the best of children's theatre to the West End and on tour including Tall Stories' The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child and the Olivier Award nominated Room on the Broom, as well as What the Ladybird Heard and the critically acclaimed stage adaptation of Jaqueline Wilson's Hetty Feather. They have also had great success with We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Mr Popper's Penguins. Independently, Wax also produces Top Hat, The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong and The Comedy about a Bank Robbery currently running at the Criterion. For more information visit www.kennywax.com

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