New Musical MIDNIGHT COWBOY Will Open at Southwark Playhouse in 2025

The world premiere of MIDNIGHT COWBOY – A NEW MUSICAL will open at Southwark Playhouse Elephant on 4 April 2025 and run until 17 May 2025.

This powerful adaptation has a book by Bryony Lavery (writer of the Tony-nominated play Frozen), which breathes new life into the classic story, exploring the depths of friendship and ambition, and soundtrack by three-time Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Francis “Eg” White, who has written songs for Adele, Sam Smith, Florence + The Machine and James Morrison.

Based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy and the beloved triple Academy Award-winning 1969 film, starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, MIDNIGHT COWBOY captures the gripping tension of dreaming big whilst trying to survive the grind of New York City.

Casting to be announced.

Joe Buck is a young man desperate to escape his dead-end past. Leaving everything behind, to seek wealth and glory in the big city, he meets a man just as lost as he is - Rico 'Ratso' Rizzo. The pair join forces, prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams, even if it means surrendering a part of themselves.  But New York ain’t no dream - it’s a jungle and survival requires sacrifice… 

MIDNIGHT COWBOY will have direction and choreography by Nick Winston (Burlesque the Musical, Manchester Opera House & Glasgow Theatre Royal; Bonnie & Clyde, UK Tour) with musical arrangements, orchestrations and musical supervision by Charlie Ingles (Grease The Musical, UK Tour; The Rocky Horror Show, UK Tour), set and lighting design by Andrew Exeter (LIZZIE, UK Tour; The Full Monty, UK Tour), costume design by Sophia Pardon (The Wizard of Oz, Watermill Theatre; How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Southwark Playhouse Borough), sound design by Yvonne Gilbert (The Baker’s Wife, Menier Chocolate Factory; Handmaid’s Tale, English National Opera), creative development by Nick Winston, production management by James Anderton (Operation Epsilon, Southwark Playhouse Elephant; From Here to Eternity, Charing Cross Theatre), musical direction by ELLIE VERKERK (The School For Scandal, Royal Shakespeare Theatre; Starter For Ten, Bristol Old Vic), associate direction and choreography by Libby Watts (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, The Other Palace; Burlesque the Musical, Manchester & Glasgow), associate set design by Natalia Alvarez (The Creakers Musical, Theatre Royal Plymouth; LIZZIE, The Hope Mill Theatre), props supervision by Katie Balmforth (Bonnie & Clyde, Garrick; Birdsong, UK Tour), costume supervision by Josh Bamling (Fly More Than You Fall, Southwark Playhouse, Elephant), intimacy direction by Lucy Fennell (Visit from an Unknown Woman, Hampstead Theatre; Bare, London Palladium) and dialect coaching by Mary Howland (The Odyssey, Unicorn Theatre; Fawlty Towers, Apollo Theatre).

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