Regent's Park Open Air Theatre Announce Casting for JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre has today announced that four cast members from the 2016 Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar will be reprising their performances this summer. The theatre has also added additional dates, with Jesus Christ Superstar now playing 11 August to 23 September 2017.

Ahead of his appearance at Magic at the Musicals at the Royal Albert Hall tonight (4 May, broadcast on Mellow Magic on Sunday 7 May), it is announced that Declan Bennett will return to the role of Jesus in the Open Air Theatre production. Also returning this summer are Tyrone Huntley with his award-winning performance as Judas, and David Thaxton and Peter Caulfield as Pilate and Herod.

Declan Bennett was the original lead in the London cast of Once (Phoenix), and has also appeared in Boy George's musical Taboo (Venue Theatre), RENT (US tour and Broadway), American Idiot (Broadway) as well as on BBC's EastEnders as Charlie Cotton. As a solo singer-songwriter, his album Record:BREAKUP was released as a live acoustic version in 2013. He achieved five UK Top 20 singles and a UK Top 20 album with Brit Award nominated band Point Break.

Tyrone Huntley won the Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award for his performance as Judas in 2016, as well as an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He previously appeared in the Open Air Theatre production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, Memphis (Shaftesbury), Hairspray (Curve), The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales) and most recently as C.C.White in Dreamgirls (Savoy).

David Thaxton won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Passion (Donmar) and has appeared as both Enjolras and Javert in Les Misérables (Queens), Raoul in Love Never Dies (Adelphi), Maximillian in Candida (Menier) and Only The Brave (Wales Millennium Centre). He is a founder member of the band Divisions.

Peter Caulfield recently appeared in Doctor Who, and as Ariel in The Tempest (Southwark Playhouse). He has also appeared in One Man, Two Guvnors (National and Theatre Royal Haymarket), Into the Woods (Royal Opera House), Enron (Chichester and Noel Coward) and, on television, Cucumber (Channel 4) and Banana (E4).

With direction by Timothy Sheader, design by Tom Scutt, choreography by Drew McOnie, musical supervision by Tom Deering, lighting design by Lee Curran and sound design by Nick Lidster for Autograph, Jesus Christ Superstar was a sell-out in 2016, and went on to win the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. It also received a further five Olivier Award nominations, for Best Theatre Choreography, Best Lighting, Best Sound, Outstanding Achievement in Music and Best Actor in a Musical (for Tyrone Huntley).

The production opens at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in April 2018.

The 2017 Open Air Theatre season opens with On The Town, (19 May - 01 Jul) directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie. The cast includes Danny Mac, Fred Haig, Samuel Edwards (replacing Jeremy Taylor who has withdrawn due to injury), Siena Kelly, Lizzy Connolly, Miriam-Teak Lee, Naoko Mori, Mark Heenehan, Rodney Earl Clarke and Maggie Steed.

The season continues with Dickens Uncovered, celebrating the greatest storyteller of London life, Charles Dickens: Artistic Director Timothy Sheader directs A Tale of Two Cities (7 July - 5 August), a new play by Matthew Dunster adapted from the original Dickens novel and, developing their programme of work made especially for families, Caroline Byrne directs Oliver Twist created for everyone aged six and over adapted by Anya Reiss (17 July - 5 August).

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre was voted London Theatre of the Year in the Stage Awards 2017, and recently announced a collaboration with English National Opera for their 2018 season, with Timothy Sheader directing Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw (22 - 30 Jun 2018).

Photo credit: Johan Persson