Sheridan Smith Departs BRIDGET JONES Musical

The Daily Mail UK reports that Olivier-award winning actress Sheridan Smith has pulled out of the musical version of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones novel. 

The show was scheduled for a possible September opening at the Savoy Theatre and had rehearsals scheduled to begin in August. But those plans have been postponed, Daily Mail reports. 

Smith's departure has been labeled a scheduling conflict. She and her representatives claim that the show would keep her away from a growing career in film and television.

Smith is best known for her contributions to the British sitcoms Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Gavin & Stacey and Benidorm. She has also become a recognised face in West End theatre who has appeared in Little Shop of Horrors, Legally Blonde and the 2011 revival of Flare Path. She won the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her work in Legally Blonde. Upcoming films starring Smith include The Scapegoat, Tower Block and Quartet.

Bridget Jones' Diary the musical is helmed by BILLY ELLIOT's Stephen Daldry and composed by British pop star Lily Allen and Greg Kurstin. Helen Fielding is collaborating on the musical's book with Julian Webber. Daldry last directed a workshop alongside Webber last spring.

'Bridget Jones's Diary' follows a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a British single woman in her thirties who writes comically about her troubles, many of which involve her love life.