The full cast joining Debbie Kurup, Danielle Steers and Millie O’Connell, all starring as Cher – Star, Lady and Babe respectively, has been announced.
Lucas Rush will play Sonny, Jake Mitchell will play Bob Mackie, Sam Ferriday will play Greg Allman and Tori Scott will play Georgia. Joining them are Jordan Anderton, Jasmine Jules Andrews, Carla Bertran, Catherine Cornwall, Áine Curran, Sam Holden, Samantha Ivey, Aston Newman Hannington, Ingrid Olivia, Clayton Rosa, Chay Wills and Guy Woolf.
With book by Tony and Olivier Award-winning Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, The Addams Family, Peter and the Starcatcher), direction by Arlene Phillips (Saturday Night Fever, Starlight Express, Grease), choreography by Oti Mabuse (two-time Strictly Come Dancing champion) and costume design by Gabriella Slade (Six, In The Heights, Spice World 2019 Tour), the UK & Ireland Tour will open at Leicester’s Curve on 15 April 2022 and will continue through to 1 April 2023.
From a young child with big dreams, the shy daughter of an Armenian American truck driver, to the dizzying heights of global stardom, The Cher Show tells the incredible story of Cher’s meteoric rise to fame. Cher takes the audience by the hand and introduces them to the influential people in her life, from her mother and Sonny Bono, to fashion designer and costumier Bob Mackie. It shows how she battled the men who underestimated her, fought the conventions and, above all, was a trailblazer for independence.
The musical is packed with 35 of her biggest hits, including ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’, ‘I Got You Babe’, ‘Strong Enough’, ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’ and ‘Believe’.
With over 100 million record sales, an Academy Award®, an Emmy®, a Grammy®, three Golden Globes® and an award from The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Cher has influenced popular culture more than most. Her on-screen career started in 1971 with her weekly television show that attracted 30 million viewers a week, and went on to include starring roles in iconic films from Moonstruck, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress, to Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, which prompted the New York Magazine to realise “every single movie—no matter how flawless—would be infinitely better if it included Cher.” Her ‘Farewell Tour’ became the highest grossing music tour in history – in true Cher fashion, she followed up her ‘Farewell Tour’ with two further sell-out, worldwide arena tours. She is the only artist in history to have a number one hit in the Billboard chart for six consecutive decades; an achievement that caused Vogue to deem her “eternally relevant and the ruler of outré reinvention”. She became known as the Queen of Reinvention.
In the 1990s, she established The Cher Charitable Foundation to support causes around the world. She has been a long-time donor and supporter of Habitat for Humanity, The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and Keep A Child Alive, an organisation that helps to combat the AIDs epidemic. Most recently, she co-founded Free the Wild to help rescue Kaavan the Asian elephant from Islamabad zoo.
Written by Tony Award-winning Rick Elice, The Cher Show made its debut on Broadway in 2018 in a production that earned two Tony Awards and delighted fans from around the world. This new production will be the European premiere.
The Cher Show UK & Ireland Tour will have set design by Tom Rogers, musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Rich Morris, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Dan Samson, music production by Gary Hickeson, wigs, hair and make-up design by Sam Cox, associate direction by James Cousins, associate choreography by James Bennett, musical direction by Danny Belton and casting by Will Burton CDG.
TOUR SCHEDULE
15 - 23 April 2022 Leicester Curve
26 - 30 April Sunderland Empire Theatre
3 – 7 May Hull New Theatre
10 – 14 May Sheffield Lyceum Theatre
17 - 21 May Manchester Opera House
24 – 28 May Belfast Grand Opera House
31 May – 4 June Blackpool Opera House
7 - 11 June Nottingham Theatre Royal
14 - 19 June Canterbury Marlowe Theatre
21 – 25 June Plymouth Theatre Royal
19 – 30 July Dublin Bord Gáis Energy Theatre
2 – 6 August Birmingham Hippodrome
9 - 13 August Milton Keynes Theatre
16 – 20 August Southend Cliffs Pavilion
23 – 27 August Cardiff New Theatre
30 August - 3 September Stoke Regent Theatre
6 - 10 September Woking New Victoria Theatre
13 – 17 September Cheltenham Everyman Theatre
20 – 24 September Dartford Orchard Theatre
27 September - 1 October Glasgow King’s Theatre
4 – 8 October Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre
11 – 15 October Edinburgh Festival Theatre
18 – 22 October Wolverhampton Grand Theatre
25 – 29 October Bradford The Alhambra Theatre
1 - 12 November Brighton Theatre Royal
15 - 19 November York Grand Opera House
22 – 26 November Ipswich Regent Theatre
3 - 7 January 2023 Southampton Mayflower Theatre
10 – 14 January Northampton Royal & Derngate
17 - 21 January Liverpool Empire Theatre
24 - 28 January Bristol The Hippodrome
31 January - 4 February Wimbledon New Wimbledon Theatre
7 – 11 February Darlington Hippodrome
14 - 18 February Torquay Princess Theatre
21 - 25 February Oxford New Theatre
28 February – 4 March Llandudno Venue Cymru
7 – 11 March Norwich Theatre Royal
14 – 18 March Carlisle The Sands Centre
Photo: Matt Crockett