Wales Millennium Centre is thrilled to announce the full cast of Tiger Bay the Musical, which includes a 39-strong cast with many notable names from right here in Wales.
Tiger Bay the Musical – created by a multi-award-winning team composer, Daf James, writer Michael Williams and director, Melly Still – is set in the flamboyant multi-ethnic community of Cardiff’s Butetown in the early 1900s. Extreme poverty meets supreme wealth. Gangs of street children roam the docks. Coal is King, and in the notorious public houses and alleyways of the city’s underworld, a revolution is brewing
Tiger Bay the Musical follows a young woman’s determination to challenge society’s injustices, follow her heart and realise her dreams.
Joining the previously announced cast John Owen Jones, Noel Sullivan, Suzanne Packer, Vikki Bebb and two local young girls, Louise Harvey and Ruby Llewellyn, will be:
Dom Hartley-Harris who will complete the lead cast as Themba, an African immigrant working the Cardiff docks to avenge his family. Dom most recently played Jagwire in the new musical Bat Out of Hell. His other theatre credits include Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Accidental Brummie.
Zolani Shangase (Lion King, West End and most recently Chico in the The Fugard Theatre’s production of West Side Story) will travel from South Africa to reprise the role of Yusef, following previews of the Musical in Cape Town earlier this year.
Also joining from Cape Town Busisiwe Ngejane (Isango Ensemble’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Boheme, Carmen and A Man of Good hope) who will play lady of the night, Klondike Ellie and Luvo Rasemeni (Isango Ensemble’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Boheme, Carmen and A Man of Good hope) as Felize. As well as Ernestine Stuurman as part of the ensemble.
Liz May Brice whose credits include (Torchwood: Children of Earth, Bad Girls, Peep Show, Black Mirror) will play clairvoyant, Leonora Piper. Ian Virgo, (The Bastard Executioner, Weapon, Before The Fall, Holby City, Spooks, The Bill) Adam Vaughan (The Wind in the Willows – London Palladium, Carousel, Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd) and Rhidian Marc (Les Misérables – West End, UK tour and film, Pippin, Scrooge) will play donkeymen, Bosun and Arwyn and First Mate/Locke respectively.
The Centre has turned to Welsh performers to create the production’s ensemble including Zoe George (Wicked UK, Ireland and International tour as understudy for Elphaba and Nessarose), Lucy Elson (career debut) and Elin Llwyd (S4C presenter, Welsh National Theatre’s Lady from the Sea and Spring Awakening) who will play shop girls of the famed David Morgan department store.
They will be joined by Jamal Andréas, Lee Dillon-Stuart, Kit Esuruoso, Soophia Foroughi, Daniel Graham, Carl Man, Kayed Mohamed-Mason, Cilla Silvia, Josh Tonks, Emma Warren and Stephanie Webber.
Graeme Farrow, Artistic Director at Wales Millennium Centre said: “This is the biggest production to come from the Centre to date and we are proud to give people a snapshot of the history of our home and celebrate some of its richness and strength through music and performance.
“To capture the essence of the production, we were seeking a diverse cast so we are delighted to be able to announce our full cast includes talent from across the world as well as right on our doorstep.”
And to round it off, ten young Welsh actors and actresses will make up the water boys.
The gang of water boys are:
- Amaree Ali, aged 12, Grangetown
- Lefi Jô Hughes, aged 10, Canton
- Lowri Elin Hughes, aged 14, Caerphilly
- Shakira Lorenza Ifill, aged 12, Butetown
- Amelia Jenkins, aged 14, Bridgend
- Mimi Nanud, aged 13, Barry
- Lauren Price, aged 11, Rhiwbina
- Mallers Saltus-Hendrickson, aged 9, Butetown
- Cadi-Gwen Sandall, aged 10, Whitchurch
- Efan Williams, aged 9, Canton
A fictional story of romance, revenge, heartbreak and hope, the world premiere of Tiger Bay the Musical is on Wednesday 15 November 2017 at Wales Millennium Centre. Tickets are on sale now at www.tigerbaythemusical.com
