Casting has been revealed for new British musical Fiver at London’s Southwark Playhouse which will tell the story of a £5 note and the people whose hands it passes through.
The cast of Fiver. Photo: Josef Pitura-Riley It includes Luke Bayer, who played the title role in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in the West End, and Aoife Clesham, who was on the international tour of Peter Pan.
They join the previously announced Daniel Buckley (Ferris in Eugenius!), Hiba Elchikhe (Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin) and Kayleigh McKnight (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical).
Written by Alex James Ellison and Tom Lees, Fiver will receive its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse from 3 to 20 July 2019.
They have released a video of the first song from the show, “Whisper It To Me”, sung by Elchikhe, with Tom Lees on piano and Alex James Ellison on guitar. It was mixed by Joe Davison at Auburn Jam Music and filmed by Josef Pitura-Riley. Watch it here on Vimeo.
https://vimeo.com/340603382
Lees will be musical director for the show, set design will be by Justin Williams and lighting design by Alex Musgrave.
The premiere follows a workshop of Fiver at London cabaret spot Crazy Coqs in 2017. Ellison and Lees said: “Since Crazy Coqs, we have expanded the show, both in terms of length and complexity. Fiver now runs 40 minutes longer and we are massively excited to see the changes we have made come to life on stage.”
Often unnoticed and obviously unaware, the five-pound note is present for significant moments in each person’s life – from an appreciation of their skills as a street performer, the start or end of relationships to the simple realisation that they can afford a bed for the night.
Ellison is a singer/songwriter trained at the Brit School and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. In 2016 he supported Samantha Barks on her UK tour and won Pride’s Got Talent, performing to 20,000 people on the main stage in Trafalgar Square. His theatre credits include Apartment 40C at London’s former St James Theatre and London Theatre Workshop, The Secret Garden at The Barn Theatre in Cirencester, and Best of Friends at Landor Theatre in south London.
Tom Lees has been musical director for several productions at London Theatre Workshop, including Ordinary Days and the Sondheim revue, Just Another Love Story. He was also musical director for his own award-winning musical Apartment 40C. He has worked extensively with Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro for whom he has provided numerous arrangements.
BOOK TICKETS TO FIVER
Mark Ludmon has been a journalist for over 20 years, specialising in writing about theatre and the arts as well as bars, pubs and drink. He has been on the theatre judging panel for London’s Olivier Awards and has a masters degree in English literature, specialising in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He has an MA in theatre research, criticism and dramaturgy from the University of London’s Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. You can find him tweeting about theatre as @MarkLudmon and writing about theatre at markludmon.com.
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