AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN - THE MUSICAL

The full cast for the World Premiere of AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN – THE MUSICAL is officially announced. Emma Williams will play Paula Pokrifiki, Jonny Fines is Zack Mayo, Ray Shell as Foley, Ian Macintosh as Sid Worley and Jessica Daley as Lynette Pomeroy. The production will open at Leicester’s Curve Theatre, before coming to the Manchester Opera House from 13th – 18th August 2018 as part of the UK and Ireland tour.

Nikolai Foster, Artistic Director of Curve and Director of An Officer and Gentleman – The Musical said today “Douglas Day Stewart wrote An Officer and a Gentleman in response to his time serving in the American Air Force and the challenges he faced during training. It is a visceral, uncompromising and ultimately tender portrait of these personal experiences and the lives of folk living near the training facility in the early 1980s.”

“We are proud to have assembled such an accomplished company of actors, led by Emma, Ray, Jonny, Ian and Jess, to create our production and realise this beautiful portrait of working class lives.”

Four-time Laurence Olivier Award nominated actress Emma Williams will play Paula Pokrifki. Emma’s previous credits include Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mrs Henderson Presents and Love Story, all in the West End. This year Emma won the What’sOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for playing Helen in Cameron Mackintosh’s revival of Half A Sixpence at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Jonny Fines will play the iconic role of Zack Mayo – the role made famous by Richard Gere in the beloved ‘80s film. Jonny most recently played the role of Rooster in the West End production of Annie at The Piccadilly Theatre. Other theatre credits include the UK Tours of The Sound of Music and Avenue Q.

Ray Shell will play Foley. Ray is probably most famous for creating the roles of Rusty in Starlight Express and Nomax in Five Guys Named Moe, both in the West End. His other theatre credits include the iconic productions of Miss Saigon and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Ian Macintosh will play Sid Worley. Ian is an Olivier nominated actor for his role in the West End production of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. His other credits include The Commitments and Rock of Ages

Jessica Daley will play Lynette Pomeroy. Jessica was a finalist on the BBC One’s Over The Rainbow and previous theatre credits include Mamma Mia! And the West End and the UK Tour ofThe Sound of Music.

The cast also includes Keisha Atwell (Legally Blonde, Grease and Annie) who will play Casey Seegar, Andy Barke (Nativity! The Musical and Legally Blonde) in the role of Louis Perryman, Darren Bennett (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Importance of Being Earnest, Grease and the title role in Scrooge the Musical) in the role of Bryon Mayo, James Darch in the role of Troy,Nathaniel Landskroner (Grease, Legally Blonde and Scrooge the Musical at Curve) in the role of ‘Craig’, George Loannides (Grease, Annie and Mamma Mia!) in the role of Eduardo Cortez, Joe Maxwell (Jersey Boys and Scrooge the Musical) in the role of Fin Hooper, Corinna Powlesland in the role of Aunt Bunny and Rachel Stanley (Legally Blonde, Scrooge the Musical, White Christmas) will play Esther Pokrifki.

Joining them will be David Burrows, Vanessa Fisher, Aimee Hodnett, Keiran McGinn and Rhys Whitfield.

This brand-new musical is based on the 1982 Oscar-winning film starring Richard Gere which tells the story of Zack Mayo who is in training to become a US Navy Pilot. When Zack rolls into boot camp with a bit too much of a swagger, drill Sergeant Foley doesn’t make life easy for him. When he falls for local girl Paula Pokrifki and tragedy befalls his friend and fellow candidate, Zack realises the importance of love and friendship and finds the courage to be himself and win the heart of the woman he loves. It’s only then he can truly become both an Officer and a Gentleman.

The musical includes the hit song from the movie Up Where We Belong along, with 80’s classics such as Alone, Don’t Cry Out Loud, You’re the Voice, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Heart of Glass, Toy Soldiers and Material Girl and features one of the most iconic, romantic scenes ever portrayed on screen

An Officer and a Gentleman is one of the highest grossing films of all time. The screenplay is by writer and director Douglas Day Stewart, which was based on his personal experience as a Naval Officer Candidate. The book is co-written by Douglas and Sharleen Cooper Cohen. It is directed by Curve’s Artistic Director Nikolai Foster (Annie, What the Butler Saw, Calamity Jane and Sunset Boulevard), choreographed by Kate Prince (Old Vic Associate Artist, Everyone’s Talking About Jamie, Into The Hoods and ZooNation), has Musical Supervision by Tony Award-winning Sarah Travis (Curve Associate Artist, Sweeney Todd, Sister Act) with set and costume design by Olivier Award nominated designer Michael Taylor (The Winslow Boy, Scrooge the Musical, The Dresser). Orchestrations are by George Dyer, Lighting Design is by Ben Cracknell, Sound Design by Tom Marshall and Video Design by Douglas O’Connell.