Following on from successful productions of Jeanine Tesori’s Fun Home and Caroline, or Change, London audiences are going to get to experience the writer’s collaboration with Brian Crawley, Violet, playing at the Charing Cross Theatre from 14 January to 6 April 2019. Will you be joining the journey?
Violet, a multi-award-winning musical with music by Jeanine Tesori (Tony Award winner for Best Original Score with Lisa Kron for Fun Home, and Tony-nominated for Caroline, or Change and Shrek the Musical), and book and lyrics by Brian Crawley (The Little Princess), will get its UK premiere in an international co-production opening in London in January before transferring to Tokyo, Japan.
1964. Somewhere between North Carolina and Oklahoma, we find Violet, a young woman who was facially disfigured as a child. She hopes her life savings will bring her a miracle halfway across the country. Reflecting on her childhood, and shaped by the reactions of the people she encounters, Violet embarks on a life-changing personal journey.
The musical, which is based on the short story The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris Betts, premiered Off-Broadway and won the Drama Critics’ Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award as Best Musical, before transferring to Broadway where it was nominated for four Tony Awards. The new production is helmed by Japanese director Shuntaro Fujita. Casting is to be announced.
Announcing the co-production, Charing Cross artistic director Thom Southerland said: “I am delighted to welcome director Shuntaro Fujita and our producing partners Umeda Arts Theater for this exciting production. For four years it has been my privilege to create shows with Umeda Arts Theater in Japan, and I am pleased that Violet is the first of our collaborations in the UK.
“Building on our in-house musical productions of Ragtime, Titanic, Death Takes A Holiday and The Woman in White, I am thrilled that Jeannie Tesori and Brian Crawley’s urgent, exciting and extraordinary musical will find its premiere at Charing Cross Theatre.
“Umeda Arts Theater has been creating world-class, international theatre in both Japan and on Broadway and I am delighted they have joined us at Charing Cross Theatre for a production which will transfer to Tokyo after its initial London run.”
