Julie Atherton will leave her glass slippers behind at the Lyric Hammersmith this Christmas, swapping her pumpkin carriage for a new form of transport to star in new musical LIFT from 30 January.
The Cinderella star, who also boasts leading credits in West End productions Avenue Q, Fame and Mamma Mia!, will be joined in the cast by Wicked’s Nikki Davis-Jones, Cynthia Erivo (Umbrellas Of Cherbourg), Luke Kempner (South Pacific), Legally Blonde’s Elle Kirk, who returns to the Soho theatre following her role in La Boheme, George Maguire (Fame), Jonny Fines (Avenue Q, UK tour) and Robbie Towns, who can currently be seen in Scrooge The Musical at the London Palladium.
Developed by Perfect Pitch, a not-for-profit development network to support new and emerging British writers, LIFT tells the story of one lift, eight strangers and 54 seconds and has music and lyrics by Finborough theatre’s current composer in residence Craig Adams and a book by Ian Watson.
Eight people get in a lift at Covent Garden tube station on an ordinary morning and what follows is an exploration into their thoughts. Through seeing everything they think and revealing their innermost secrets, we realize that in some way they are all connected and if they reached out to one another they might change their lives forever. Will the characters do something about it today or will they choose to carry on being anonymous, walking off into the rush and lose themselves once more in the city?
Produced by Theatre Bench, founder Jim Zalles, explained the project’s appeal, saying: ‘I was introduced to Perfect Pitch at their Great British Musicals gala event in 2011, a night that quite fundamentally changed my life. I decided that I had to do whatever I could to help get more of this vibrant art form to the stage. LIFT is the ideal vehicle to start this journey – a new British musical with a British cast and creative team set in the heart of London.”