Danielle Hope will return to the West End stage this summer to star in Les Misérables alongside fellow new cast members Tam Mutu and the previously announced Géronimo Rauch.
The trio of West End stars will join the cast of the long-running musical from 18 June with Hope taking on the role of the love-struck Eponine, Mutu as the police inspector Javert and Rauch as ex-convict Jean Valjean.
Hope made her professional debut as Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz in February 2011, following her triumph in the BBC talent search series Over The Rainbow. She hung up her ruby slippers last month when the show’s alternative Dorothy and fellow-Over The Rainbow contestant Sophie Evans stepped into the glittery shoes.
In contrast, Mutu is a stage regular having most recently played the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies. As well as appearing in musicals Anything Goes and South Pacific at the National Theatre, the actor has worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company appearing in productions of Romeo And Juliet and King Lear, and at the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre with credits including As You Like It and Romeo And Juliet.
Seen by nearly 60 million people worldwide, Les Misérables has been running in the West End since 1985, moving to its current home at the Queen’s theatre in 2004. Officially the world’s longest running musical, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s production features a now legendary score including songs I Dreamed A Dream, One Day More and On My Own.