Full casting has been revealed for the Menier Chocolate Factory’s brand new production of Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ – The Musical, which opens in Adrian’s 50th birthday year.
Benjamin Lewis, Ilan Galkoff and Samuel Menhinick will alternate the role of Adrian, with Asha Banks, Georgia Pemberton and Lara Wollington sharing the part of Pandora; Jason Rennie, Callum Mcdonald and Connor Davies as Barry, and Amir Wilson, Edward Hooper and Max Robson as Nigel.
Luke Sheppard (Jersey Boys international tour, In The Heights) will also direct Dean Chisnall (La Cage Aux Folles) as George, Lara Denning (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) as Doreen, John Hopkins (The Boys In The Band) as Mr Lucas/Mr Scruton, Barry James (Little Shop Of Horrors) as Bert, Kelly Price (A Little Night Music) as Pauline, and Gay Soper (Funny Girl) as Grandma.
Set in 1980s Leicester, and featuring an infectious original score, this new adaptation of Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ follows the daily dramas and misadventures of Adrian’s adolescent life.
With dysfunctional parents, ungrateful elders, a growing debt to school bully Barry Kent and an unruly pimple on his chin, life is hard for a misunderstood intellectual who is only 13 ¾… To top it off, when new girl Pandora captures his heart, his best friend Nigel steals hers. Can Adrian win back her love and escape his chaotic family life?
Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary’s musical of Leicester’s favourite teen has undergone a period of further development since its original production at Curve in 2015, and now plays at the Menier Chocolate Factory from 14 July to 9 September, with a press performance on 26 July.
You can book your tickets through the venue’s website.