News
Casting for West End production of The Commitments announced
The cast of the new West End adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s classic novel The Commitments has been announced.
The largely unknown cast – many of whom will be making their West End debut – are led by Killian Donnelly, who has appeared in the Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables.
Donnelly plays the band’s lead singer and will be joined by ‘an array of fresh, young and exciting talent, alongside established musical theatre performers.’
The band’s manager, Jimmy Rabbitte, will be played by West End debutante Denis Grindel, who is still finishing his stage school dissertation.
Three young girls from Dublin – Sarah O’Connor, Stephanie McKeon and Jessica Cervi – will be playing the band’s backing singers, The Commitmentettes.
Roddy Doyle said of the casting: “I’ve been sitting in rehearsals, watching these terrific young people becoming The Commitments. I’m hearing them sing; I’m watching them play their instruments – and it all makes me very happy and excited. What amuses me most is the fact that only one of them was born when I wrote the novel.”
West End director Jamie Lloyd will be bringing Roddy Doyle’s story to life at the Palace Theatre from October 8, with previews starting September 21.
