Mel Giedroyc joins the cast of Company

The musical opens in the West End in September 2018.

Mel Giedroyc will join Rosalie Craig and Patti LuPone in Company, set to open at London’s Gielgud Theatre from the 26 September 2018.

The new production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Tony award-winning musical will be directed by Marianne Elliott, and re-imagines the lead role of Bobbi as a woman. Bobbi will be played by Rosalie Craig, currently starring in The Ferryman, with Giedroyc joining as Sarah and Broadway star Patti LuPone as Joanne.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be playing Sarah in Marianne Elliott’s upcoming production of Sondheim’s Company in the West End,” Mel Giedroyc announces. “It’s been an ambition of mine to be in a Sondheim show, and to be working alongside Rosalie Craig and Patti LuPone and to be directed by the genius director that is Marianne Elliott is just the icing on the cake.”

Speaking of the addition, director Marianne Elliott says: “I am so pleased that Mel is going to join our Company to play Sarah. She has all the qualities I was looking for in the role of Sarah. She is a unique and gifted comic actress and another amazing and talented woman to add to the cast. I can’t believe my luck – we are going to have so much fun.”

Mel Giedroyc is perhaps best known as the co-presenter on the BBC series The Great British Bake Off alongside comic partner Sue Perkins. She also co-presented Let Is Shine with Graham Norton and Gary Barlow, and presents for the BBC at Eurovision.

TV credits include The Sound of Music Live, Would I Lie To You?, Big Fat Quiz of the Year, 8 Out of 10 Cats and Richard Ayaode’s Travel Man.

Soon to play Beatrice in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Role Theatre in Kingston, her previous theatre credits include Luce at Southwark Playhouse, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Eurobeat and New Boys.

She’ll star alongside Rosalie Craig, whose credits include The Light Princess for which she received an Evening Standard Award for Best Actress in a Musical as well as a Olivier Award nomination, As You Like It, The Threepenny Opera and London Road.

Broadway star Patti LuPone, who will play Joanne, recently performed Don’t Cry For Me Argentina at the Grammy Awards ceremony, and makes her first appearance in a West End musical for over 25 years in Company. LuPone originated the role of Fantine in Les Misérables, won an Olivier Award for her role in The Cradle Will Rock and created the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.

At Bobbi’s 35th birthday party all her friends are wondering why she isn’t married; why she can’t find the right man and why she hasn’t settled down to have a family. The multi-award winning musical comedy about life, love and marriage includes Stephen Sondheim’s iconic songs, The Ladies who Lunch, Being Alive and Side by Side.

We recently caught up with Rosalie Craig to find out more about the role of Bobbi, and working with LuPone and director Marianne Harris.

In Conversation with Company's Rosalie Craig