The Time Traveller's Wife, the musical
transfer to the Apollo Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue
Previewing from 7th October, opening night 1st November 2023
DAVID HUNTER & JOANNA WOODWARD TO STAR IN THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE: THE MUSICAL
WITH MUSIC & LYRICS BY JOSS STONE & DAVE STEWART& BOOK BY LAUREN GUNDERSON
David Hunter will star as Henry and Joanna Woodward as Clare and in the world premiere of The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical, based on the best-selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger and the New Line Cinema film screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin.
David Hunter‘s theatre credits include: Waitress (Adelphi and UK Tour); Kinky Boots (Adelphi); Once (Phoenix); One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre, Adelphi, UK Tour); Songs for a New World (Palladium); Tommy (Prince Edward); Seussical (Arts); The Hired Man (Leicester Curve and Colchester Mercury); Pub and Spinach (the Royal Exchange); The Mayor of Zalamea (Liverpool Everyman). His film and TV credits include: Nativity 3; Holby City and Doctors (BBC); Superstar (ITV). David’s pop/rock band Reemer had support slots, playing alongside The Feeling, Scouting for Girls and McFly on their full UK Arena Tour.
Joanna Woodward most recently understudied and played Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman: The Musical (Piccadilly Theatre & Savoy Theatre). Her other theatre credits include: Emily in Zombies: The Musical and Eulpha Miziam in Confessions (The Other Palace); Mary in The Life (Southwark Playhouse); understudied and played Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre); Margaret in Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be (Theatre Royal Stratford East); understudied Beth/Meg/KT in Merrily We Roll Along (Menier Chocolate Factory and Harold Pinter Theatre); Tinker Bell in Lost Boy (Finborough Theatre and Charing Cross Theatre); Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors (Kilworth House Theatre).
Also in the cast will be Aisha Davis (UK theatre debut, with previous theatre work in Kingston, Jamaica) as Dr Kendrick, Ross Dawes (Dennis Dupree in the UK Tour of Rock of Ages) as Henry’s Dad, Hiba Elchikhe (Pritti Pasha in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in West End and Los Angeles) as Charisse, Stevie Hutchinson (UK and Chinese Tour of Ghost: The Musical and UK Tour of Oliver!) as Clare’s Dad, Tim Mahendran (Spring Awakening at Hope Mill Theatre) as Gomez, Sorelle Marsh (Vicky Monroe in Stand Up at the Floral Pavilion, Wirral, and Tessie in White Christmas at the Lowry Theatre) as Henry’s Mum, Benjamin Purkiss (Zorro in Zorro the Musical at Charing Cross Theatre and Hope Mill Theatre and Alternate Strat in Bat Out of Hell at the London Coliseum/International Tour/Manchester Opera House) as Jason / Mark and Alwyne Taylor (won the Manchester Evening News Best Actress Award for Once in a Lifetime, Company, Sweet Charity and Accrington Pals at the Library Theatre and was nominated for Manchester Evening News Best Actress Award for her role as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit at the Oldham Coliseum) as Old Clare. The actresses playing Young Clare will be announced shortly.
Henry and Clare’s love story is like no other and yet like all others; they meet, flirt, fight, love, marry… but all out of order. Henry is often and uncontrollably ripped out of time, because he suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets, pulling him into his past or future, vanishing before one’s eyes, never knowing where or when he’s going next. Except he knows he’ll always come back to Clare, at some point in time, dreaming of her time-travelling husband.
The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical weaves a heart-breaking and soaring original musical score by multi Grammy Award-winning composers Joss Stone and Dave Stewart with one of the most beloved novels of the last 50 years. All couples ask how to truly know one another, to trust, to commit, to build a family, to work at something bigger than ourselves. Not all of us are time travellers. How do you love across time?
With a book by Lauren Gunderson, original music and lyrics by Joss Stone and Dave Stewart, additional music by Nick Finlow and additional lyrics by Kait Kerrigan, the production will be directed by Bill Buckhurst and designed by Anna Fleischle, with choreography by Shelley Maxwell, lighting design by Lucy Carter, illusions by Chris Fisher, video design by Andrzej Goulding, sound design by Richard Brooker, musical supervision & arrangement by Nick Finlow and orchestrations by Bryan Crook. Casting will be by Grindrod Burton Casting. It will be produced by Colin Ingram for InTheatre Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions, Teresa Tsai and Crossroads Live, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.
Lauren Gunderson has been one of the most produced playwrights in the US since 2015, topping the list twice, including 2019/20. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon.
Grammy and Brit award-winning singer-songwriter, Joss Stone, has released seven studio albums since she secured a record deal at 15 and released her critically acclaimed debut album, The Soul Sessions, in 2003. Performing alongside many legendary artists such as James Brown, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Sting, Van Morrison and Melissa Etheridge, she has collaborated with and contributed to albums for many of the world’s finest musicians, including Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger and Damien Marley. In 2015 her album Water for Your Soul was released, achieving the spot of the number-one reggae album upon release and voted best reggae album by
Billboard. In 2019, she completed her most audacious project to date, The Total World Tour, in which she has performed a gig and collaborated with local artists in over 200 countries around the world. Joss Stone’s new album, Never Forget My Love, produced by Dave Stewart, was released on 11 February 2022.
Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, producer and Eurythmics co-founder, Dave Stewart is recognised as one of the most respected and accomplished talents in the music industry today with a music career spanning four decades and over 100 million album sales. Stewart co-wrote and produced each Eurythmics album in his world-famous duo with Annie Lennox, and has also produced albums and co-written songs with Mick Jagger, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Gwen Stefani, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, Bryan Ferry, Katy Perry, Sinead O’Connor, Joss Stone and many others. Along the way, his work has garnered numerous awards, including 26 ASCAP and BMI Awards for the most-performed songs; four Ivor Novello Awards for Best Songwriter; four BRIT Awards for Best Producer, including a Lifetime Achievement Award; The Silver Clef Award; The Clive Davis Legend in Songwriting Award; a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award and he was inducted into the UK Hall of Fame. In 2018, Eurythmics was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Most recently, they were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) and they will be inducted into The Songwriters Hall of Fame in June 2021. In 2001, Stewart was approached by Nelson Mandela to help the fight against the Aids epidemic. Stewart developed a Global Campaign using Mandela’s prison number 46664. Stewart then went on to help organize the biggest concert ever staged in South Africa, appearing on stage with Beyoncé, Bono and Edge, Queen and many others, as well as bringing his long-time partner, Annie Lennox, on stage to perform together as Eurythmics. The concert was broadcast live to over 1 billion people. Stewart, along with songwriter/producer Glen Ballard, wrote the music for the musical adaptation of the 1990 Jerry Zucker film Ghost. With Mick Jagger, he wrote and produced the score for Alfie, starring Jude Law, which won the pair a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. More recently, Stewart created and is Executive Producer of the hit TV show for NBC, Songland.
Bill Buckhurst’s theatre directing credits for Tooting Arts Club include Sweeney Todd (West End, Harrington’s Pie and Mash Shop & Off-Broadway; Best Musical Off-West End Awards, Outstanding Revival of a Musical Lucille Lortel Awards, Best Musical Revival Off-Broadway Alliance, Best Off-Broadway Musical Theater Fans’ Choice Awards, Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Musical), Barbarians, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tinderbox. Directing credits for Shakespeare’s Globe include Omeros, Hamlet (and International Tour), King Lear(and International Tour), Twelfth Night, Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dreamand Macbeth (Playing Shakespeare).
Anna Fleischle is an award–winning set and costume designer, working internationally in theatre, opera and dance. Her theatre designs include The Forest (Hampstead Theatre), Hamlet (Young Vic), Hangmen (West End/Broadway, 2016 Olivier Award Winner for Best Set Design, Critic’s Circle Award ‘Best Designer’, Evening Standard Award ‘Best Design’), Liberian Girl (Royal Court), Death Of A Salesman (Young Vic/West End), A Very Very Very Dark Matter(Bridge), Home I’m Darling (2019 Olivier Award Nominee for Best Set Design and Best Costume Design, Theatr Clwyd/National/ West End), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Crucible Sheffield West End, UK tour, Korea), Much Ado About Nothing and Troilus & Cressida (Globe), and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Old Vic),
Shelley Maxwell’s choreography credits include Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Story (Lyric Theatre, London’s West End), Best Of Enemies (Young Vic), J’Ouvert (Sonia Friedman Productions Re:Emerge Season, Harold Pinter Theatre), After Life (National Theatre), Romeo & Juliet a film adaptation (a co-production between the National Theatre, Sky Arts & PBS), Master Harold…and the Boys, Hansard, Antony & Cleopatra, Twelfth Night and NineNight (all National Theatre), Equus (Theatre Royal Stratford East and Trafalgar Studios) and Tartuffe (RSC). Shelley won the award for Best Choreographer at the inaugural British Black Theatre Awards in 2019 for her work on Equus.
Chris Fisher is a member of the Magic Circle and works worldwide as international illusions and magic consultant for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. His theatre credits as illusion consultant include Back to the Future the Musical(Manchester and West End), The Prince Of Egypt (West End), Company (West End and Broadway), Big – the Musical(Plymouth, Dublin and West End), Peter Gynt (National), A Very Very Very Dark Matter (Bridge) and Angels in America (National and Broadway).
Colin Ingram’s producing credits include Billy Elliot, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Ghost the Musical, Back to the Future the Musical and Grease. Colin worked for Cameron Mackintosh for six years, general managing Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera and Oklahoma! (starring Hugh Jackman). He then joined Disney Theatrical to be Managing Director and General Manager, overseeing the London productions of The Lion King and Beauty And The Beast. Colin then joined the Old Vic as Executive Producer for the first two years of the Old Vic Theatre Company and on the West End premiere of Billy Elliot – the Musical, after which he joined Madison Square Gardens in New York to run their Productions division including the Radio City Rockettes Spectaculars.