Bridget Jones the Musical at the Savoy?

Rumours abound about the starting date and venue for Bridget Jones the Musical. The main one is that producer Sonia Friedman was overheard  recently saying that Bridget Jones the Musical will open at the Savoy Theatre maybe in December. Now it is thought to be facing delays due to a combination of  set and book revision, not to mention the producer’s role in the Olympic ceremony!  So although December looked likely it now might be put back until the New Year 2013.

Lily Allen seems to have finished the bulk of the work on the book and the show is due to have another workshop in March. She says she has enjoyed working on the musical

According to Sheridan Smith’s Mum,  Bridget Jones The Musical has been postponed while the show’s producer, Stephen Daldry, works on the London Olympic Games opening ceremony.

She said: “It’s been put back a few months but Sheridan’s definitely playing Bridget.”

For Sheridan, if the rumours about the Savoy are true it will be a return to the scene of her greatest triumph so far. For over a year she played the lead in the hit musical Legally Blond at the Savoy. Bridget Jones is a role close to her heart and she has said:

 ”Every girl at some point feels like Bridget Jones. I’m constantly wearing Spanx, eating ice cream, and feeling a bit lonely. Bridget is great because she’s more downtrodden. She falls over all the time, or makes an arse of herself and I’m totally like that.”

So far the rest of the cast and creatives looks like this:

Billy Elliot’s director Stephen Daldry and choreographer Peter Darling.

Cassidy Janson has been a standby Elphaba in Wicked also Lucy The Slut in Avenue Q

Tiffany Graves – Helene in Sweet Charity.

Sheridan Smith - Bridget Jones

Michael Xavier – Daniel Cleaver

Sheridan Smith to star in Bridget Jones the Musical

It looks like Bridget Jones the Musical is going into the West End some time in spring 2012. The show has been in workshops and pre-production for some time now. Lily Allen has been busy writing the lyrics and it now seems certain that Sheridan Smith will play Bridget. Sheridan has been playing the role in the workshops and now seems set to take it into a London theatre.
I think it has all the makings of a great hit. Lily Allen is nothing if not smart and sassy. Hopefully her witty lyrics will fit really well with the story of Bridget and her Mr Darcy.
Casting the two male leads, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth in the film) and Daniel Cleaver, (Hugh Grant in the film) will be tricky. They need two equally gorgeous but very different English men.

Fantasy Casting

So let’s play fantasy casting. Who would you cast?
Mark Darcy – tricky but I think I’d go for Mark Umbers. Last seen on the West End stage in Sweet Charity, playing not one but three roles as Charity’s boyfriends. He is from Yorkshire, but don’t hold it against him. He can carry off gawky and awkward yet gorgeous really well and he has a great voice.
Daniel Cleaver – much harder to cast. Don’t shoot me but I might go for Darius Campbell. Remember him? Last seen in epic turkey Gone With the Wind. The fail wasn’t his fault. He has a good voice and I think his experience as Rhett Butler would have prepared him for playing the lovable cad Cleaver in Bridget Jones the Musical.
Those are my favourites but who would you choose?

To be more mundane the roles have been played in the workshops by Bertie Carvel, Julian Ovenden and Michael Xavier. Michael Xavier is favourite to play Daniel.