FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR CURVE'S LEGALLY BLONDE

Nikolai Foster, Artistic Director at Curve, today announces the full company for his new production of the award-winning West End and Broadway smash hit musical comedy, Legally Blonde, including Tupele Dorgu who joins the cast as Paulette.

Dorgu joins the previously announced Lucie Jones as Elle Woods, Ian Kelsey as Callahan, Jon Robyns as Emmett, Danny Mac as Warner, Natalie Hope as Brooke, Phoebe Street as Vivienne and Francesca Hoffman as Margot. The cast is completed by Jack Harrison-Cooper (Harrison), Cristina Hoey (Serena), Darren Bennett (Dad), Jamal Andreas (Sundeep Padamann), Natalie Woods (Enid), Rachel Stanley (Mum), Rebecca-Jayne Davies (Kate), Martin McCarthy (Carlos), Genesis Lynea (Pilar), Lawrence Robb (Aaron). The production opens on 14 April, with previews from 11 April, and runs until 14 May 2016.

Lucie Jones plays Elle Woods. Her theatre credits include Cosette in Les Miserables (West End and O2 Arena), Meatloaf in We Will Rock You (International Tour) and The X Factor Arena Tour. Her television includes Midsomer Murders, The Sarah Jane Adventures and she was a finalist on The X Factor. She was a soloist on The X Factor charity single ‘You are Not Alone’, which reached No. 1 in the UK charts and on charity single ‘Confidence Is Consciousness’. Lucie is also an official rugby anthem singer for Wales and England.

Tupele Dorgu plays Paulette. Her television credits includeKelly Crabtree in Coronation Street, Billionaire Boy, Cucumber, All at Sea, Trying Again; MI High, Preston Passion, The Case, The Accused, Waterloo Road and Merseybeat. Her theatre credits include Educating Rita (Garrick Theatre); Chicago (UK Tour); Mamma Mia (Prince of Wales Theatre), Teechers (Wakefield Theatre), Noises Off (Liverpool Royal Court); Three Minute Heroes (Belgrade Theatre) and La Cage Aux Folles (English Theatre Frankfurt).

Ian Kelsey plays Callahan. His theatre credits include Danny in Grease (West End & Tour), Same Next Year (Theatre Royal Windsor) and Kes (West Yorkshire Playhouse). For television his credits include Doctors (series regular), Dustbin Baby, Blue Murder (series regular), Where The Heart Is (series regular), Down To Earth and Emmerdale (series regular). For film his credits include Black Beauty and Wild Justice.

Danny Mac plays Warner. His theatre credits include Apollo Victoria 80th Birthday Gala Performance (West End), Fly With The Stars (West End), West End At Home (Mayflower Theatre Southampton) and Gavroche in Les Misérables (West End & UK Tour). His television credits include Hollyoaks (series regular) and A Line in the Sand.

Jon Robyns plays Emmett. His theatre credits include Enjolras in Les Miserablés (West End), Spamalot (West End), Memphis (West End), Avenue Q (West End), Dessa Rose (Trafalgar Studios), Road Show (Menier Chocolate Factory), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Last Five Years (Greenwich Theatre), Rent (English Theatre Frankfurt) and Miss Saigon (UK tour).

Nikolai Foster, Artistic Director of Curve, directs.  For the company his work includes Roald Dahl’s The Witches, Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing, Shakespeare’s Richard III, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good and Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.  He was an Associate Director at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, where his work included Amanda Whittington’s Bollywood Jane, Louise Paige’s Salonika, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, adapted by Bryony Lavery & Jason Carr, Orwell’s Animal Farm, and Sherlock Holmes – The Best Kept Secret.  His other work includes Calamity Jane (Watermill Theatre & National Tour), Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water (New Vic, Stoke & Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), Brecht’s The Good Person of Sichuan (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along (Clwyd Theatr Cymru), The Diary of Anne Frank (York Theatre Royal & The Touring Consortium), Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester), and Macbeth (Singapore Repertory Theatre), Dickens’ Great Expectations, adapted by Tanika Gupta (Palace Theatre Watford & English Touring Theatre), Flashdance (Shaftesbury Theatre), Coward’s Hay Fever (Chichester Festival Theatre), Barry Hines’ Kes (Liverpool Playhouse and The Touring Consortium), Andrew Lloyd Webber & Don Black’s Aspects of Love (UK tour and South Africa), Bouciccault’s London Assurance (Watermill Theatre), and for Sheffield Theatres,  Shaffer’s Amadeus, Sondheim’s Assassins and A Chorus Line.

Heather Hach wrote the book. is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, School of Journalism and worked at The New York Times Denver Bureau as a research assistant and Sports and Fitness Publishing in Boulder, Colorado, as a magazine editor. Heather worked on the TV shows “Caroline in the City” and “Dilbert.” She won Walt Disney Screenwriting Fellowship in 1999. Her film credits include Disney’s Freaky Friday and What to Expect When You’re Expecting. Heather also wrote the young adult novel Freaky Monday with Mary Rodgers.

Laurence O’Keefe wrote music and lyrics with Nell Benjamin. His off-Broadway credits: Bat Boy: The Musical (Lucille Lortel, Richard Rodgers, Outer Critics’ Circle awards), which has received 100+ productions worldwide; music for Sarah, Plain and Tall, lyrics by Nell Benjamin (touring with TheatreWorksUSA). Laurence is also the co-author with Nell Benjamin of Cam Jansen (Drama Desk nomination) and The Mice. Laurence is a product of his education with the Harvard Krokodiloes, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Harvard Lampoon and the Actors’ Gang, but especially the incomparable Nell Benjamin.

Nell Benjamin wrote music and lyrics with Laurence O’Keefe. Her play The Explorers Club, won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, the Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant. Nell has written book and/or lyrics for Pirates! (or Gilbert and Sullivan plunder’d), Sarah, Plain and Tall, Cam Jansen (Drama Desk-nominated), I Want My Hat Back, How I Became A Pirate, The Mice, Life of the Party and Because of Winn Dixie. She is working on musical adaptations or Dave, Gotta Dance, and Mean Girls. Television writing includes Unhappily Ever After, Animal Planet’s Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca and the new Electric Company.

Nick Winston is the choreographer.  His credits include Loserville (West End), Flashmob (West End), Horrid Henry (West End), Kiss Me, Kate (Theatre Du Chatelet, Paris), Annie (UK Tour, South Africa and West Yorkshire Playhouse), White Christmas (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Hired Man (St. James Theatre), Calamity Jane (Watermill Theatre And UK Tour), Sweeney Todd (West Yorkshire Playhouse And The Royal Exchange), The A-Z Of Mrs P (Southwark Playhouse), Water Babies (Curve), Merrily We Roll Along (Theatr Clywd), Love Story (Minerva Theatre, Chichester).

Sarah Travis is the orchestrator. In 2006 she won a Tony and Drama Desk Award for her Orchestrations on Sweeney Todd, Eugene O’Neill Theatre, via The Watermill Theatre and Trafalgar Studios. Her recent credits as Orchestrator and Musical Supervisor include Mack and Mabel (Watermill and West End), Privates On Parade (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Dick Whittington (Barbican), Fiddler on The Roof (2014 UK Tour) The A to Z of Mrs P (Southwark Playhouse), Chess (UK Tour and Toronto – Winner of 2010 Touring Whatsonstage Award); Sunset Boulevard (4 Olivier Nominations, and a Transfer to The Comedy Theatre West End – The Watermill Theatre).