Barbara Rafferty withdraws from The Wedding Singer
Scottish actress Barbara Rafferty has unfortunately had to withdraw from the role of Grandma Rosie in the musical The Wedding Singer due to personal circumstances. She was set to join the Company in Glasgow on 18 April for the Scottish dates of The Wedding Singer UK tour. The role of Grandma Rosie will now be performed by Ruth Madoc in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Casting for Aberdeen and Inverness to be announced.
No stranger to stage and screen, comedy veteran Ruth became a household name in the Eighties when she played Gladys Pugh in BBC comedy series Hi-De-Hi! More recently we’ve seen her on screen in ITV’s Benidorm, Mount Pleasant (Sky) and Stella (Sky). Ruth has been performing the role of Grandma Rosie to great acclaim during the tour which opened at the Leicester Curve Theatre in February 2017.
The Wedding Singer, the hilarious musical based on the hit film starring Adam Sandler, is currently touring the UK. It’s 1985. Hair is huge, greed is good and rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jersey's favourite wedding singer. When his own fiancée dumps him at the altar a seriously bummed out Robbie makes every wedding as disastrous as his own.
Can sweet natured Julia and her best friend Holly lure Robbie out of the dumpster and back into the limelight? Or is he going to see her head off down the aisle with Wall Street bad boy Glen. Only Grandma Rosie seems to be able to see that Robbie and Julia are the couple that are meant to be.
Starring alongside Ruth is West End and Musical Theatre star Jon Robyns who plays Robbie Hart. Most recently he starred in Legally Blonde as Emmett Forrest and in Sister Act as Eddie Souther; other theatre credits include Enjolras in Les Misérables, Spamalot, Memphis and Avenue Q.
He is joined by British singer-songwriter Ray Quinn as Glen who shot to fame as the runner-up in ITV1’s The X Factor in 2006 and as champion of Dancing on Ice in 2009. In 2014 he won Dancing on Ice: Champion of Champions. His theatre credits include Danny Zuko in Grease (West End), Dirty Dancing (West End) and Legally Blonde (UK Tour).
West End leading lady and X Factor finalist Cassie Compton plays Julia; her roles include Jean in American Psycho (Almeida, London) and Eponine in Les Misérables. Playing best friend Holly, Roxanne Pallett is perhaps best known for her long-standing role as Jo in ITV’s Emmerdale. She has also appeared in Waterloo Road and Casualty on screen and in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Vagina Monologues and John Godber’s On The Piste on stage.
Samuel Holmes (Mrs Henderson Presents, West End) plays George. Tara Verloop (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Dirty Dancing in the West End) plays Linda. Paris Green, Hannah Jay-Allen, Susie Fenwick, Helen Walsh, Eamonn Cox, Simon Anthony, Ainsley Hall-Ricketts, Andrew Carthy, Mark Pearce, Ryan-Lee Seager and Erin Bell complete the cast.
PERFORMANCES
The Wedding Singer
King’s Theatre
Tues 18-Sat 22 April 2017
Tues & Thurs, 7.30pm
Wed, 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Fri, 5pm & 8.30pm
Sat, 2.30pm & 7.30pm
Tickets and Information
