The musical based on the best-selling novel by Markus Zusak will take to the stage for in a special concert performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre on the 19th October.
It has been announced that Melanie La Barrie will star as Death in the upcoming concert performance of The Book Thief this autumn.
Among her previous credits , Melanie La Barrie has starred as Hermes in the West End premiere of Hadestown, &Juliet (West End & Broadway); We Aren’t Kids Anymore (Savoy Theatre); Wicked (Apollo Victoria Theatre); Dick Whittington (National Theatre); The Everyman Season (Everyman Playhouse, Liverpool) and Matilda The Musical (RSC & Cambridge Theatre).
Further casting will be announced soon.
The musical had its world premiere at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton in 2022, with subsequent productions at Coventry Belgrade Theatre & Leicester Curve in 2023, with original direction by Lotte Wakeham.
The Book Thief musical features a book by award-winning best-selling author Jodi Picoult (My Sister’s Keeper & Small Great Things) and Timothy Allen McDonald (adaptor of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka & James and the Giant Peach) with music and lyrics by Kate Anderson and Elyssa Samsel (Apple TV’s Central Park & Olaf’s Frozen Adventure).
Director and choreographer for this concert production Tom Jackson Greaves said: “I am thrilled to be leading this incredible musical into its next chapter, alongside our brilliant writers, creative team, cast and exceptional storyteller, Melanie La Barrie. It’s a story that needs to be heard now more than ever and I cannot wait for a London audience to experience it for the very first time.”
The Book Thief is told by Death – they are haunted by humans, cataloguing the colour of the sky at the precise moment they carry each soul away. Tonight’s story belongs to Liesel Meminger, twelve years old and unafraid to take what matters: the red of a book found in the snow, the black of a novel rescued from a bonfire, the white of empty pages she will fill with her own defiant words. Down in a cellar painted in shadows, she reads to Max, a Jewish fist-fighter hidden by her foster family, and together they imagine a world lit by language. Above, Hans plays the accordion with fingers stained by tobacco and time, Rosa hurls curses wrapped in warmth, and Rudy runs beside Liesel, chasing a kiss that history won’t allow.
The creative team behind the show includes: orchestrations & musical supervision by Matthew Malone (Spend, Spend, Spend; Brassed Off), set & costume Design by Good Teeth (Piaf; Aladdin), lighting design by Nic Farman (Allegiance, The Diary of a CEO Live), sound design by Sound Quiet Time (Stanger Things: The First Shadow), casting by Abby Galvin (The Leftbehinds; The Lonely Londoners) and musical direction by Natalie Pound (This Is My Family; Next to Normal).
To book tickets visit: https://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/whats-on/the-book-thief-a-concert-production