The production will arrive at the @sohoplace from the 28th February until 11th April.
Jonathan Church Theatre Productions and Chichester Festival Theatre in association with Nica Burns has announced the the West End premiere of George Brant’s Marie & Rosetta.
Directed Monique Touko, the West End premiere will see Beverley Knight as Rosetta Tharpe and Ntombizodwa Ndlovu making her West End debut as Marie Knight – both reprising their roles from the runs in Kingston, Wolverhampton and Chichester earlier this year.
Mississippi, 1946. Sister Rosetta has changed the face of gospel music with her exuberant, electric guitar-playing style. Shunned by straitlaced church folk for performing in nightclubs and glorying in rhythm and blues, she’s persuaded the saintly young singer Marie to join her on a tour of the segregated southern States. But first she has to convert Marie’s pure Sunday sound into something that has just a little more swing…
Talking about the news, Beverley Knight said: “Sister Rosetta Tharpe and her legacy had long been overlooked in music history. She deserves her place as one of the architects of rock ‘n’ roll, a Gospel singing, guitar shredding heroine who helped to shape popular music as we know it today. I’m so proud that we get to tell her story and that of her co collaborator Marie Knight played by the incredibly talented Ntombizodwa Ndlovu who makes her debut in the West End. She is a star in the making!”
The creative team joining Touko includes Jodie-Simone Howe (Costume Designer), Kloé Dean (Movement Director), Tony Gayle (Sound Designer), Bethan Clark (Intimacy Director), Joel Trill (Voice & Dialect Coach), Jordi M. Carter (Associate Director) and Shirley Teteh (Musical Director and Guitar).
Press night for the West End premiere has been set for the 6th March.
To book tickets visit: https://sohoplace.org/shows/marie-and-rosetta/