Dave Malloy (The Great Comet)'s new musical The Witches, a stage adaptation of the Roald Dahl book, officially opened its world-premiere run at London's National Theatre November 21 after beginning previews November 8, and the reviews are in. Read below. The run will continue through January 27, 2024.
Directed by Lyndsey Turner (The Crucible) and featuring a book and lyrics by Olivier winner Lucy Kirkwood (Mosquitoes), the cast is led by Olivier nominee Katherine Kingsley (The Larkins) as the Grand High Witch, BAFTA winner Daniel Rigby (Accidental Death of an Anarchist) as hotel manager Mr. Stringer, and Sally Ann Triplett (Oklahoma!) as Gran.
The cast includes a witch ensemble comprising Julie Armstrong, Chrissie Bhima, Zoe Birkett, Maddison Bulleyment, Miracle Chance, Daniele Coombe, Molly-May Gardiner, Tiffany Graves, Bobbie Little, Tania Mathurin, Amira Matthews, and Alexandra Waite-Roberts.
Get a 1st Listen to 'Get Up!' From Dave Malloy Musical The Witches
The production also features Laura Medforth as Mum, Richard David-Caine as Dad, Ekow Quartey as Mr. Jenkins, Maggie Service as Mrs. Jenkins, and Irvine Iqbal as Chef Chevalier at Hotel Magnificent. Completing the team at Hotel Magnificent are Adrian Grove, Jacob Maynard, and Ben Redfern.
Read the reviews below.
BroadwayWorld (Aliya Al-Hassan)
The Independent (Alice Saville)
London Theatre (Marianka Swain)
The New York Times (Houman Barekat)*
The Telegraph (Dominic Cavendish)
TimeOut London (Andrzej Lukowski)
*This review may require creating a free account or paid subscription.
Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
Among the young cast are Bertie Caplan, Frankie Keita, and Vishal Soni playing the hero Luke; Cian Eagle-Service, George Menezes Cutts, and William Skinner playing Bruno; and Jersey Blu Georgia, Asanda Abbie Masike, and Chloe Raphael playing Helga.
Completing the young ensemble are Nesim Adnan, Alaia Broadbent, Chenai Broadbent, Cristian Buttaci, Sekhani Dumezweni, Rudy Gibson, Florence Gore, Elara Jagger, Annabelle Jones, Jemima Loosen, Charlie Man-Evans, Iesa Miller, Jack Philpott, Sienna Sibley, Savannah Skinner-Henry, Poppy-Mei Soon, Benjamin Spalding, Dylan Trigger, Alice Valeriano, Sasha Watson-Lobo, and Stella Yeoman.
The story—adapted from Dahl's 1983 novel—follows Luke and his Gran, who come to a gathering of all the witches in England, determined to rid the world of children by transforming them into mice. The book has previously been adapted for the screen twice, in 1990 and 2020.
The creative team also include set and costume designer Lizzie Clachan, choreographer Stephen Mear, music supervisor Nigel Lilley, music director Cat Beveridge, lighting designer Bruno Poet, co-sound designers Alexander Caplen and Ian Dickinson, video designer Ash J Woodward, illusions designers Chris Fisher and Will Houstoun, casting director Bryony Jarvis-Taylor, associate director Séimí Campbell, staff director Priya Patel Appleby, associate set designer Shankho Chaudhuri, associate costume designer Johanna Coe, associate wigs, hair, and makeup designer Kim Kasim, associate choreographer Ebony Molina, associate music director Natalie Pound, and children’s and assistant music director Sarah Morrison.
Visit NationalTheatre.org.uk.
