Alex Gaumond to return to We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre

Canadian musicals star Alex Gaumond is to return to the cast of We Will Rock You a the Dominion Theatre in London.

Gaumond, who was nominated for a Best Actor in a Musical gong at this year’s Olivier Awards for his performance in Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, will play Galileo in the show from 8 August 2011.

Current Galileo, Ricardo Afonso, will leave the production to join Summer Strallen, Tom Chambers, Martin Ball, Vivien Parry and Stephen Boswell in the UK tour of the new stage version of Irving Berlin’s Top Hat.

Alex Gaumond is an actor and songwriter who has lived and worked in the UK since 2002. He played Galileo in the 2009 tour of We Will Rock You.

Also rejoining the cast of We Will Rock You will be Mazz Murray, who is the show’s longest serving Killer Queen and will make a final, two week farewell appearance in the role from 8 to 20 August 2011.

The Queen and Ben Elton musical is in its tenth year at the Dominion Theatre, where it holds the record for the longest-ever running show.

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Alex Gaumond Joins We Will Rock You

OMG! Alex Gaumond to star in We Will Rock You. And Mazz Murray returns to say farewell to Killer Queen role.

Nominated as Best Actor in a Musical in both the Oliver Awards and Whatsonstage.com Awards for his performance as Emmett in the original London cast of Legally Blonde, actor, singer Alex Gaumond is to take over the leading role of Galileo in the Queen & Ben Elton hit West End musical, We Will Rock You. The announcement was made today by show producers Phil McIntyre Entertainment, Tribeca and Queen Theatrical Productions.

Gaumond begins rehearsals with the WWRY cast August 1st to take on the role of Galileo full time at London’s Dominion from August 8th.

Playing Legally Blonde’s shy and charming fellow law student Emmett opposite first Sheridan Smith and then Susan McFadden in the role of Elle, Gaumond proved hugely popular with audiences as well as receiving his two Best Actor nominations. Gaumond ended his eighteen month stay with the production June 18th.

Joining We Will Rock You, Gaumond takes over from WWRY’s current Galileo, Ricardo Afonso, who moves to join the cast of the stage version of Irving Berlin’s Top Hat, due to open in August.

Trading those unflattering Harvard corduroys for jeans and t’s, Gaumond is set to enter the leather clad, guitar-thrashing futurist world of Queen and Ben Elton in which originality and individualism are outlawed and only one man, Galileo, can fulfil a prophecy that will bring about the overthrow of the mighty Killer Queen and enable the return of rock ‘n roll.

It is a return to familiar territory for Gaumond – the dystopian world of Ga Ga girls, Bohemian rebels and Marks & Spencer smoothies; the Canadian actor/singer/songwriter, resident and working in the UK since 2002, gained his first major leading role when he was cast as Galileo in the 2009 UK touring production of We Will Rock You. Gaumond triumphed in the show for seven months before joining Legally Blonde.

Gaumond is presently contracted to play Galileo in the WWRY London Dominion production until end of January 2012.

The show’s co-creator Brian May welcomed Gaumond saying: “Alex is a superb actor, and his interpretation of Galileo on tour in the UK was a huge hit with audiences. We look forward to a new triumph in the Dominion, in WWRY’s 10th year.”

We Will Rock You’s producers today also announced that actress/singer Mazz Murray, the show’s longest serving Killer Queen until her departure on maternity leave last year, is to make a return to the show for a special two week farewell season. Mazz who played Killer Queen between May 2004 – June 2010, will return to say goodbye to her nemesis role August 8 -20, nicely coinciding with Alex Gaumond’s opening in the show. We Will Rock You’s current Killer Queen, Brenda Edwards, is on break during this period, returning to the show immediately after.

We Will Rock You is into the start of its tenth year at the Dominion Theatre where it holds the record for longest-ever running show. The touring production continues to break box office records throughout the UK.

September 5 will see a special performance of We Will Rock You at the Dominion to mark the 65th birthday of former Queen front man Freddie Mercury whose statue towers above the theatre entrance. Proceeds of this special performance will be directed through the Freddie For A Day campaign to The Mercury Phoenix Trust, the charity set up in Freddie’s name to fight HIV AIDS worldwide. See: www.freddieforaday.com

We Will Rock You is presented by Phil McIntyre Entertainment, Queen Theatrical Productions and Tribeca Theatrical Productions. Book and direction by Ben Elton. Music supervisors Brian May and Roger Taylor.

Release issued by PR Contact

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Casting: Corrie’s Curly hits WWRY

Kevin Kennedy, aka Curly Watts from Coronation Street, is to join the cast of We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre.

The Queen & Ben Elton rock musical We Will Rock You will see a new cast member join this autumn as TV’s Kevin Kennedy, better known as Curly Watts from ITV soap Coronation Street, will star as Pop from 6 September 2010.

Kennedy has previously toured in the role and his previous stage credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Chicago and  The Rocky Horror Show.

Other new cast in the show include former X-Factor star Brenda Edwards as Killer Queen. Edwards played the role in the recent UK tour and replaces Mazz Murray, who is on maternity leave. Also Ricardo Afonso is returning to the show in the lead role of Galileo, Sarah French plays Scaramouche and Rachel John (Sister Act, The Lion King) will star as Meat from 1 November.

Cast remaining with the show include Alex Bourne as Khashoggi and Ian Carlyle as Britney.

We Will Rock You opened at the Dominion Theatre in May 2002 and has played over 3000 performances, making it the longest-running show at the venue.

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WE WILL ROCK YOU CAST NOTES

Galileo – Ricardo Afonso
Ricardo returns to the role of Galileo having spent a year away in which he undertook a series of concert and show dates including A Night of a Thousand voices at the Royal Albert Hall, the Queen concerts with the English National Orchestra and as principal singer in Abba Tribute in Portugal. He has also contributed to many well-loved feature films and animations including singing numbers as Robin Hood in Shrek and main title songs for Beauty and the Beast and Duck Tales.

Scaramouche – Sarah French
Having covered the role of Scaramouche at the Dominion before gaining the role in the touring production, Sarah now fully takes on the role in the London production. Sarah has previously been seen in the Olivier Award winning production Sunday in the Park With George, and in the UK touring production of The Rocky Horror Show.
Other theatre work includes the Sondheim 75th Birthday Gala at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.   She is also recognized for her TV work including the regular role of Alison Peters in EastEnders and Samantha and Julie in Little Britain.

Pop – Kevin Kennedy
One of TV’s best known and best loved character actors steps into the well-worn sandals of Pop, the hippy librarian who knows the secrets of the “texts” and leads Galileo on a journey of discovery to the Place of Living Rock where the Champions once played.  Although most widely recognized for his 20-year long role of Curly Watts, Kevin has all the right credentials to play someone who knows about the history of rock music.  Outside of acting, Kevin has himself enjoyed a successful career as a musician: he was bass player in the band Paris Valentinos which also featured Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke who later played in The Smiths, and later formed his own band, Band of Thieves. Then signed by Simon Cowell under his own name, he had a gold selling album, Present Kennedy and today he is an artist signed to Warner Records. Kevin played Pop throughout We Will Rock You’s 2009 UK tour.  He has also appeared in the West End as Amos in Chicago the Musical and as both Caractacus Potts and the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Killer Queen – Brenda Edwards
Former X Factor finalist Brenda Edwards immediately went from her TV fame into
becoming a much sought after West End actress and TV regular. She was snapped up to play Mama Morton in Chicago the Musical and then created the role of Pearl Pastor in Carmen Jones at the Royal Festival Hall. She wowed audiences around the UK in the touring production of We Will Rock You playing over 300 performances as Killer Queen, a treat she now brings to West End audiences.

Khashoggi – Alex Bourne
Alex is one of We Will Rock You’s longest running cast members having first taken the role of Khashoggi in 2005.  Alex’s earlier roles in music theatre have seen him take on some of rock and pop’s greatest performers: he has played Buddy Holly in
Buddy – the Buddy Holly Story, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen and Bobby Vee in Only the Lonely and Dean Martin in The Rat Pack.  Other shows include Grease and The Rocky Horror Show.

Meat – Rachel John
One of the show’s most physically challenging roles, the freedom fighter Meat, falls on Rachel John to play. It is a role that Rachel covered for We Will Rock You’s UK tour playing the role for over 65 performances.  Her handling of the role has taken her into the part full-time in the London cast. Previous roles Rachel has covered have included Deloris in Sister Act and Shenzi and Rafiki in The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre.

Britney (‘Brit’) – Ian Carlyle
Continuing in the role of Britney, the hot-headed rebel who gives his all for the love of his ‘baby’, Ian made his West End debut in The Lion King followed by a run in Trevor Nunn’s critically acclaimed production of Porgy and Bess.  His other highly noted work includes the UK tour of Miss Saigon and a run of Carmen Jones at the royal Festival Hall.