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The Witches of Eastwick
Meet The Cast
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Nick Ford - Darryl van Horne
If Nick were to describe himself, words such as "handsome as the devil", "perfectly divine", "the ideal design" and "has major sex appeal" would not feature. He therefore asks
the audience to suspend disbelief during this show. Nick is more comfortable playing with spreadsheets and can use one of those to tell you that this is the 45th HMM show that
he has been involved in (including 14 as MD and 2 as Director) and his 33rd show here at the Queen's. He has enjoyed a number of parts over the years including Kipps in
Half A Sixpence, Higgins in My Fair Lady and Billy Bigelow in Carousel. Recently he has also performed in a number of shows at the Kenneth More
Theatre, with favourites inlcuding Trekkie / Nicky in Avenue Q and Leo Frank in Parade.
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Ellen O'Shea - Alexandra Spofford
Ellen is delighted to be flying back to the Queen's this summer after spending the last two here with HMM. She started performing at the age of 6 and has performed at
the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican and Palladium with VOX and at the O2 with the Les Miserables cast. Ellen first performed with HMM in The Mikado at the Kenneth More
Theatre in 2013 - she got hooked and has been in every HMM show since! She has enjoyed playing various roles, but is most happy as a wench and particuarly enjoyed Rose
(the happy hooker) in The Likes Of Us here at the QT in January this year. She is very excited to be playing Alex because she wants to be Cher when she grows up.
Although, she didn't realise quite how many incest jokes there were until she was cast as her boyfriend's mum...
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Jenny Draper - Jane Smart
The Witches of Eastwick represents Jenny’s return to solo roles after seven years in costume departments with companies such as Opera Holland Park (Il barbiere di
Siviglia), Six Lips Theatre (Faustus, The Government Inspector) and R-FT (Macbeth). Previous to moving to London two years ago, Jenny lived in York, where she
cut her teeth in the local G&S society. She will be the first to admit that she’s been involved with entirely too many plays where the fate of the characters is
determined by a nursemaid with a flair for the dramatic. She also arranges cheesy 80s pop music for a cappella choirs, gives talks on street vendors in London in
the 1850s, and makes a mean massaman curry. Her favourite animal is the giraffe, and her favourite chemical element is selenium.
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Sarah Smith - Sukie Rougemont
Sarah joined HMM last year and was thrilled to be cast as the lead, Julie Jordan, in her first ever show, Carousel. Her background is in classical music, having switched singing
musical theatre numbers for operatic arias in her teens, which followed in her studying for a degree in music at Goldsmiths University. In the years after graduating her main musical
exposure was teaching singing and also performing with her old function band, 'The Bristols' - this was until she summoned up the courage to research local societies and found HMM!
Sarah has loved every minute with the Society and is incredibly excited to be playing Sukie as she's always wanted to fly! Her friends and family also agree that it's the perfect role
for her as they've always been convinced that she's a witch...
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Jackie Lowe - Felicia Gabriel
Jackie is excited to be performing in her first ever HMM show and returning to the Queen's Theatre after a 15 year break! She is no stranger to theatre having played a number of
roles in both musicals and plays over the past 22 years including Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!, Cora in Calendar Girls and a rather operatic wardrobe in Beauty and the
Beast. She was also involved in the 2012 Olympic Opening ceremony masquerading as a lindy hopping nurse. Playing Felicia is giving her the opportunity to perform a little magic as well as a small
amount of nagging, giving her husband a well earned break!
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Sonja Lahiff - Jennifer Gabriel
This is Sonja’s 5th show with HMM, having joined the company in late 2013. She was delighted to play the title role in Calamity Jane and, most recently, Jenny in The Likes of
Us and is pleased to be continuing her HMM trend of playing characters whose names begin with J - fitting given people often substitute this lettter in her own name! Sonja has also
been performing in musicals and plays at the Kenneth More Theatre for over 12 years; favourites include Some Like it Hot (Sugar Kane), Daisy Pulls it Off (Trixie Martin),
Avenue Q and Children of Eden. Sonja loves performing with her new HMM friends, none of whom were made due to the fact she provides home-made cakes at rehearsals and backstage…
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Jake Portsmouth - Michael Spofford
Jake first performed with HMM in 2011 as Sam in Crazy For You, but is certainly no stranger to the Queen's Theatre stage. In fact, this is Jake's 17th show in his 10th year
at the Queen's Theatre and he is thrilled to be getting his first musical theatre love story! Jake has performed in 4 of the Community Plays and numerous youth theatre
and college shows at the QT. He has also appeared at the Brentwood Theatre in a number of plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire and Animal Farm, and has played
the title role in Macbeth and Florizel in The Winter's Tale. With HMM, he has played The Heavenly Friend in Carousel, Joe in Calamity Jane and
Fagin in Oliver! Jake is ecstatic to be back performing at the QT....despite the slight awkwardness of his girlfriend playing his mother!
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Trent Butler - Clyde Gabriel
Trent joined HMM in 2008 as a young man with very little confidence or social skills. He joined for Let's Go To The Movies III in which he had his first solo performance as
Gaston in the song 'Belle'.Trent then earned a triple Distinction in Drama and Musical Theatre at the Havering College performing as Sir Toby Belch, Guy Falk and the Professor
in Jim Cartwright's Road. As his confidence grew, Trent started to audition for parts and has now enjoyed roles such as Barnaby in Hello, Dolly!, Francis Fryer
in Calamity Jane and, his favourite, Mr Sowerberry in Oliver! His love for HMM is all the more special as it is where he met his soon-to-be-wife, Emma, who he
can't wait to marry in July!
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This amateur production is presented by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Ltd. on behalf of
Music Theatre International and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.
Havering Music Makers are an amateur society affiliated to The National Operatic
and Dramatic Association and acknowledge the support of Havering Arts
Council
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