John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe's musical The Witches of Eastwick is headed back to London's West End for a one-night-only concert at the Sondheim Theatre June 20. Original cast member Maria Friedman will helm the concert, the musical's first London staging since the 2000 original production.
Olivier winner and West End Hamilton alum Giles Terera will star as Darryl Van Horne, with additional casting to be announced in the coming days.
Adapted from the John Updike novel and its 1987 film adaptation, the musical centers on three women living in Eastwick who meet the devilish Darryl Van Horne and find they have powers inside them they never knew they had. The work features a book and lyrics by Dempsey, and music by Rowe, the Olivier-nominated team behind Zombie Prom and The Fix.
Stephen Mear (The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins), who co-choreographed the original production with Bob Avian, will provide musical staging. Jack Maple is producing by arrangement with Cameron Mackintosh.
“I’m so incredibly excited to be revisiting Eastwick after all these years," says Friedman. "To be reunited with the fantastic Stephen Mear and to have the opportunity to bring this beloved musical back to London, and at the simply stunning Sondheim Theatre, for one night only is an absolute thrill, and I can’t wait to get started.”
Friedman will direct a revival of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along at New York Theatre Workshop starring Daniel Radcliffe next fall, following earlier runs of the production at Boston's Huntington in 2017 and London's Menier Chocolate Factory in 2013.
The Witches of Eastwick's original production, which opened at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 2000, starred Friedman, Lucie Arnaz, and Joanna Riding, with Ian McShane as Darryl Van Horne. The work has yet to make the jump to Broadway, though it has been produced in the U.S. at venues including Virginia's Signature Theatre and Maine's Ogunquit Playhouse.
Tickets for the one-night-only event will go on sale March 17.