Fra Fee, who was recently seen on Broadway and in the West End in Jez Butterworth's The Ferryman, is set to star in the upcoming world premiere of the new musical Breakfast on Pluto. The story of a “wonderfully unpredictable” rural Irish kid who heads to London in search of a long-lost mother, the new musical is co-created by Bob Kelly, Duke Special, and Des Kennedy.
Breakfast on Pluto will premiere as part of Galway International Arts Festival 2020 for a two-week run that will kick off July 9. The production will then transfer to Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, running July 30–August 15, followed by a U.K. premiere at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre September 3–26. The traveling production will end up at the Donmar Warehouse in London for a seven-week run October 2–November 21.
Directed and co-created by Kennedy, Breakfast on Pluto is written by Kelly (Tintown), with a score by Special.
The musical follows Patrick/Pussy Braden (Fee), who lives in the rural Irish border town of Tyreelin at the height of the Troubles. The illegitimate offspring of an errant priest and a long-gone local girl, Pussy swaps small-town bigotry and religious repression for the faraway galaxy of 1970s London—in search of a long-lost mother and a technicolor new life.
Fee will be joined by cast members Niamh Perry (Love Never Dies), David Ganly (Girl from the North Country), Kate Gilmore (Town is Dead), and Rickie O’Neill (Once). Musical director, arranger, and orchestrator Jennifer Whyte will lead a band of four onstage, with additional casting to be announced.
The creative team also includes choreographer Jennifer Rooney, set and costume designer Katie Davenport, and lighting designer Sinéad McKenna.