Lorna Luft will lead a new U.K. tour of Irving Berlin's White Christmas this holiday season, opening November 12 at Truro Hall for Cornwall before stops at Nottingham Theatre Royal, Sunderland Empire, and Liverpool Empire.
Luft will star as Martha Watson, opposite Jay McGuiness as Bob Wallace, Michael Starke as General Waverly, Dan Burton as Phil Davis, Jessica Daley as Betty Haynes, and Monique Young as Judy Haynes. Additional casting will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Daughter to screen legend Judy Garland and producer Sidney Luft, Luft starred as Fran Kubelik during the original Broadway run of Promises, Promises, and as Peppermint Patty in the original Off-Broadway production of Snoopy!. Her film credits include Grease 2, Where the Boys Are, 54, and My Giant. She returns to White Christmas after starring as Martha in a 2016 U.S. tour of the musical.
The tour is based on a 2018 production from Curve, Leicester that played London's West End in 2019. Burton, Daley, and Young will reprise their performances from earlier runs of the production.
Inspired by the film of the same name, White Christmas has music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a book by David Ives and Paul Blake. It is directed by Ian Talbot, based on the original direction by Curve Artistic Director Nikolai Foster; and choreographed by two-time Olivier Award-winning choreographer Stephen Mear (Mary Poppins, Gypsy).
The production features set design by Michael Taylor, costume design by Diego Pitarch, musical supervision by Stephen Brooker, lighting design by Mark Henderson, sound design by Tom Marshall, and orchestrations by Larry Blank with new musical arrangements by Jason Carr. Producers include Jamie Wilson, Mark Goucher, Gavin Kalin, and Kevin McCollum with Hunter Arnold, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Laurence Myers, InTheatre, Curve, and Carlos Candal.
