Jeanine Tesori and Ben Crawley’s award-winning 1997 musical VIOLET, has its UK premiere at the Charing Cross Theatre from January 2019.

Directed by Shuntaro Fujita, VIOLET is based on Doris Betts’ short story The Ugliest Pilgrim. Set in 1964 America, the show tells the story of a young, disfigured woman who embarks on a journey by bus from North Carolina to Oklahoma in order to be healed. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1997 picking up the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical. VIOLET was recently revived on Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company in 2014. Starring Sutton Foster, this production opened to unanimous critical acclaim, garnering a Tony nomination for Best Musical Revival.

This production will first run in London before transferring to Tokyo, as part of a major co-production between Charing Cross Theatre and Umeda Arts. Charing Cross Theatre’s artistic director Thom Southerland said: ‘This collaboration marks the beginning of an exchange of both work and artists between Charing Cross Theatre and Umeda Arts and we will soon announce further projects including the development of new work and further UK premieres’.

VIOLET features choreography by Cressida Carré, set design by Morgan Large, costume by Jonathan Lipman, lighting by Howard Hudson, sound by Andrew Johnson, and music direction by Dan Jackson. Casting for the production is yet to be announced.

This announcement likely ends a banner year for composer Jeanine Tesori in London. 2018 alone has seen the premiere of FUN HOME at the Young Vic, successful UK tours of SHREK THE MUSICAL and THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, and a revival of CAROLINE, OR CHANGE at Hampstead Theatre, with a West End transfer to the Playhouse Theatre later this month.

VIOLET runs at Charing Cross Theatre 14th January to 6th April with tickets for the run on sale now.