Casting has been confirmed for Birmingham Hippodrome’s stream of Paul Taylor-Mills’ highly celebrated annual festival of new musical theatre, MTFestUK 2021.

Featuring a truly spectacular company of international stars, with a number of Tony and Olivier Awards to their names, this year’s season is set to be an unmissable event in the 2021 musical theatre calendar. Below are details for all eight productions, streaming online from Monday 31 May – Sunday 6 June.

The Festival sets out to promote quality artistry, showcasing new musicals to UK audiences with a view to elevating them to full production, and giving audiences an insight into the process of creating new work and the art of collaboration.

Far From Heaven
Book by Richard Greenberg
Music by Scott Frankel
Lyrics by Michael Korie
Directed by Matthew White
Musical Direction by Alex Parker

CAST:
Cory English (Guys & Dolls/Young Frankenstein) – Stan/Maurice
Tiffany Graves (Chicago/We Will Rock You) – Mrs Leacock/Mona Lauder/Doreen
Aimee Hodnett (White Christmas/Follies) – Connie/Nancy
Melanie La Barrie (& Juliet/Wicked) – Sybil
Ako Mitchell (Caroline, Or Change/Guys & Dolls) – Raymond
Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide To Love & Murder/The Heidi Chronicles) – Frank
Scarlett Strallen (Singin’ In The Rain/Mary Poppins) – Cathy

With a score that is both jazz-inflected and hauntingly lyrical, Far From Heaven is a powerful story of romance, betrayal, and intolerance, as a woman grapples with her identity in a society on the verge of upheaval.

#50Days
Created and Written by Thabo Stuck
Directed by Ajjaz Awad
Musical Direction by Amiir Salem

CAST:
Aminita Francis (Frankenstein – How To Make A Monster) – Digby/Prince of Wales
Nadine-Rose Johnson (Frankenstein) – Queen Henrietta Reuben Joseph (Rapunzel/Midsummer) – King Charles
Kyran Mitchell-Nanton (Karma) – Pym
Robert Saunders (Grandpa’s Great Escape Live) – Lillburn/Lucy Haye
Cleve September (Hamilton/Jesus Chris Superstar) – Manchester

#50days is a Grime Musical which tells the story of the period when the very foundations of England were shattered.

The Man in the Ceiling
Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa
Book by Jules Feiffer
Directed by Annabel Mutale Reed
Musical Direction by Richard Beadle

CAST:
Matthew Croke (Aladdin/Hair) – Father
Jazz Jenkins (Live – A Viral Short Film) – Lisi
Sharon Rose (Hamilton/Motown The Musical) – Mother

A collaboration between Jules Feiffer, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning cartoonist and celebrated author, and Tony-nominated composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa, The Main In The Ceiling is an uplifting tale about following your creative passion against all odds.

Millennials
Music, Book and Lyrics by Elliot Clay
Directed by Luke Sheppard
Musical Direction by Katy Richardson

CAST:
Luke Bayer (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie/Les Misérables)
Allie Daniel (RENT)
Beth Hinton-Lever (West Side Story/Hadestown)
Nathan Lorainey-Dineen (& Juliet/Motown The Musical)
Tim Mahendran (& Juliet/The Midnight Gang)
Grace Mouat (& Juliet/Six)
Jodie Steele (Six/Heathers)

MILLENNIALS turns up the microphone on the lives, the losses and the frustrations of young people in the modern world.

HouseFire
Book & Lyrics/Directed by P Burton-Morgan
Music by Felix Hagan
Musical Direction by Mark Collins

CAST:
Alex Cardall (Evita) – Alan
Eleanor Kane (High Fidelity/Fun Home) – Ginger
Robin Simões da Silva (Spring Awakening) – Leo

A trio of endangered animals form a rock band to protest against the climate crisis.

Cake
Music and Lyrics by Jack McManus & Tasha Taylor-Johnson
Book and Lyrics by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
Directed by Drew McOnie

CAST:
Tori Allen-Martin (Rock Of Ages) – Judge/Nicole
Emma Kingston (Fiddler On The Roof/In The Heights) – Jeanne
Phoebe Panaretos (Strictly Ballroom/Lazarus) – Marie Antoinette
Sebastien Torkia (Matilda The Musical/The Wild Party) – The Cardinal

Cake combines rap and RnB with 18th century France to retell a story that sparked a revolution.

Tony! A Tony Blair Rock Opera
Book and Lyrics by Harry Hill & Steve Brown
Music by Steve Brown
Directed by Peter Rowe
Musical Direction by Sarah Travis

CAST:
Jenna Boyd (Come From Away/Wind In The Willows) – Prescott
Scott Garnham (Nativity The Musical/Billy Elliot) – Tony
Gemma Knight Jones (Falsettos/The Lion King) – Princess Di
Marie Lawrence (Toast/The Understudy) – Cherie
Simon Lipkin (Nativity The Musical/Guys & Dolls) – Mandy
Nicola Sloane (Our Town/Love In Idleness) – Mrs Blair
Paul Thornley (Harry Potter & The Cursed Child) – Kinnock

A reckless reappraisal of the life of former Bad Rumours front man and Britain’s first pop Prime Minister Tony Blair.