The creative team behind the recent acclaimed Southwark Playhouse musicals, PARADE and MACK & MABEL, are returning to the Vault to present the Broadway musical comedy, VICTOR/VICTORIA. Directed by Thom Southerland and produced by Danielle Tarento, it will run for an 8-week season in The Vault at Southwark Playhouse, from Thursday October 25 - Saturday December 15. Press night is Thursday 1 November.

Anna Francolini will star in this new production as Victoria Grant and Count Victor Grazinski. VICTOR/VICTORIA is not Anna Francolini´s first time on stage cross-dressing in a musical. In ´The Ballad of Little Jo´, she starred in the title role as Jo Monaghan, a young woman who lived as a man in the silver mines of Idaho in the 1890s. Anna’s other stage credits include two acclaimed Stephen Sondheim productions at the Donmar Warehouse - Marta in Sam Mendes’ production of COMPANY in 1995 and Gussie in Michael Grandage’s production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG in 2000. She played the Baker´s Wife in the Royal Opera House production of Sondheim´s INTO THE WOODS in 2007. She won the 2009 TMA Award for Best Performance in a Play with her portrayal of Jean Brodie in Muriel Spark´s ´The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie´ at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton. In 2010, she starred as Maria Callas in Martin Sherman´s West End play ´Onassis´. She apeared in Mike Leigh’s film, ´Topsy-Turvy´ and the TV mini-series ´Rome´.

Joining Anna Francolini are: Michael Cotton, Mark Curry, Matthew Cutts, Richard Dempsey, Dafydd Gwyn Howells, Luke Johnson, Natalie Kent, Ashley Knight, Amira Matthews, Kate Nelson, Matthew Pennington, Jean Perkins, Kayleigh Ross and Nick Stuart.

Richard Dempsey (Toddy) has just played Cambridge in ´Henry V´ and Hermione in ´The Winter’s Tale´ for Ed Hall’s Propellor company on a world tour. He also played Titania in ´A MIdsummer Night’s Dream´ and Lorenzo in ´The Merchant of Venice´, also for Propellor, His many musical theatre credits include Neil in DIRTY DANCING, Jack in INTO THE WOODS and Nick in FAME, all in the West End, Ugly Duckling in HONK! at the National Theatre, Elephant’s Child in JUST SO at Chichester and Gerald Bolingbroke in ME AND MY GIRL at the Crucible, Sheffield,

New Zealander Matthew  Cutts, who plays American mobster King Marchand, has had featured roles in several major West End musicals, including Rusty and Greaseball in STARLIGHT EXPRESS, Monty in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, Munkustrap in CATS and Kenicke in GREASE, as well as MISS SAIGON in Australia.

Based on the 1982 Julie Andrews/Blake Edwards Hollywood movie, VICTOR/VICTORIA has a book by Blake Edwards, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and additional musical material (music and lyrics) by Frank Wildhorn. The show opened originally at Broadway´s Marquis Theatre in october 1995. Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli and Raquel Welch all starred as VICTOR/VICTORIA on Broadway, where the show ran for more than 700 performances.

VICTOR/VICTORIA is set in Paris in the 1930s. Victoria, a penniless, starving British soprano with an amazing vocal range, is rescued by Toddy, a performer at night club Chez Lui, who comes up with the crazy idea to disguise her as a man called Count Victor Grazinski and become the toast of Gay Paree as the world´s greatest female impersonator... But things get complicated when King Marchand, an American mobster from Chicago and very straight, sees the celebrated act and finds himself strangely attracted to Victor.

The venue’s seating is being configured with cabaret-style tables placed near the stage. The price of these reserved cabaret seats will include a glass of champagne, and people sitting there will really feel part of the action in the night club Chez Lui where the the show is set