Jacqueline Jossa makes West End debut next month as she joins Brian Conley and Matt Willis in a socially-distanced run of A Christmas Carol
Jacqueline Jossa will make her West End debut this Christmas in a retelling of a Charles Dickens classic.
The EastEnders star and I’m A Celebrity 2019 winner will take the role of Emily in A Christmas Carol at The Dominion Theatre from December 7 2020 to January 2 next year.
This will be one of the first shows to hit the West End after almost a whole year of shutdown amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
East-End to West-End! Jacqueline Jossa will make her West End debut this Christmas in a retelling of a Charles Dickens classic
The show will be COVID-safe and socially-distanced, onstage, backstage and front of house. It will also feature an orchestra and a cast of over 50.
Joining Jacqueline will be Busted singer Matt Willis who will play Bob Cratchit, as well as Brian Conley as Ebenezer Scrooge.
Also starring will be Lucie Jones, Sandra Marvin, Martyn Ellis, Cedric Neal and Jeremy Secomb.
While Jacqueline is widely known for her TV role as Lauren Branning on EastEnders, Matt is no stranger to the theatre, having starred in Wicked and Little Shop Of Horrors in the West End.
Starring role: The EastEnders star will take the role of Emily in A Christmas Carol at The Dominion Theatre from December 7 2020 to January 2 next year
Back to acting: Jacqueline is widely known for her TV role as Lauren Branning on EastEnders
Lucie has starred on stage in Waitress and Rent, shooting to fame on The X Factor as a finalist in 2009. She will play The Ghost Of Christmas Past.
Sandra [Emmerdale and Waitress] will play Mrs Fezziwig and Martyn [My Fair Lady and One Man, Two Guvnors] will portray her husband.
Cedric [of The Voice and Motown: The Musical] will be The Ghost Of Christmas Present, Jeremy [Jerry Springer: The Opera] takes the role of Jacob Marley, Rebecca Lock [Heathers] will play Mrs Cratchit and Sam Oladeinde [The Book Of Mormon) will be Fred Anderson/Young Scrooge.
The producers have plugged the show as ‘a Christmas event to reunite families after the hardest year in living memory’.
Modern take: Like Jacqueline, ex-EastEnders star Ross Kemp has also appeared in an adaptation of the story. He starred in ITV’s 2000 version playing the lead role of Eddie Scrooge
Classic: Alistair Sim played the lead role in 1951’s Scrooge
Adaptation: Jim Carrey voiced the role of Scrooge in 2009’s Disney adaptation
It has also been stipulated that those unable to attend due to being unwell or having to isolate will be able to exchange tickets free of charge up to 24 hours before the booked show.
A Christmas Carol is one of the world’s favourite festive stories, penned by Dickens in 1843.
The novella has since been adapted hundreds of times for radio, TV, theatre, film, graphic novel, animation and other mediums.
The story centres around greedy, bad-tempered miser Scrooge, who does not believe in the power of Christmas.
After the death of his business partner Jacob Marley, he is visited on Christmas Eve by Marley’s ghost, who warns him to change his ways or end up repenting in death.
He is then taken to the past, back to the present, and into the future, by three spirits, trying to reform him.
Scrooge has been played over the years by the likes of Simon Callow, Kelsey Grammer, Jim Carrey, Alistair Sim, Michael Cain, Albert Finney and Patrick Stewart.
Like Jacqueline, ex-EastEnders star Ross Kemp has also appeared in an adaptation of the story.
He starred in ITV’s modern take in 2000 playing the lead role of Eddie Scrooge.