Back to News & Press London Theatre: Superproducer Sonia Friedman on building a theatre empire Wednesday, 2 July 2025 Original article by Matt Wolf. Find full article here . Five days before Sonia Friedman pitched up in London for an interview, she was seated among the New York audience at the 78th annual Tony Awards. She was in attendance as the lead producer on several contenders for Broadway’s highest honour, including the New York transfer of her West End hit Stranger Things: The First Shadow , the Broadway transfer of Jez Butterworth’s latest, The Hills of California and the dazzling if decidedly offbeat seven-time-nominated musical Dead Outlaw , which closed on 29 June. "I'm very, very proud of Dead Outlaw ," Friedman says from her Covent Garden office, one of her beloved bichon dogs, Daisy, in the background. "It's a tough sell commercially but I love it because it's unconventional. It's so wildly original, beautiful, and bizarre, and of course it feeds into everything I love about storytelling, which is that it's utterly surprising. You have no idea where it will go next." Hotfooting it back to London – “I’ve been basically commuting to New York since January” – she has been busy shepherding into the West End last year’s Tony-winning sensation, the epic play Stereophonic , which garnered more Tony nominations (13) than any Broadway play ever and won three, starting, once again, with Best Play. "If you pierce the zeitgeist in New York, your play can be, like Stereophonic , a phenomenon: it can explode and become unstoppable," she says. "Shows like Stereophonic are great, and so the challenge, maybe, is that everything has to be as great as that." In other words, she is setting her own bar very high. The evening before our interview, Friedman had been at a gala performance of the 3-hour, 15-minute transfer from Broadway to the Duke of York’s – every minute of it riveting – so you entirely understand when she claims the following afternoon to be tired, before giving tirelessly of herself in conversation across 80 minutes. We might still be talking were she not busy presiding over what since its 2002 inception has become the most dynamic and diverse — and most important — commercial producing entity in the English-language theatre. Over 300 productions, 67 Olivier Awards. The stats are dizzying. What defines a Sonia Friedman show? “I have to say, it’s impossible to define taste: how can you?” she says. “Only I can taste what I taste.” But before long she is enumerating a passion for “musicals, both new and revivals, Shakespeare, Pinter, Stoppard, classics, and obviously new work right at the centre of it” – wherever, in other words, she comes across material that “makes me tingle, genuinely” and that catches her offguard. That can mean Leopoldstadt one minute, Emma Corrin in Anna X the next. Born into a family of musicians (her instrument was the cello), Friedman talks about latching on to “the rhythms” of material she admires “where something just goes through my body. And if I start imagining it in 3D while I’m reading it, that’s the crucial one. It’s about being in the present with the work.” The odd misfire inevitably notwithstanding, her shows more often than not score. I count quite a few of her productions among high points of my own playgoing, including Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem , for which Olivier, Tony, and Academy Award winner Mark Rylance won the second of his three Tonys in 2011. The first was for his Broadway debut three years earlier in the Friedman-produced Boeing Boeing : "New York really loves discovering a great actor. Of course they love a movie star, but what they love more than anything is finding the next star and lifting them up. Nobody knew who Mark was when he first went to Broadway with Boeing Boeing and look at him now." Friedman loves to promote and nurture talent: actors like Rylance or Patsy Ferran, to name just two, or directors like Robert Icke, whose recent, Olivier-winning Oedipus , with Lesley Manville and Mark Strong, will no doubt return her to the Tony race next June following its Broadway transfer this autumn. It can’t be easy sustaining both this quality of work and the volume, which in November finds the long-awaited Paddington the Musical opening at the Savoy, not long after Friedman transfers to the Noël Coward Theatre the director Max Webster’s National Theatre revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, with Olly Alexander taking over the role of Algernon Moncrieff from Ncuti Gatwa. “We run things from a position of art first,” she says of her company, which couples a 50-strong staff in Covent Garden with a satellite office of two in New York. “I’ve always been art-led: the art comes first and then the business model after. It’s never been about what’s going to make me money – ever ever ever.” You sense a deep-rooted interest in the thrill of the chase: “I don’t know why, but I’m fascinated by challenges. I’m built that way, my brain is built that way: if it’s easy, I’m not interested.” The result allows hugely ambitious, outsized ventures like Stranger Things and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – plays conceived on the scale of musicals – to co-exist with West End transfers of Benedict Lombe’s glorious two-hander Shifters , and, a particular passion project for Friedman, the transfer from the Almeida to the Harold Pinter Theatre of writer-director Eline Arbo’s all-female The Years . This adaptation of Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux’s memoir was, says Friedman, “sort of a summation of my life and my career. It sounds very grand but with that play it was like, ‘there I am; that’s me.’ So much of my work is about taste and instinct and what I feel audiences are going to respond to, but rarely have I done work that’s about me.” She went along as a punter to see it at the Almeida and was “so blown away emotionally that I almost had to be carried out. I said, ‘I have to do this, I have to make this one happen for me’ and hoped that others felt the same.” They did, the show recouped, and Friedman is now looking at an onward life for it in New York. Broadway shows are prohibitively pricey – musicals budgeted in the tens of millions require weekly running costs close to $1 million – and an impassioned Friedman speaks of an unsustainable model of New York producing “grinding on”, allowing only the occasional play (Stereophonic , for one) to break away from the pack. Increasingly, too many shows bow within too short a March-April window, so as to qualify for that elusive Tony: “You have 25 shows opening within the same five-week period. It’s more and more intense and harder and harder to gain traction, which is an almost impossible way to create work.” The appeal, of course, remains the singular excitement and buzz of the New York theatre, however risky, set against a London ecosystem where recoupment is far more frequent and where the gathering synergy between the subsidised and commercial sectors, she says, is here to stay. “I do think in this new world with arts funding cut to smithereens that the commercial and the subsidised are going to have to have a much closer relationship going forward: much more transparent and open given how much we’re feeding off one another.” Having worked early on at the National and then co-founded the Out of Joint touring company with the Royal Court grandee Max Stafford-Clark, Friedman talks of owing her career to Britain’s vanishing tradition of theatrical subsidy. In the near future, Friedman is excited about a revolutionary new Earnest that, in her view, follows the Royal Court’s time-honoured paradigm of treating a new play like a classic and a classic like a new play: “I saw it and thought, this is absolutely revelatory, freshly minted. Max has done an incredible job of reinventing Wilde for today.” With a score by Tom Fletcher and book by Jessica Swale, Paddington , meanwhile, tells a resonant, timely tale of what its producer calls “an outsider who’s been told London will welcome them but who then comes to London and finds it harder than he thought it was going to be, but through his innate goodness, kindness, and innocence causes people around him to change. He’s a good bear, a kind bear, and he only sees the good in others.” She admits to being as excited about Paddington as she was about Harry Potter , adding: "The way we are doing the bear is a giant secret but everyone who sees the bear for the first time bursts into tears. It's taken six years to develop the bear, and the show has been incubated for eight years with utter love and devotion." “It’s going to be funny and entertaining, and the music’s amazing and the set’s extraordinary. But at its heart,” says Friedman, “is a show about how we can all be better.” Think of it as an expression of optimism for the future from a producer who, you strongly feel, wants only the best. Up Up

Back to Productions KING CHARLES III – UK TOUR This tour began on 4th September 2015 and ended on 5th March 2016. Rupert Goold’s superb production The Guardian The Queen is dead: after a lifetime of waiting, the prince ascends the throne. A future of power. But how to rule? This is undoubtedly one of the most stimulating plays of the year Evening Standard Following a sold-out run at the Almeida Theatre and a critically acclaimed West End run, Mike Bartlett ’s multi-award-winning new play King Charles III now tours the UK. Directed by the Almeida Theatre’s artistic director Rupert Goold, this ‘bracingly provocative and outrageously entertaining new play’ (The Independent ) explores the people underneath the crowns, the unwritten rules of our democracy, and the conscience of Britain’s most famous family. Sonia Friedman Productions , Stuart Thompson Productions , Tulchin Bartner Productions , Charles Diamond and the Almeida Theatre in association with Birmingham Repertory and by arrangement with Lee Dean present The Almeida Theatre Production of “KING CHARLES III ”. True heir of greatness Daily Express CAST ROBERT POWELL – King Charles III CREATIVES MIKE BARLETT – Playwright RUPERT GOOLD – Director

Back to News & Press Finalists announced for the Women's Prize for Playwriting 2020 Wednesday, 9 September 2020 The prize has been created to celebrate and support exceptional UK and Ireland-based playwrights who identify as female. The winning playwright will receive £12,000 in respect of an exclusive option for the lead producers of the Prize to co-produce the winning play. The prize is sponsored by Samuel French Ltd , a Concord Theatricals company, who are the official publishing partner of the prize. Ellie Keel today said, “I'm overjoyed to have arrived at these seven remarkable plays after receiving an incredible 1,169 submissions to The Women's Prize for Playwriting in our inaugural year. The breadth of these plays is outstanding in terms of their subject, form and style. I am thrilled with their ambition and scope and firmly believe that they all deserve to be produced. I also want to congratulate every single writer who wrote and submitted a play to us this year. There has been a tremendous sense of community and mutual support amongst all our writers, and that celebration of the craft of writing for the stage is, to me, a big part of what The Women's Prize for Playwriting set out to do. ” Katie Posner and Charlotte Bennett , joint Artistic Directors of Paines Plough, said “We are ecstatic to be sharing these seven plays as the finalists for the prize. They represent some of the most extraordinary new writing we have come across in our careers. Each story has been crafted with passion, vision and a bursting political heart. Reading them was an absolute privilege, and every one is a deserving winner. We want to thank every writer who submitted a play for sharing a bit of themselves with us. It was an incredibly competitive process that highlights how many amazing women playwrights there are working today.” Jessica McVay , Creative Director of 45North today said, “4North is founded on the principle that women are underrepresented and underutilized in all areas of theatre creation. These incredible 7 playwrights have written challenging, exciting, boundary breaking plays, and have proven yet again that women’s voices have a power and place in the heart of theatre. I’m honoured and delighted that we will be working with at least the winner and runner up on their finalist plays, and hope to work with all of these incredible women in the future . Vivien Goodwin , Senior Vice President, Europe, of Concord Theatricals today said, “The level of talent and ambition displayed by the finalists' plays is hugely impressive and only goes to show that this award is a necessary and timely platform to elevate women's voices. We're thrilled to be the Prize's publishing and licensing partner, and look forward to supporting such bold, brave and entertaining writing in the future. Congratulations to all of the writers who have reached this stage, and to all who submitted.” Sonia Friedman Productions added, “We are deeply proud to be part of The Women’s Prize for Playwriting and we are delighted to be announcing these seven finalists today. In these difficult times, it is more important than ever to champion underrepresented voices of the future and find vital stories that help us make sense of our world.” The judging panel for The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2020 is chaired by senior literary agent Mel Kenyon , and includes Sarah Frankcom , Director of LAMDA; playwright Ella Hickson ; actress and playwright Maxine Peake ; and Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham . The finalists in full are: ...blackbird hour by babirye bukilwa COLOSTRUM by Liv Hennessy PARADISE STREET by Chinonyerem Odimba Reasons You Should(n't) Love Me by Amy Trigg Red Sky at Night by Eve Leigh The Virgins by Miriam Battye YOU BURY ME by Ahlam The winner for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting will be announced later in the autumn. www.womensprizeforplaywriting.co.uk Up Up

OUR STORY SONIA FRIEDMAN PRODUCTIONS (SFP) is one of the most prolific and influential theatre companies in the world. Since beginning in 2002, SFP has developed, initiated and produced over 300 productions worldwide, winning 67 Olivier Awards, 61 Tony Awards and 3 BAFTAs. Led by Sonia Friedman CBE, who this year was named one of Vogue’s 25 most influential women working today and previously included in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, SFP has developed and delivered an unparalleled body of work across the West End, Broadway and beyond, helping to redefine the theatrical landscape. OUR PRODUCTIONS " Sonia Friedman may just be the most prolific and powerful theater producer working today " New York Times "Sonia Friedman’s portfolio of shows is testament to the export value of this dynamic British industry " The Observer " Regarded as the world’s most successful theatre producer... Friedman’s Midas touch has been well documented " Financial Times "The credit ‘Sonia Friedman Productions’ is a guarantee of quality" Vogue OUR TEAM We have a wonderful team here at SFP, spanning Production, Development, Marketing, Sales & Ticketing, Finance, Administration, and Business Affairs, with team members based both in London and New York. MEET THE TEAM "The world's most successful theatre producer" Financial Times "The most powerful woman in theatre and the super producer behind Harry Potter and the Cursed Child " The Sunday Times

Back to News & Press Tony Award-Winning Best revival of a Musical 'Merrily We Roll Along' ends historic Broadway run with shattering the Hudson Theatre box office record for tenth and final time Monday, 8 July 2024 Maria Friedman's universally acclaimed, Tony Award-winning Best Revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's masterwork MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG ended its historic run on Broadway on Sunday, July 7, 2024, once again shattering the Hudson Theatre box office record for the tenth and final time with a gross of $2,766,127.00, marking the highest grossing week ever for a Stephen Sondheim musical on Broadway. The first-ever Broadway revival of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG played 312 performances and 20 previews to 100% audience capacity for the entirety of the 10-month, twice-extended, strictly limited Broadway engagement. The electric final performance also broke the single performance gross record at Broadway's Hudson Theatre with a gross of $509,894.00. The four-time Tony Award-winning production, which was the highest grossing show on Broadway the week ending June 30, 2024, recouped its $12 million capitalization in March 2024. Starring Tony Award winner Daniel Radcliffe as Charley Kringas, Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff as Franklin Shepard, and Tony Award winner Lindsay Mendez as Mary Flynn, the production also featured Krystal Joy Brown as Gussie Carnegie, Katie Rose Clarke as Beth Shepard, and Reg Rogers as Joe Josephson. The final performance company included Max Rackenberg, Rocco Van Auken, Brady Wagner, Sherz Aletaha, Leana Rae Concepcion, Coby Getzug, Morgan Kirner, Corey Mach, David Scott Purdy, Talia Simone Robinson, Amanda Rose, Jamila Sabares-Klemm, Brian Sears, Brianna Stoute, Christian Strange, Koray Tarhan, Vishal Vaidya, Natalie Wachen and Jacob Keith Watson. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG was directed by multi-Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Maria Friedman, features music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a book by George Furth, and is based on the original play by George s. Kaufman & Moss Hart. Spanning three decades in the entertainment business, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG charts the turbulent relationship between composer Franklin Shepard and his two lifelong friends - writer Mary and lyricist & playwright Charley. An inventive cult-classic ahead of its time, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG features some of Stephen Sondheim's most celebrated and personal songs. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG featured a design and creative team that includes Tim Jackson (choreography), Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick (orchestrations), Sautra Gilmour (Scenic & Costume Design), Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Design), Kai Harada (Sound Design), Cookie Jordan (Hair & Wig Design), Jim Carnahan, CSA (casting), Joel Fram (music direction and additional vocal arrangements), Catherine Jayes (music supervision), Alvin Hough Jr. (associate music supervision), Kristy Norter (music coordination). Broadway's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG was produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, David Babani, Patrick Catullo, Jeff Romley, Debbie Bi.sno, Lang Entertainment Group, OHenry Productions, Winkler & Smalberg, Stephanie P. Mcclelland, Timothy Bloom, Creative Partners Productions, Eastern Standard Time, Fakston Productions, Marc David Levine, No Guarantees, Ted & Mary Jo Shen, Gilad Rogowsky, Playing Field, Key To The City Productions, Richard Batchelder / Trunfio Ryan, FineWomen Productions / Henry R. Munoz 111, Thomas Swayne / Lamar Richardson, Abrams Corr/ Mary Maggio, Osh Ashruf / Brenner-Ivey, Craig Balsam / PBL Productions, deRoy DiMauro Productions / Andrew Diamond, Dodge Hall Productions / Cart Moellenberg, Friedman Simpson / Vernon Stuckelman, William Frisbie / J.J. Powell, Robert Greenblatt/ Jonathan Littman, Katler-Solomon Productions/ Medley Houlihan, Cleveland O'Neal Ill /Tom Tuft, Roth-Manella Productions/ Seaview and New York Theatre Workshop. This production was originally produced at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012 followed by a West End run produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, the Menier Chocolate Factory, and Neal Street Productions in 2013. It was later produced at New York Theatre Workshop in 2022. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG was originally directed on Broadway by Harold Prince and originally produced on Broadway by Lord Grade, Martin Starger, Robert Fryer, and Harold Prince in association with Ruth Mitchell and Howard Haines. The New Broadway Cast Recording of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is now available on CD, vinyl and wherever you stream music. Produced by Sony Masterworks Broadway, Sonia Friedman Productions, David Babani and Patrick Catullo David Caddick, David Lai, Joel Fram and Maria Friedman, the album was recorded and mixed by Ian Kagey at Berklee at PowerStationNYC and Renaissance Recording NY. The New Broadway Cast Recording includes new liner notes from Director and Album Producer Maria Friedman as well as former New York Times Chief Theater Critic, Ben Brantley. Up Up

Back to Productions JERUSALEM – BROADWAY This production began performances on 1st April and opened on 21st April. The strictly limited 20-week engagement closed on 23rd August 2011. Mark Rylance has had an extraordinary season on Broadway. His performance in Jerusalem is AMAZING. He is this larger-than-life Falstaffian figure who really dominates the stage. You should not miss Jerusalem, it's that special of a performance! The New York Times There's no denying the writing's lyrical power, and Ian Rickson's London production – now mixing a few American actors with the British ones – has a punch-in-the-gut virtuosity New York Post Tony and Olivier Award-winning star Mark Rylance (La Bête, Boeing-Boeing) will recreate his wildly acclaimed, multi-award-winning performance as Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron on Broadway in the Royal Court Theatre production of Jez Butterworth ’s universally heralded new play, JERUSALEM . The production, directed by Ian Rickson , will also star Mackenzie Crook (The Seagull, “The Office”) as Ginger and most of the original Royal Court cast, with full casting to be announced at a later date. JERUSALEM will then transfer once again to the West End, previewing at the Apollo Theatre from 8 October 2011, with press night on 17 October, booking until 14 January 2012. Sonia Friedman Productions , Stuart Thompson , Scott Rudin , Roger Berlind , Royal Court Theatre Productions , Beverly Bartner/ Alice Tulchin , Dede Harris/ Rupert Gavin , Broadway Across America , Jon B/ Platt , 1001 Nights/ Stephanie P. McClelland , Carole L. Haber/ Richard Willis , Jacki Barlia Florin/ Adam Blanshay present the Royal Court Theatre production of “JERUSALEM ”. Mark Rylance triumphs again on Broadway Associated Press CAST MARK RYLANCE – Johnny "Rooster" Byron MACKENZIE CROOK – Ginger JOHN GALLAGHER, JR – Lee JAY SULLIVAN – Lee/Frank Wgitworth (19 Jul – 21 Aug) MAX BAKER – Wesley ALAN DAVID – The Professor AIMEÉ-FFION EDWARDS – Phaedra AIDEN EYRICK – Marky (Alternate) GERALDINE HUGHES – Dawn DANNY KIRRANE – Davey CHARLOTTE MILLS – Tanya SARAH MOYLE – Ms. Fawcett MARK PAGE – Marky (Alternate) MOLLY RANSON – Pea HARVEY ROBINSON – Mr. Parsons BARRY SLOANE – Troy Whitworth RICHARD SHORT – Danny Whitworth JAMES RIODAN – Frank Whitworth (19 Jul – 21 Aug) CREATIVES JEZ BUTTERWORTH – Playwright STEPHEN WARBECK – Composer IAN RICKSON – Director ULTZ – Set/Costume Designer MIMI JORDAN SHERIN – Lighting Designer IAN DICKINSON – Sound Designer

Back to News & Press Ellen Burstyn and Carol Kane join the cast of The Children's Hour Friday, 19 November 2010 Ellen Burstyn and Carol Kane as well as Bryony Hannah and Tobias Menzies are to join the previously announced Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss in Ian Rickson’s production of Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour. The Children’s Hour, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions & Scott Landis, will have its first preview at the Comedy Theatre on 22 January 2011 with press night on 9 February and is booking until 2 April 2011. The cast includes Ellen Burstyn (Amelia Tilford), Nancy Crane (Agatha), Amy Dawson (Rosalie Wells), Isabel Ellison (Catherine), Bryony Hannah (Mary Tilford), Carol Kane (Lily Mortar), Keira Knightley (Karen Wright), Tobias Menzies (Doctor Joseph Cardin) and Elizabeth Moss (Martha Dobie). Final casting will be announced shortly. When a schoolgirl's whisper spreads, it triggers a chain of events with extraordinary consequences. Karen Wright (Keira Knightley) and Martha Dobie (Elisabeth Moss) run a girls’ boarding school in 1930s New England, where they become entangled in a devastating story of deceit, shame and courage. Banned in London and several cities across America, The Children's Hour received its world premiere on Broadway in 1934. Generations on, its potent exploration of a culture of fear remains startlingly relevant. Academy, Tony and BAFTA award-winning Ellen Burstyn will make her London stage debut in The Children’s Hour. Nominated six times for an Oscar for her roles in The Last Picture Show, The Exorcist, Same Time Next Year, Resurrection and Requiem for a Dream, her many film credits include Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore for which she won the Best Actress BAFTA as well as the Academy Award. Her more recent film credits include Olivier Stone’s W. in which she played Barbara Bush, Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain and Neil LaBute’s remake of The Wicker Man. She can be seen on screen in the forthcoming The Mighty Macs and Main Street. Her many US theatre credits include Same Time Next Year for which she won the Tony Award, 84 Charing Cross Road, Shirley Valentine and Long Day's Journey Into Night, as well as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s production of The Little Flower of East Orange for the Public Theater and LAByrinth Theater Company. Burstyn’s television credits include the title role in The People vs. Jean Harris and Pack of Lies, for both which she was Emmy nominated, That’s Life, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and The Book of Daniel. Carol Kane is best known on television for playing Simka Dahblitz-Gravas, wife of Latka Gravas, in the hugely popular US sitcom Taxi for which she won two Emmy awards. Her other television credits include regular roles in the American sitcoms All is Forgiven and American Dreamer as well as guest appearances in Chicago Hope, Seinfeld, Pearl, Two and a Half Men and Ugly Betty. Her film roles include Gitl in Hester Street for which she was Academy award-nominated, Allison Portchnik in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, Dog Day Afternoon, The Princess Bride, Scrooged, Addams Family Values, The Pacifier and My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend. She began her professional theatre career in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and has more recently played Madam Morrible in Wicked on Broadway, on tour in the US and in Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Her other theatre credits include The Tempest and Macbeth at the Lincoln Centre Theater and earlier this year she was seen off Broadway in Nora and Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss and What I Wore. Nancy Crane can currently be seen in Design for Living at the Old Vic. Her other theatre credits include Love the Sinner and Angels in America for the National Theatre, Now or Later, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, Our Late Night and The Strip for the Royal Court, Chains of Dew and Trifles at the Orange Tree, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl and Six Degrees of Separation for Sheffield Theatres and Habitat for Manchester Royal Exchange. On television her credits include Law & Order, Cambridge Spies, Strike Force, The Last Days of Patton and 92 Grosvenor Street. Her film credits include The Special Relationship, The Dark Knight, The Road to Guantanamo, The Machinist and The Fourth Protocol. Amy Dawson’s theatre credits include That Face for Sheffield Theatres, Edmond for the Theatre Royal Haymarket, I’ll Leave It To You for Pentameters Theatre and Accidental Heroes and School Journey to the Centre of the Early both for the Lyric Hammersmith. After graduating from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Isabel Ellison has recently been seen in Red Bud at the Royal Court Theatre. Bryony Hannah’s theatre credits for the National Theatre include Earthquakes in London, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, The Pillowman and War Horse. Her other theatre credits include Breathing Irregular for the Gate Theatre, The Winter's Tale for Headlong, The Crucible for Sheffield Theatres, The 24 Hour Plays for the Old Vic and The Black Sheep at the Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh. On screen her credits include Cemetery Junction and Reversals. Keira Knightley was last on stage in The Misanthrope directed by Thea Sharrock at the Comedy Theatre in 2009. Her many film credits include Never Let Me Go which opened the 2010 London Film Festival, Bend It Like Beckham, Love Actually, The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, King Arthur, The Jacket, Pride and Prejudice, Domino, Silk, Atonement, The Edge of Love, The Duchess, Last Night and the forthcoming London Boulevard and A Dangerous Method. Her television credits include the critically-acclaimed remake of Doctor Zhivago, Oliver and Coming Home. Tobias Menzies is best known on screen for playing Brutus in BBC television series Rome. On stage his many credits include Edgar in King Lear at the Young Vic, Cloud Nine and Platonov for the Almeida Theatre, The Cherry Orchard for Sheffield Theatres, The History Boys for the National Theatre, the title role in Rupert Goold’s production of Hamlet at the Theatre Royal Northampton and Michael Blakemore’s production of Three Sisters at the Playhouse Theatre. His film credits include Atonement, Pierrepoint, Casino Royale and Anton Chekhov’s The Duel. His further television credits include Spooks, The Deep, Pulling and Persuasion. Elisabeth Moss, who will make her West End debut in The Children’s Hour, is best known for playing the role of Peggy Olson in the ongoing award-winning television series Mad Men, for which she has received both Emmy Award and SAG Award nominations, as well as for the role of Zoe Bartlett in The West Wing. Moss made her Broadway stage debut in David Mamet’s Speed- the-Plow in 2008. Her film credits include Get Him to the Greek, Did you Hear About the Morgans? and Girl, Interrupted, as well as the forthcoming On the Road and Darling Companion. Up Up

Back to Productions FIDDLER ON THE ROOF This production opened on 18th June and closed on 2nd November 2019. ★★★★★ A thrilling experience. The best Fiddler I’ve seen in the West End The Telegraph Old traditions and young love collide in this joyous and timely celebration of life. Tevye’s daughters’ unexpected choice of husbands opens his heart to new possibilities, as his close-knit community also feel winds of change blowing through their tiny village. ★★★★★ Musically, geopolitically, emotionally, this Fiddler raises the roof The Guardian Direct from its sold-out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Tony and Olivier award-winning director Trevor Nunn’ s ‘exuberant revival’ (The Telegraph ) of the classic Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof has transferred to the West End for a strictly limited run. The Playhouse Theatre has been specially transformed into an intimate space for this ‘shiveringly intimate chamber musical about family’ (The Times ). Featuring the iconic score including ‘Tradition’, ‘Matchmaker, Matchmaker’, ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ and ‘If I Were a Rich Man’, with original choreography from Tony award-winning Jerome Robbins alongside new choreography by Matt Cole , Fiddler on the Roof ‘bursts from the stage’ (Financial Times ), bringing new life to one of the most beloved musicals of all time. ★★★★ This production bursts from the stage Financial Times CAST NICOLA BROWN – Chava HARRIET BUNTON – Hodel DERMOT CANAVAN – Lazar Wolf STEWARD CLARKE – Perchik JOSHUA GANNON – Motel LOUISE GOLD – Yente MATTHEW HAWKSLEY – Fyedka JUDY KUHN – Golde ANDY NYMAN – Tevye MOLLY OSBORNE – Tzeitel As well as MILES BARROW SOFIA BENNETT PHILIP BERTIOLI LOTTIE CASSERLEY ELENA CERVESI LIA COHEN TALIA ETHERINGTON SHOSHANA EZEQUIEL ISABELLA FOAT FENTON GRAY JAMES HAMEED ADAM LINSTEAD ADAM MARGILEWSKI ROBERT MASKELL BENNY MASLOV ROBYN MCINTYRE GAYNOR MILES ELLIE MULLANE TANIA NEWTON CRAIGN PINDER VALENTINA THEODOULOU ED WADE CREATIVES TREVOR NUNN – Director MATT COLE – Choreographer JEROME ROBBINS – Original Broadway Production Director & Choreographer JOSEPH STEIN – Book JERRY BOCK – Music SHELDON HARNICK – Lyrics ROBERT JONES – Set Designer JONATAHAN LIPMAN – Costume Designer TIM LUTKIN – Lighting Designer GREGORY CLARKE – Sound Designer RICHARD MAWBEY – Wigs and Make-Up JASON CARR – Orchestrations PAUL BOGAEV – Musical Supervision/Musical Director JO HAWES CDG – Children's Casting MARHA GEELAN – Associate Director ROSS EDWARDS – Associate Designer JANE MCMURTRIE – Associate Choreographer MATTHEW SAMER – Associate Musical Director PAUL KIEVE – Illusion

Back to News & Press Merrily We Roll Along is extended by popular demand Sunday, 9 July 2023 Producers Sonia Friedman Productions , David Babani , Patrick Catullo , and Jeff Romley announced today that the first ever Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along has extended its engagement by popular demand. Originally announced to run through January 21, 2024, Merrily We Roll Along will now run through March 24, 2024, with performances beginning on Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at the Hudson Theatre (141 W 44th Street). Directed by multi-Olivier Award® winner Maria Friedman , Merrily We Roll Along features music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim , a book by George Furth, and is based on the original play by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart . As previously announced, Merrily We Roll Along will star Daniel Radcliffe as Charley Kringas, Jonathan Groff as Franklin Shepard, and Lindsay Mendez as Mary Flynn. Up Up

Back to News & Press Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two will premiere on the West Coast in 2019 Wednesday, 27 June 2018 With record-breaking productions currently running in London and New York as well as an Australian production set to premiere in Melbourne in early 2019, the San Francisco production will mark the fourth engagement of the smash hit play, as well as its West Coast premiere in North America. In a unique collaboration between Curran and Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), preparations are being made to accommodate Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , with ATG leading the operation of the theatre during the production’s run. Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said in a joint statement, “The beautiful and historic Curran in San Francisco is the perfect theatre for the next North American company of Cursed Child. We are delighted that ATG and Carole Shorenstein Hays have worked their magic to provide the ideal West Coast home for the production.” “The Bay Area is where cutting-edge culture meets the cutting-edge technology, so this wonderful example of riveting storytelling and first-of-its-kind stage magic has found its ideal home in our great city,” Carole Shorenstein Hays said. “My family and I are filled with joy thinking about all the audiences coming to San Francisco to experience Harry Potter and The Cursed Child – particularly first-time and young theatergoers, who have always been a core part of our mission.” Built in 1922, the Curran has housed some of the biggest productions in theater history and has maintained a reputation over the course of its life as one of the premier live entertainment venues in North America. Under the curation of eight-time Tony Award-winner Carole Shorenstein Hays, the Curran reopened its 1,600 seat venue in January 2017 with the groundbreaking musical Fun Home after completeing an extensive two-year renovation and restoration. Working alongside her husband, Dr. Jeffrey Hays, and children, Gracie Hays and Wally Hays, Ms. Shorenstein Hays set a new mission for the venue: to create a new kind of artistic hub in the Bay Area, while introducing young audiences to the theater through a wide range of programmatic and philanthropic initiatives. Since 2017, the Curran has offered a season of jaw-dropping theater, entertainment and artistry, offering new works by some of the world's most celebrated theater artists and an eclectic line-up of special events. For additional information, visit sfcurran.com. Information on performance dates, purchasing tickets, casting and all further details will be announced in the coming months. Visit www.HarryPotterThePlay.com/San-Francisco to sign up for the mailing list to stay up to date with the latest news and updates. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling , Jack Thorne and John Tiffany , Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play by Jack Thorne , directed by John Tiffany . The production is one play presented in two parts. Both parts are intended to be seen in order on the same day (matinee and evening) or on two consecutive evenings, or each part can be seen separately. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child had its Broadway premiere earlier this year at New York’s Lyric Theatre. The most awarded show of the Broadway season, it has been honored with 25 major awards including: six Tony Awards including Best Play, five Drama Desk Awards, six Outer Critics Circle Awards including Outstanding New Broadway Play, the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or off-Broadway Play, the Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Favorite New Play, four BroadwayWorld’s Theater Fans' Choice Awards including Best Play, and two Theatre World Awards. Now in its third year of performances in London, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child received its world premiere at the Palace Theatre in July 2016. The production has won 24 major theatre awards in the UK and is the most awarded play in the history of Britain’s Olivier Awards, winning a record-breaking nine awards including Best New Play and Best Director. It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and the father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child features movement by Steven Hoggett , set by Christine Jones , costumes by Katrina Lindsay , music & arrangements by Imogen Heap , lighting by Neil Austin , sound by Gareth Fry , illusions & magic by Jamie Harrison , music supervision & arrangements by Martin Lowe . US Casting by Jim Carnahan , CSA . Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions , Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions . Up Up

Back to News & Press The WhatsOnStage Podcast: Special guest Sonia Friedman talks career-firsts, the hardest shows she’s worked on and why Broadway’s model is broken Friday, 6 June 2025 Welcome to this week’s episode of the WhatsOnStage Podcast! With Tony Award-winning record breaker Stereophonic in previews in the West End, chief critic Sarah Crompton and managing editor Alex Wood hopped over to Sonia Friedman Productions offices to talk to Friedman in a wide-ranging interview. Topics include the state of new writing in the West End, star casting, why the New York model is so hard and why Broadway box office reporting is causing headaches all round. Plus – how she’s trying to find the next generation of audiences with Hugh Jackman, and what exactly about the future of UK theatre concerns her! The podcast can be listened to on various streaming platforms – including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Audible. Watch on Youtube here . Up Up

Back to Productions LYONESSE Running at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 17th October 2023. I was inspired to write Lyonesse after wondering what would happen if the dramatic action of a traditional revenge tragedy was flipped. Penelope Skinner Penelope Skinner’s writing had me gripped from the first page. I love the questions the story raises. Kristin Scott Thomas Elaine ( Kristin Scott Thomas ) a reclusive and talented actress, disappears in mysterious circumstances. 30 years later, she finally feels ready to tell her story – summoning Kate, a young film executive ( Lily James ), to her remote Cornish home to assist with her glorious comeback. But who really controls the stories we tell, and how we get to tell them? Will these women own their narrative, or will it be swept away from them at any given moment? When I received Penelope Skinner’s brilliant play, I read it in one sitting and adored it – I was utterly gripped by these strong, original characters. Lily James CAST KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – Elaine LILY JAMES – Kate JAMES CORRIGAN – Greg DOON MACKICHAN – Sue SARA POWELL – Chris NICOLA BLACKMAN – Understudy Chris and Sue OLIVIA CHAPPELL – Understudy Kate NESBA CRENSHAW – Understudy Elaine SCOTT HUME – Understudy Greg CREATIVES PENELOPE SKINNER – Playwright IAN RICKSON – Director GEORGIA LOWE – Design JESSICA HUNG HAN YUN – Lighting Design STEPHEN WARBECK – Music TINGING DONG – Sound Design