New musical Marie Curie to make English language premiere in London
New musical Marie Curie is to make its English language premiere at London’s Charing Cross Theatre.
The show, with book & lyrics by Seeun Choun and music from Jongyoon Choi, will run at the venue from 1 June – 28 July. It has been adapted and translated into English by Tom Ramsay, Emma Fraser and Ahreumbi Rew.
Sarah Meadows directs the production, which has already captivated audiences in Korea and Japan.
Making up the cast are Alisa Davidson (Marie Curie), Chrissie Bhima (Anne Kowalska), Thomas Josling (Pierre Curie) and Richard Meek (Ruben Dupont) with ensemble members Christopher Killik, Dean Makowski-Clayton, Rio Maye, Yujin Park, Isabel Snaas, Maya Kristal Tenenbaum and Lucy Young.
As she arrives from her native home in Poland to study at Sorbonne University in Paris, young Marie Sklodowska is certain she can make a name for herself and change the course of science. She discovers radium, a new chemical element, with her husband Pierre Curie, and she’s lauded with the Nobel Prize.
But she is faced with an overwhelming moral dilemma. As Marie discovers the lifesaving potential of radium to cure cancer, factory workers handling the glowing substance are succumbing to the insidious grip of radium poisoning.
As a woman with society against her, can she wrestle with both the potential and danger of her discovery – and what is she if radium’s dangers overshadow its possibilities?
Marie Curie premiered in South Korea in 2020 at the Chungmu Art Center and recorded a rating of 9.8 (out of 10). A live performance was then broadcast, watched by 790,000 people.
Emma Fraser is the musical director, Joanna Goodwin the choreographer, Andrew Johnson the sound designer and Jane Deitch the casting director.
For more information and tickets, visit charingcrosstheatre.co.uk
