Plans for The Boy in the Dress to play in the West End

There are plans to bring The Boy in the Dress to London’s West End when theatres reopen.

Based on the children’s book written by comedian David Walliams, The Boy in the Dress tells the story of 12 year-old school boy Dennis who prefers wearing girl’s clothes.

The musical played at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre earlier this year and had originally been set to transfer to the West End at the Savoy Theatre in the autumn.

While the ongoing theatre closures have stopped that from happening, there are still plans to bring the show to London in the future.

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s artistic director Gregory Doran says he hopes to stage the musical in the West End once venues can reopen.

He told What’s On Stage: “When the environment is a bit more secure we hope to bring The Boy in the Dress into town – audiences loved it and it’d be a really shame for it not to go beyond Stratford.

“We have of course still got The Boy in the Dress CD which we haven’t released yet, it was meant to help launch the West End run, but you really have to play each day as it comes.”

The Boy in the Dress musical features a book by Mark Ravenhill with music from Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers.

Directed by Gregory Doran, the original cast featured Rufus Hound as Dennis’ dad, Irvine Iqbal plays shopkeeper Raj, Natasha Lewis plays Dennis’ best friend Darvesh’s mum, and Forbes Masson plays Mr Hawtrey, the headmaster from Dennis’ school.

They were joined by Charlotte Wakefield as Miss Windsor, David Birch as Maudlin Street Captain, Max Gill as Big Mac, Ryan Heenan as Rory, Charlotte Jaconelli as Lorna, Christina Modestou as Miss Bresslaw, Alexander Moneypenny as Gareth, Ben Thompson as Oddbod, Jamie Tyler as St Kenneth’s Captain and Grace Wylde as Louise.

Completing the adult cast were Hannah Fairclough, Ahmed Hamad, Alim Jayda, Clancy Ryan, Cilla Silvia, Jack Anthony Smart and Georgie Westall.