Portrush woman directs Greatest Showman star Keala Settle in West End
A West End play starring The Greatest Showman’s Keala Settle is about to open under the directorship of an award-winning Portrush woman.
Writer and director Bronagh Lagan has re-envisioned the play Mrs President which runs at the Charing Cross Theatre in London until March 8.
Keala Settle, who shot to fame as the Bearded Lady Lettie Lutz in the smash hit movie The Greatest Showman. stars Mrs President Mary Lincoln.
Mary Lincoln is a woman under siege – with her grief, her detractors, and herself. In the shadow of her late husband, President Abraham Lincoln, she battles a world eager to define her and a conscience that will not rest.
Accused of treason and shunned by society, she turns to Mathew Brady, the world’s first celebrity photographer — played by Hal Fowler (Les Miserables, Aspects of Love, Flowers for Mrs Harris) — to help her reclaim her story.
But as the lens turns between them, the power shifts, and their collaboration spirals into a fierce struggle for authorship, truth, and control.
The play, directed by Bronagh Lagan, features Settle in a rare non-singing dramatic role that showcases her extraordinary depth and power.
Bronagh is the director of Olivier nominated play Cruise by Jack Holden which ran for four weeks at The Duchess Theatre and was the first new play to open the West End after the pandemic.
Cruise returned to the Apollo Theatre, West End for another sell out run. She also directed a film version of the show in Shoreditch Town Hall's Ditch which won an ONCOMM award for Best Recorded Show.
Most recently she directed the award-winning London premier of Flowers for Mrs Harris, starring the Olivier Award-winning and Tony nominated Jenna Russell with new orchestrations by Jason Carr.
Bronagh’s production of Rags, the musical by Charles Strouse and Stephen Schwartz at The Park Theatre received nine Off West End Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Production.
Bronagh worked closely with Wicked composter Stephen Schwartz in reimagining the script for an actor-musician production and curated a cast album of her production of Rags which is available on iTunes and Spotify.
The Portrush woman also directed the world premier of Umm Kulthum the first bilingual English and Arabic musical based on the life of Umm Kulthum. The show was first performed at London Palladium, The National Theatre of Bahrain and then at Dubai Opera House.
Last year she directed UK Tour of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice starring Christina Bianco, RUMI at the ENO starring Ramin Karimloo and the European premier of Little Women, the musical which is available on Broadway HD.
Passionate about new writing, Bronagh recently directed the world premier of Animal by Jon Bradfield at The Park Theatre. The show has been nominated for 5 Off West End awards including Best New Play and Best Director.
In addition to directing, Bronagh is part of the From Page To Stage Literary department for Aria Entertainment and is also a regular practitioner at top drama schools in London.