Emma Salvo and Sophie-Louise Dann will play Greta and Lamia in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, completing the ten-strong company for the new British musical's world premiere at HOME in Manchester.
Emma Salvo takes the role of Greta and Sophie-Louise Dann the role of Lamia in the world premiere of The Sorcerer's Apprentice at HOME in Manchester. The two castings complete a company of ten.
Salvo originated the role of Janice in the Olivier Award-winning West End production of Come From Away. Other credits include The Toxic Avenger and Grease.
Dann played Madame Morrible in Wicked in the West End from 2022 to 2025, and was nominated for an Olivier Award as Celia in The Girls. Dann has also played Madame Thenardier in Les Miserables.
They join Imogen Craig as Eva, Kai Davies as Erik, Mateo Oxley as Fabian and Mark Rice-Oxley as Johan. Craig's credits include Starter for Ten and Davies's include Clarkston. Oxley's include The 39 Steps on UK tour and Angels in America, Three Days in the Country and The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable at the National Theatre. Rice-Oxley's include Blood Brothers, The Dwarfs and EastEnders.
The ensemble is Jacob Beresford, whose credits include Marty McFly in Back to the Future: The Musical and We Will Rock You; Mountview graduate Adriana Da Cunha; Sharlise Fitzgerald, making a professional debut; and Josh Rosewood, whose credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Watermill.
The musical has book and lyrics by Richard Hough, whose credits include Our Man In Havana at the Watermill and Firebird at the King's Head, and music by the Drama Desk-nominated composer Alexander S. Bermange, whose credits include I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical. Kirk Jameson directs, with credits including Madagascar The Musical and Song from Far Away.
It is produced by the Olivier Award winner James Seabright, who commissioned the piece in 2015 and has presented concert and digital versions of it since.
The story is set in a Scandinavian town lit by the Northern Lights and pushed to the edge of collapse by its own pursuit of progress. To save Midgard, a sorcerer and her apprentice have to work out how to make magic together, and quickly. Brooms come to life, love returns, and the apprentice's new powers leave havoc, catastrophe and joy behind them. The source is Goethe's poem, familiar to most audiences through Paul Dukas' symphonic work and the Disney film Fantasia; this version swaps the genders of the central pair, so the sorcerer is a woman.
The staging follows a digital version released in 2021. Theatre Weekly called that version "utterly enchanting in every way… reminds us how magical musicals can be", and The Stage described it as a "properly charming contemporary fairytale… full of romance and magic".
The Sorcerer's Apprentice runs at HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, from Friday 27 November 2026 to Saturday 2 January 2027. Press night is on Wednesday 2 December 2026 at 7.00pm.
