Megan Hilty and Rachel Tucker will lead a new concert staging of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at the London Palladium next spring, directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle with an orchestra of 30. Three performances only, on 26-27 March 2027, and tickets go on sale on Friday 18 September 2026.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes comes to the London Palladium next spring for three performances only. Megan Hilty plays Lorelei Lee, Rachel Tucker plays Dorothy Shaw, and tickets go on sale on Friday 18 September 2026.
Warren Carlyle directs and choreographs, with an orchestra of 30 musicians led by Alan Williams. The run is deliberately short: a matinee and an evening on Friday 26 March 2027, then a single evening performance on Saturday 27 March.
The musical dates from 1949, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Leo Robin and a book by Anita Loos and Joseph Fields, adapted from Loos’s own novel. It follows two showgirls aboard an ocean liner bound for Paris, and the score carries Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, A Little Girl from Little Rock and Bye Bye Baby. Carol Channing created Lorelei on Broadway; Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell took the two parts in the 1953 film.
Megan Hilty has played Lorelei Lee once before, in New York City Center’s Encores! production. She was Tony-nominated for Death Becomes Her on Broadway, made her Broadway debut as Glinda in Wicked, and originated Doralee Rhodes in 9 to 5: The Musical. Television audiences know her as Ivy Lynn in Smash — a part that had her playing an actress playing Monroe, which gives this casting a second layer.
Rachel Tucker is currently playing Louise in Thelma & Louise at the Young Vic. She was the longest-running Elphaba in Wicked, in the West End and on Broadway, originated Beverley Bass in Come From Away in London, and played Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd’s Sunset Boulevard.
Warren Carlyle has 17 Broadway productions behind him and won the Tony Award for Best Choreography for After Midnight. His credits include Hello, Dolly! and The Music Man. This is his first production in London in more than 25 years.
Producers Darren Bell for Darren Bell Productions and Peter Taylor and Sam Griffiths for Cuffe & Taylor said: “Event theatre has become a staple of London’s theatre calendar, and we wanted our next show to return to the scale of golden age musical theatre. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes gives us huge tap numbers, an orchestra of 30 musicians, and a production made for The London Palladium. Bringing Megan back to Lorelei after her two sold-out London concerts, opposite Rachel Tucker as Dorothy, felt totally irresistible. With Warren Carlyle directing and choreographing, audiences can expect big company dance, plenty of tap, and a proper Broadway spectacle on the Palladium stage.”
The creative team also takes in set and costume designer Rebecca Brower, lighting designer Zoe Spurr, associate choreographer Joanna Goodwin and associate director Mark Hedges, with ensemble casting by Pearsons Casting and general management by QUBE Theatricals. Further casting is to be announced.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in concert runs at the London Palladium on Friday 26 March 2027 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, and Saturday 27 March at 7.30pm.
