Nanny McPhee the Musical description
Nanny McPhee is a new musical about a mysterious nanny who takes charge of seven children nobody else can handle. The world premiere opens in London in summer 2027.
Widowed and overworked, Cedric Brown has run out of nannies: his seven children have seen off every one of them. Then a stranger appears at the door, warty and snaggle-toothed, leaning on a black stick, and announces that she has come to teach the household five lessons. The children resist each one. As they learn them anyway, the nanny's face begins to change.
The musical is drawn from the 2005 film Nanny McPhee, written by and starring Emma Thompson, which took its characters from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books. It is the first stage version of the story, and it has been in development with Working Title's theatre division for more than a decade. Thompson has described the sound of the score as "a cross between the Tiger Lillies and Tom Waits's Swordfishtrombones".
The book and lyrics are by Emma Thompson, who won Academy Awards for Howards End and for her screenplay for Sense and Sensibility. The music is by songwriter Gary Clark. Katy Rudd directs; her stage credits include The Ocean at the End of the Lane for the National Theatre and in the West End. Set and costume designs are by Rob Howell, with choreography by Ellen Kane, orchestrations by Simon Hale, music supervision by Nigel Lilley, lighting by Howard Hudson, sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph, illusions by Chris Fisher, puppetry by Samuel Wyer, projections by Andrzej Goulding and casting by Natalie Gallacher.
Casting for the London production has not yet been announced. An early workshop of the show, staged in 2018, was led by Olivia Colman. The theatre is still to be confirmed.
Book tickets for the stage debut of the nanny who arrives when she is needed, not when she is wanted.
