Producers of Shrek The Musical have announced the show will return to the Sunderland Empire at the start of 2018.
Performances, which will be directed by Nigel Harman, will run for two weeks only from Wednesday, January 31 to Sunday, February 11 2018.
Harman won an Olivier Award for his fine performance as Lord Farquaad in the West End production. The ex-Eastenders Star has starred as Mr Green on Downton Abbey and Bradley in Sky’s Mount Pleasant.
Harman, who made his directorial debut at the previous Shrek The Musical UK Tour, expressed his delight to be directing the highly-rated tour. He said: “I had so much fun directing the original UK & Ireland Tour that I jumped at the chance to work on it again.
“Shrek the Musical has created pivotal moments in my career – firstly winning an Olivier and then my directorial debut. It’s certainly become one of the classic family musicals of all time and I’m really proud to be a part of it.”
During its first UK and Ireland tour in 2014/15, the show was viewed by almost 800,000 people in 20 months at 25 major venues.
One of those venues was the Sunderland Empire. General Manager Ben Phillips said the show “delighted” audiences in its last visit.
He said: “Shrek delighted audiences young and old on his last visit and was a popular personality around the theatre! The musical itself is a quality production and I’m sure the show with its wonderful characters will be just as fun this time round.”
“We’re thrilled to be welcoming back this wonderful production at the beginning of 2018,” he added.
Tickets for Shrek are on sale from tomorrow (February 24) at 10am. Tickets are available in person at the Box Office on High Street West, from the Ticket Centre on 0844 871 3022 or online at www.ATGtickets.com/Sunderland.
Timeline of the Empire’s biggest shows from the last five years –