Kneehigh Theatre Returns to West End with The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Kneehigh Theatre, which presented the Broadway-bound international hit Brief Encounter in 2008, will return to London’s West End with its newest musical reimagining, that of Michel Legrand’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Directed by Emma Rice with lyrics translated by Sheldon Harnick, the new version will play the Curve Leicester from February 11 through 26, 2011, before transferring to a West End house to be announced shortly. Casting and additional details will be released soon.

In The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, young French auto mechanic Guy Fouchier has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève vow to remain lovers. After discovering she is carrying Guy’s child, Genevieve must choose between waiting for his return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.

The show is based on the classic Jacques Demy film of the same title. Released in 1964, it starred a then 19-year-old Catherine Deneuve as Genevieve, and went on to earn five Academy Award nominations. The flick famously featured the Academy Award nominated song “I Will Wait for You,” which has subsequently been recorded by artists ranging from Liza Minnelli to Frank Sinatra.

Kneehigh Artistic Director Emma Rice has directed Brief Encounter at the Haymarket Cinema and the successive national and international tours of that acclaimed production, set to open on Broadway in September 2010. Additional credits include Pandora’s Box, The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Tristan & Yseult, Nights at the Circus and Cymbeline, among others.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg will feature design by Lez Brotherston, lighting by Malcolm Rippeth, sound by Simon Baker and musical supervision by Nigel Lilley.