Malcolm Storry Headlines London’s The Lord of the Rings; Full Cast Announced

Full casting has been announced for the West End run of The Lord of the Rings. Malcolm Storry will play Gandalf, joining the previously announced Laura Michelle Kelly as Galadriel. Also, Canadian actor Michael Therriault and Brits James Loye, Peter Howe and Owen Sharpe will reprise the roles they created for the original Toronto production in 2006, as Gollum, Frodo, Sam and Pippin, respectively.

Storry has performed many seasons for the RSC, including an appearance in the 2005 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Stratford-Upon-Avon. He was most recently seen in Trevor Nunn's production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun at the National Theatre last year.

Therriault, who won the Canadian Dora Award for Best Actor in a Musical for creating the role of Gollum in Toronto, previously appeared there as Leo Bloom in the Canadian production of The Producers, for which he also won a Dora Award. He has also starred in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway and has performed for seven seasons at Stratford, Ontario. Loye studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and subsequently spent five years in provincial theatre. Prior to The Lord of the Rings, he appeared as Prince Charming on a tour of the Young Vic's dark take on Sleeping Beauty, which went to New York. Howe graduated from the London Institute of Performing Arts in 2004, landing his first major stage role as Sam in The Lord of the Rings in 2006, which earned him a Dora award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. Sharpe has previously appeared for the National, as Tony Lumpkin in a touring production of She Stoops to Conquer, and as Ollie Goldsmith in A Laughing Matter. He has also appeared in the Old Vic's panto Aladdin, opposite screen Gandalf Sir Ian McKellen.

The cast also features Jerome Pradon, star of many West End productions including Les Miserables and Martin Guerre, as Aragorn. Richard Henders, most recently seen in Caroline, or Change at the National, and previously Olivier nominated for Pacific Overtures at the Donmar Warehouse, features as Merry. Michael Rouse, last seen in The Boy Friend at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, will play Legolas. Sevan Stephan, who was Big Jule in Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly, takes on the role of Gimli. Steven Miller, previously in Fiddler on the Roof at the Sheffield Crucible, will play Boromir, and Rosalie Craig, seen in the BBC TV productions of My Family and other Animals and Casanova, will play Arwen.

The company of 50 also includes Andrew Jarvis as Elrond, Terence Frisch as Bilbo, Tim Morgan as Théoden and Kirsty Malpass as Rosie. The remaining ensemble comprises Alexandra Bonnet, Greg Bradley, James Byng, Darren Carnall, Lee Clayden, Jennie Dale, Claire Doyle, Stephen Emery, Ben Evans, Josh Feldshuh, Alma Ferovic, Wayne Fitsimmons, Chris Gage, David Grant, Shaun Henson, Christopher D. Hunt, Luke Johnson, Corrie Mac, Stuart Neal, Tim Parker, Richard Roe, Andrew Rothwell, Adam Salter, Robbie Scotcher, Nick Searle, Stevie Tate-Bauer, Jon Tsouras, Gavin Wilkinson, Glen Wilkinson, Sam Wilmot and Kirk Zammit.

The Lord of the Rings opens at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on May 9, prior to an official opening on 19 June. Rehearsals begin on February 5.