First look: Jonathan Groff leads RSC's all-male As You Like It
First-look production photographs have been released for the Royal Shakespeare Company's all-male As You Like It, with Jonathan Groff as Rosalind.
The pictures were published on 6 October while the production is playing in Stratford-upon-Avon. The show opened on 26 September and runs until 7 November, according to WhatsOnStage.
Groff leads a company made up entirely of men. He plays Rosalind opposite Fisayo Akinade as Celia and Elliot Barnes-Worrell as Orlando.
The cast also includes Gary Wilmot in the dual roles of Duke Frederick and Duke Senior, Richard McCabe as Jaques and Greg Haiste as Touchstone. Caleb Roberts plays Oliver and Luke McCall plays Amiens.
The production is directed by Daniel Evans, the RSC's co-artistic director. The photographs were taken by Marc Brenner and show Groff and the full company in costume on stage.
The creative team includes Anisha Fields as set designer, Colin Richmond as costume designer and Ryan Day as lighting designer. Theo Jamieson is composer, arranger and music supervisor.
For Groff, the run is a Stratford debut. The Tony Award winner is making his first appearance with the RSC as Rosalind, as listed on the company's show page. He most recently starred on Broadway as Bobby Darin in Just in Time, a production on which he also served as a producer, according to the RSC.
What makes this stand out is the casting. Rosalind is one of Shakespeare's largest comic roles, and here it is played by a man in a production where all the parts are played by men. For fans outside Stratford, the new photographs offer the first detailed look at how that company appears together on stage.
