Victoria Wood Musical Fourteen Again Heads to the Menier for a Winter Run
Fourteen Again, a musical with songs by Victoria Wood and a book by Tom MacRae, starts previews at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London on 21 November. WhatsOnStage reports that the official opening night is 2 December, and the run is booked until 27 February 2027.
Previews are performances given before the press night, the first night when critics are invited. They give the cast and crew time to fine-tune the show with a live audience before it officially opens.
Neil Morrissey, Ria Jones and Sally Ann Triplett lead the cast. Morrissey plays Duncan, Jones plays Lou and Triplett plays Peggy. Jayne Ashley and Matt Gillett are the understudies, who learn the roles in case a cast member cannot perform.
The show has already been seen outside London. It played at the Victoria Wood Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere earlier this year. Producer Charlotte Scott and designer Roger Glossop commissioned it to mark the renaming of the Old Laundry Theatre as the Victoria Wood Theatre. It was also written to mark ten years since Wood's death.
Jonathan O'Boyle directs the production. Nigel Lilley is musical supervisor, arranger and co-orchestrator, and Archie McMorran is musical director and co-orchestrator. Sammy Murray is the choreographer. Roger Glossop designs the set, Caroline Hughes the costumes, Jason Taylor the lighting, Sam Glossop the sound and Leo Flint the video.
The Menier sits at 4 O'Meara Street, SE1, a six-minute walk from London Bridge station. Borough and London Bridge are the nearest Underground stations.
For audiences, the news is the dates. Previews begin three weeks from now, and the run stretches through the winter into the end of February. Anyone planning a visit will want to check the Menier's own listings for ticket prices and availability, as the theatre sets those.
The announcement also brings the show back to the London stage that Wood knew well. Her songs have never had a full musical built around them in the capital before, at least not one that has been mounted here. Rehearsal photographs by Johan Persson have been released ahead of the opening.
