A Face in the Crowd Tickets

What happens when you give an unstable celebrity too much power and they start meddling in politics? Ramin Karimloo, Olly Dobson and Anoushka Lucas star in this new version of the 1957 movie, with music by the brilliant Elvis Costello.

Director Elia Kazan’s popular movie has been adapted for the stage by Sarah Ruhl (Eurydice, The Clean House), on at the Young Vic Theatre in autumn 2024 to enjoy its world premiere.

A Face in the Crowd - The Story

When local radio producer Marcia Jeffries interviews drunk drifter ‘Lonesome Rhodes’ in his jail cell, she immediately sees his potential and gives him a job. But as Lonesome’s fans gets more and more vocal and politicians start noticing, Marcia realises she has set free a negative force she can’t control any more.

Unlike his mellow radio persona, Rhodes turns into an egomaniac who treats his staff like dirt. Marcia feels guilty for creating a monster but as Mel says, a faker like Rhodes might fool people for a while, but folk get wise to him in the end. “And that’s our strength.”

The result is a perfectly-timed warning revealing the danger of letting celebrities take power and then letting them run amok. If you think it sounds a bit like what happened with Donald Trump, you’re right.

About A Face in the Crowd

A Face in the Crowd features dazzling original music by the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Elvis Costello and the fun is directed by the venue’s Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah. The original story that inspired the movie and this production was written by Budd Schulberg.

A Face in the Crowd cast and creatives

Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables) plays the unlikely out-of-control radio celebrity Lonesome Rhodes, and Anoushka Lucas (Oklahoma!, Elephant) plays radio producer Marcia Jeffries. Stavros Demetraki (Oklahoma!, The Vote) plays Joey D, Olly Dobson (Back to the Future, Just for One Day) is Mel Miller, and Emily Florence is Betty Lou.

Howard Gossington (Patriots, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) plays Sheriff Hosner and ensemble, and the rest of the ensemble includes Andrew Coshan (Groundhog Day, A View from the Bridge), Sadie-Jean Shirley (Ain’t Too Proud, White Christmas), Chris Jenkins (Jack Absolute Flies Again, War of the Worlds), Durone Stokes (Groundhog Day, The Lion King), Vicki Lee Taylor (Heathers the Musical, Mrs Doubtfire) and Annie Wensak (Flowers for Mrs Harris, My Fair Lady). The Swings are Jasmin Colangelo (Groundhog Day, Legally Blonde) and Bobby Windebank (The Time Traveller’s Wife, Rock of Ages).

Experience this ambitious new musical adaptation of the cult classic 1957 film in London for a limited season this Autumn!