Panto News from Manchester Opera House

 MYRA DUBOIS, SAMARA CASTEALLO AND EMMA WILLIAMS TO JOIN JASON MANFORD AND BEN NICKLESS IN JACK AND THE BEANSTALK AT MANCHESTER OPERA HOUSE THIS CHRISTMAS

 

Further casting has been announced for Jack and the Beanstalk at Manchester Opera House this Christmas. Multi-award-winning star of stage and screen Myra DuBois joins the cast as Mrs Blunderbore, Samara Casteallo returns for another year in the Opera House panto as The Spirit of the Beans, and West-End performer Emma Williams joins the cast as Princess Jill, running from Sat 2 – Sun 31 December 2023.

 

The news follows the earlier announcement that Comedy superstar Jason Manford will return to lead the cast in the title role of Jack, alongside returning Manchester panto favourite Ben Nickless as Silly Simon, seeing the dynamic duo come together for a second year by popular demand.

 

The self-declared ‘Siren from South Yorkshire’, the larger-than-life Myra DuBois became a household name in 2020 making the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent. Alongside entertaining the nation on BGT, Myra has been seen performing across London and the UK. Myra’s solo show Dead Funny played at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and made its international debut at the Sydney Opera House.

 

Myra said: "I have adored Manchester for many moons, so imagine my delight when I was told I'd get to spend this Christmas terrorising it's children as the utterly wicked Giant's wife, Mrs Blunderbore, in Jack and the Beanstalk. And opposite Jason Manford and Ben Nickless, no less! What a Christmas we shall have! I can't wait to lure my AdMyras to the Opera House this Holiday season."

 

Samara Casteallo returns as The Spirit of the Beans after last year’s successful run as Tink in The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan alongside Jason and Ben. Samara’s credits include Tina Turner The Musical (Aldwych Theatre), Goldilocks & The Three Bears (The London Palladium), Matilda The Musical (UK Tour), Original Cast of Dreamgirls (Savoy Theatre), Starlight Express (Bochum, Germany) and Little Inez in Hairspray (Leicester Curve).

 

Emma Williams, who joins the cast as Princess Jill, made her West End debut as Truly Scrumptious in the original cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at The London Palladium, winning the Arts Correspondents' Award for Best Newcomer. She has received four Laurence Olivier Award nominations for her work in Love Story, Zorro, Mrs Henderson Presents and Half A Sixpence, for which she also won the WhatsOnStage and West End Wilma Awards. Her portrayal of Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun (UK Tour) earned her a Manchester Theatre Award nomination and she is also the voice of Mama Bunny in Rhyme Time Town for Dreamworks.

 

Brought to audiences by the World’s biggest pantomime producer, Crossroads Pantomimes, Jack and the Beanstalk will feature all the madcap fun Manchester audiences have come to expect from the Opera House Christmas spectacular, with stunning special effects, fabulous song and dance numbers and plenty of audience participation.

 

Follow Jack and climb a beanstalk of gigantic proportions to cloudland in the GIANT family pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, running from Sat 2 – Sun 31 December 2023.

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