Once On This Island in Concert

Rehearsals are officially a go with our beautiful company🌺☀️ #onceonthisisland #london #drurylane

Our full company of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND will tell the story at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in just under two weeks🌺✨ Have you booked your tickets yet? #onceonthisisland #drurylane #alexnewell #marishawallace #london

Not much longer to wait! Who's counting down the days?

AKO MITCHELL⠀ ⠀ Theatre includes: Dracula in Dracapella (The Park Theatre); Mr Duvall in Mean Girls (Savoy Theatre - Original West End Cast); Max Detweiler in Sound of Music (Chichester Festival Theatre); Kweku in Black Superhero (Royal Court); Roy Johnson in The Light in the Piazza In Concert (Alexandra Palace); Mister in The Color Purple (Leicester Curve & Birmingham Hippodrome UK tour); The Arbiter in Chess (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Bus/Dryer in Caroline, Or Change (Minerva Theatre and West End); Larry in Indecent Proposal, Grey Gardens (Southwark Playhouse); Preacher in Bonnie & Clyde (West End); Bob Barker in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town (Opera Holland Park); Raymond in Far From Heaven (MTFest 2021); Europa Projekt Season: Europeana and Peer Gynt (RSC); Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls, Orin the Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors (Manchester Royal Exchange); Eddie in The Wild Party (The Other Palace), and more.⠀ ⠀ Television includes: FBI: International, Nova, NBC’s The Grinch That Stole Christmas, Hilda, Gameface, Avenue 5, Corpse Talk, Best & Bester, Silent Witness, Berlin Station, Strangest Weather on Earth.⠀ ⠀ Radio includes: The Great Gatsby (BBC Radio 3); The Man Who Fell to Earth (BBC Radio 4); Mueller: Trump Tower Moscow (BBC Radio 4)and many audiobooks including the Alex Cross novels.⠀ ⠀ Films include: Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Daddy’s Head, The Lion vs The Little People, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter, Johnny English Strikes Again. He directed and co-wrote the short ‘I’m In the Corner with the Bluebells’ (Toronto International Film Festival Selection and Mica Film Festival⠀ ⠀ (Best Director Award) and wrote and directed ‘I Promise’ (Cineuropa Shorts/Filminute Audience Award).⠀ ⠀

Wendy is delighted to be appearing in this production of Once on this Island She has recently finished filming The Groomsman for Hallmark TV, Death Valley and Father Brown for the BBC Wendy Mae Brown’s recent theatre credits include Becky in the UK tour of Waitress, Benedicta in The Book of Dust for Bridge Theatre, The Lorax for The Old Vic, Martha in White Christmas for Curve Theatre, Leicester, Hattie in Kiss Me Kate for The Old Vic and Chichester Festival Theatre, Oda Mae in Ghost The Musical on the UK Tour for ATG & Australian Tour for GWB Entertainment, Bloody Mary in South Pacific for Kilworth House. Her television credits include Almost Never, River, Man Down, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Porters, 40 North, Casualty and her film credits include Your Christmas or Mine?, Last Chance Harvey and Blackbeard the Pirate.

Training: Royal Academy of Music (Musical Theatre MA). Awarded Disney Theatrical Productions Scholarship. Theatre: Alicia u/s Amara and u/s Marsha in the original cast of Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical (Shaftesbury Theatre, Old Vic Theatre and Toronto); Gingy in Shrek the Musical (Eventim Apollo London); Character Artist in The Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Swan Lake, and Don Quixote. TV Appearances: BBC Comic Relief - Ensemble (Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical); ITV Royal Variety Performance - Ensemble (Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical) Radio Appearances: Magic at the Musicals - Featured Vocalist/Ensemble (Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical); BBC Radio 3 Natalie Speed & Allyson Devenish Show - Recording Artist Screen: Royal Ballet Swan Lake Film (2022) - Actor Cast Albums: Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical

Lindo trained at the Performance Preparation Academy (PPA). Credits include: Currently Swing & cover Persephone and Fates in HADESTOWN (Lyric Theatre); Ensemble & Cover Jasper in 101 DALMATIANS (UK Tour); Cosmo the Cat in DICK WHITTINGTON (Salisbury Playhouse); Ensemble in JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (Yvonne Arnaud). Represented by Michelle Blair Management

Elliot played Justin in the original West End cast of Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder! at the Ambassadors Theatre. Most recently, he appeared as Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet at Liverpool Everyman and has just finished playing Hugh in Acorn Antiques: The Musical! at The Shaftesbury Theatre, West End and Manchester Opera House. Other theatre credits include: Peevish in The Parent Agency (Storyhouse Chester); The Stock-Aitken Musical: I Should Be So Lucky (National Tour); Buffalo Bill in Annie Get Your Gun (Lavender Fields); and Of Mice and Men (Leeds Playhouse), directed by Iqbal Khan. Alongside his performance work, Elliot is a director of Theatre North, an initiative dedicated to making theatre careers more accessible and sustainable for young people across the North of England. Training: Leeds Conservatoire.

Casey is originally from Leicester and trained at Arts Educational Schools, London graduating in 2019. Credits include: ‘Hamilton’ (UK Tour), ‘Wicked’ (UK Tour), ‘Six: The Musical’ (UK Tour), ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ (Drury Lane) ‘Prince of Egypt’ (Dominion Theatre), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ (London Palladium), ‘On The Town’ (BBC Proms), ‘West Side Story’ (BBC Proms), Olivier Awards 2018 (ITV).

Melanie has most recently appeared in Mary Page Marlowe at The Old Vic. Prior to this, she played the role of Hermes in the West End premiere of Hadestown, for which she won the 2025 WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Performer in a Musical. Her previous theatre credits include: Roam at The Shaftesbury Theatre; The Book Thief at The Prince of Wale​​s Theatre; We Aren’t Kids Anymore at the Savoy Theatre; Angelique in &Juliet (West End and Broadway); Madame Morrible in Wicked at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre; Dick Whittington at the National Theatre; The Everyman Season at the Everyman Playhouse, Liverpool; Mrs Phelps in Matilda the Musical at the RSC and Cambridge Theatre; Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax at The Old Vic; Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre; Les Misérables at London’s Sondheim Theatre; Play Mas at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond; and The Bakkhai with Ben Whishaw and Bertie Carvel at the Almeida Theatre. Television credits include: EastEnders, Casualty, and Riot Women. Film credits include: London Road.

Cedric Neal was a semi-finalist on the 2019 series of “The Voice UK”. His theatre works include Hadestown at The Lyric Theatre (Black British Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Muscial), Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 at the Donmar, Guys and Dolls at the Bridge (Olivier Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical); 42nd Street for Théâtre du Châtelet; The View Upstairs at Soho Theatre; Porgy and Bess at Regent’s Park AND Broadway Richard Rogers Theatre; Dreamgirls at Signature Theatre, Arlington; Stagger Lee, Death of a Salesman and It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane… It’s Superman at Dallas Theatre Center; Back to the Future at the Adelphi Theatre, Chess at London Coliseum; Motown at Shaftesbury; and After Midnight at the Brooks Atkinson, Broadway. His screen credits include Lost in London (Pixoloid Studios), Friday Night Lights (NBC) and The Chase (Warner Brothers).

Alex Newell recently made history with their Tony Award win for the hit musical Shucked. They are a Drama Desk Award Winner and a recipient of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical. Newell starred as the God “Asaka” in the 2018 Broadway revival of Once On This Island. This show earned Newell a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album, and the show won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.