Patti LuPone, the award-winning American actress, is to make her first West End musical appearance in a quarter of century in a brand new version of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. 

Casting has just been announced for the production, which is the first for a new company, Elliott & Harper. It will also star Rosalie Craig as the lead character – Bobbi – who is traditionally played by a man. Composer and lyricist Sondheim – whose musical Follies is currently playing at the National Theatre - gave his blessing to the production after seeing a workshop. The new version also changes a number of lyrics to fit the gender reversal. 

Company will be directed by Marianne Elliott, who also helmed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (which won seven Olivier awards, as well as a Tony award) and War Horse, for which she also won a Tony award.

“If you’ve got somebody as distinguished and inventive and good as Marianne Elliott, and she says, 'I would love to do Company with a female central character.'… What is there to lose?” Sondheim told the L.A. Times.

The show opens at the Gielgud Theatre in September 2018