Anna-Jane Casey
Encyclopedia
Anna-Jane Casey is an English
singer, dancer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre
.
. Her sister Natalie Casey
is also an actress best known for her television roles in Hollyoaks
and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
.
Casey married fellow actor Graham MacDuff in 1998. The pair started dating whilst on the national tour of West Side Story
and have a daughter together.
. She made her West End
debut at age 16 as Rumpleteazer
in Cats at New London Theatre
. After two years with Cats she then went on to Children of Eden
at the Prince Edward Theatre
.
In 1993 Casey performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
at the London Palladium
in the role of Reuben's Wife. In 1993 she played Barbara-Lou and Rizzo (replacement) in Grease
at Dominion Theatre
. She spent two years in Starlight Express
at the Apollo Victoria Theatre
playing the roles of Buffy, Dinah and Pearl. In 1998 Casey fulfilled a lifelong ambition by playing Anita in West Side Story
, both at the Prince Edward Theatre
and on the national tour. It was during this tour she met her husband, Graham MacDuff. Casey made her first appearance in Chicago as Velma Kelly
in 1998, a role she has reprised on numerous occasions.
In 2003 Casey landed the role of Frankie Frayne in the London revival of On Your Toes
at the Southbank Centre. In 2005 she won the TMA (Theatrical Management Association) Award for Best Performance in a Musical playing Mabel in Mack & Mabel
at the Watermill Theatre
. She originated the role of Dot in the London revival of Sunday in the Park with George
at the Menier Chocolate Factory
in 2005 and then went on to play Maggie in Hobson's Choice from 17 May to 8 July 2006 at Watermill Theatre
before giving birth to her daughter. During 2009 she appeared in Forbidden Broadway
at the Menier Chocolate Factory and spent the Christmas period in the title role of Aladdin
at Hackney Empire
. Casey returned to Chicago from February until 24 April 2010 playing Velma Kelly
alongside Ruthie Henshall
.
Casey appeared in the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park production of The Comedy of Errors
as the Courtesan, in the summer of 2010. She appeared in the BBC Prom celebrating the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein. The concert was broadcast on the BBC on Saturday 28 August 2010.
, The Bill
, Heartbeat and Holby City
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
singer, dancer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
.
Personal life
Casey was born in Salford, Lancashire, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Her sister Natalie Casey
Natalie Casey
Natalie Casey is an English actress, television presenter and singer. She is best known for her long running roles playing Carol Groves in the TV series Hollyoaks from 1995 to 2000 and playing Donna Henshaw in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps from 2001 to 2011...
is also an actress best known for her television roles in Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps was a BBC sitcom created and written by Susan Nickson. It is set in the town of Runcorn in Cheshire, England, and initially revolves around the lives of five twenty-somethings, played by Ralf Little , Sheridan Smith , Will Mellor , Natalie Casey and...
.
Casey married fellow actor Graham MacDuff in 1998. The pair started dating whilst on the national tour of West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
and have a daughter together.
Stage career
Casey trained at Lupino Dance School in BuryBury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...
. She made her West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
debut at age 16 as Rumpleteazer
Rumpleteazer
Rumpleteazer is a character in T. S. Eliot's book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats.-The Poem:...
in Cats at New London Theatre
New London Theatre
The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden...
. After two years with Cats she then went on to Children of Eden
Children of Eden
Children of Eden is a two-act musical play with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John Caird. The musical is based on the Book of Genesis. Act I tells the story of Adam and Eve, Cain, and Abel, and Act II deals with Noah and the Flood...
at the Prince Edward Theatre
Prince Edward Theatre
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster.The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet...
.
In 1993 Casey performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
in the role of Reuben's Wife. In 1993 she played Barbara-Lou and Rizzo (replacement) in Grease
Grease (musical)
Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
at Dominion Theatre
Dominion Theatre
The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre on Tottenham Court Road close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point Tower, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:...
. She spent two years in Starlight Express
Starlight Express
Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates...
at the Apollo Victoria Theatre
Apollo Victoria Theatre
The Apollo Victoria Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Wilton Road near Victoria station in the City of Westminster. Opened as a cinema and variety theatre, the Apollo Victoria became a venue for musical theatre, beginning with The Sound of Music in 1981, and including the long-running...
playing the roles of Buffy, Dinah and Pearl. In 1998 Casey fulfilled a lifelong ambition by playing Anita in West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
, both at the Prince Edward Theatre
Prince Edward Theatre
The Prince Edward Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Old Compton Street, just north of Leicester Square, in the City of Westminster.The theatre was designed in 1930 by Edward A. Stone, with an interior designed by Marc-Henri Levy and Gaston Laverdet...
and on the national tour. It was during this tour she met her husband, Graham MacDuff. Casey made her first appearance in Chicago as Velma Kelly
Velma Kelly
Velma Kelly is one of the main characters in the successful Broadway musical Chicago. The Velma Kelly in Chicago: The Movie is a nightclub singer/vaudevillian who was accused of murder of her husband and sister. She is sent to the Cook County Jail where she hires the best soliciting lawyer, Billy...
in 1998, a role she has reprised on numerous occasions.
In 2003 Casey landed the role of Frankie Frayne in the London revival of On Your Toes
On Your Toes
On Your Toes is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart, music by Rodgers, and lyrics by Hart. It was adapted into a film in 1939....
at the Southbank Centre. In 2005 she won the TMA (Theatrical Management Association) Award for Best Performance in a Musical playing Mabel in Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel
Mack & Mabel is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman. The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship between Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand , who became one of his biggest stars...
at the Watermill Theatre
Watermill Theatre
The Watermill Theatre is an award -winning, professional repertory theatre with charitable status. It is a converted watermill with gardens beside the River Lambourn, in Bagnor, near Newbury, Berkshire, England...
. She originated the role of Dot in the London revival of Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat...
at the Menier Chocolate Factory
Menier Chocolate Factory
The Menier Chocolate Factory is an award-winning 180 seat fringe studio theatre, restaurant and gallery. It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate Company factory in Southwark Street, a major street in the London Borough of Southwark, central south London, England. The theatre stages plays...
in 2005 and then went on to play Maggie in Hobson's Choice from 17 May to 8 July 2006 at Watermill Theatre
Watermill Theatre
The Watermill Theatre is an award -winning, professional repertory theatre with charitable status. It is a converted watermill with gardens beside the River Lambourn, in Bagnor, near Newbury, Berkshire, England...
before giving birth to her daughter. During 2009 she appeared in Forbidden Broadway
Forbidden Broadway
Forbidden Broadway is an Off-Broadway satirical revue conceived, written and directed by Gerard Alessandrini. The original version of the revue opened on January 15, 1982 at Palsson's Supper Club in New York City and ran for 2,332 performances. Alessandrini has rewritten the show over a dozen...
at the Menier Chocolate Factory and spent the Christmas period in the title role of Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
at Hackney Empire
Hackney Empire
The Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney, built in 1901 as a music hall.-History:Hackney Empire is a grade II* listed building...
. Casey returned to Chicago from February until 24 April 2010 playing Velma Kelly
Velma Kelly
Velma Kelly is one of the main characters in the successful Broadway musical Chicago. The Velma Kelly in Chicago: The Movie is a nightclub singer/vaudevillian who was accused of murder of her husband and sister. She is sent to the Cook County Jail where she hires the best soliciting lawyer, Billy...
alongside Ruthie Henshall
Ruthie Henshall
Valentine Ruth Henshall , better known as Ruthie Henshall, is an English singer, dancer, and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Henshall attended the Laine Theatre Arts school in Epsom, Surrey before making her first professional appearance on stage in 1986...
.
Casey appeared in the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park production of The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
as the Courtesan, in the summer of 2010. She appeared in the BBC Prom celebrating the music of Rodgers & Hammerstein. The concert was broadcast on the BBC on Saturday 28 August 2010.
Television roles
She has starred in roles on EastEndersEastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, Heartbeat and Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
.