Body Swap! Full Cast Announced for Freaky Friday World Premiere in D.C. This Fall

Signature Theatre has announced the full cast and creative team for the world premiere production of Disney's Freaky Friday.

Developed by Disney Theatrical Productions expressly for licensing to theatres, Freaky Friday features a book by Bridget Carpenter, music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Brian Yorkey. This premiere production will be directed by Christopher Ashley with choreography by Sergio Trujillo. Freaky Friday will run from October 4 - November 20in Signature Theatre's MAX Theatre.

When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again before mom's big wedding. Freaky Friday, a new musical comedy based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers and the hit Disney films, is a hilarious, contemporary update of an American classic in which a mother and daughter really see what it is to be a family and experience each other's lives first-hand, if only for a day.

The production will star Heidi Blickenstaff (Broadway's Something Rotten) as Katherine Blake and Emma Hunton (Broadway's Spring Awakening) as Ellie Blake, as well as Jason Gotay (Broadway's Bring It On The Musical) as Adam and Alan H Green (Broadway's School of Rock) as Mike.

Blickenstaff, Hunton, Gotay and Green are joined in the cast by Shayna Blass (Signature's The Mystery of Love & Sex), Tyler Bowman (Washington National Opera's Lost in the Stars), Cicily Daniels (Broadway's The Little Mermaid), Jamie Eacker (Signature's The Fix), Sherri L. Edelen (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles), Katie Ladner (Off-Broadway's Heathers: The Musical), Storm Lever (New York City Center's Wringer), J.Elaine Marcos (Broadway's Annie), Thaddeus McCants (Signature's The Flick), Calvin McCullough (Signature's Skin & Bones), Jake Heston Miller (Arena Stage's Oliver), Tanisha Moore (National Tour of Flashdance The Musical), Julian Ramos (Music Theater Witchita's West Side Story), Olivia Ashley Reed (Signature's West Side Story), Bobby Smith (Signature's La Cage Aux Folles), Robert Walters (Riverside Theater - Australia Bye Bye Birdie), and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Second Stage's Things to Ruin).

The creative team comprises some of the most sought-after artists working in the musical theatre and a major voice new to the medium. Playwright Bridget Carpenter writes her first musical book, having served as co-executive producer and writer on two recent beloved TV hits, "Friday Night Lights" and "Parenthood," and as executive producer and showrunner of Hulu's series "11.22.63," based on the Stephen King bestselling novel. Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and a Tony Award for their ground-breaking Next to Normal and most recently created the celebrated musical If/Then, which premiered at The National Theatre in Washington, DC. Director Christopher Ashley is a two-time Tony nominee (Rocky Horror Show and Memphis) and artistic director of the world-renowned La Jolla Playhouse. Olivier Award winner and Tony Nominee Sergio Trujillo, one of Broadway's busiest choreographers, is best known for the 10-year smash Jersey Boys and his newest hit On Your Feet.

The creative team also includes Music Supervision by Bryan Perri; Co-Orchestrations by Michael Starobin; Co-Vocal Arrangements by Carmel Dean; Scenic Design by Beowulf Boritt; Costume Design by Emily Rebholz; Lighting Design by Howell Binkley; Sound Design by Brian Ronan and Kai Harada; Makeup and Wig Design by Leah Loukas; Special Effects Consultant Jeremy Chernick; Associate Director Amy Corcoran; Associate Choreographer Jermaine Rembert; Production Stage Manager Kerry Epstein; Assistant Stage Manager Julianne Menassian; and New York Casting by Eric Woodall and Tara Rubin, Tara Rubin Casting, CSA.

Set in the present day, Freaky Friday features a tuneful pop-rock score, fittingly for a work that has effortlessly updated throughout its several iterations. The novel (1972), the first film starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster (1976), the second film starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan (2003) and this new stage musical are all set in their respective present day.

The title was developed by Disney Theatrical to be licensed via partner Musical Theatre International first to professional and then amateur theatres. It follows the trajectory of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is now available to professional theatres worldwide following acclaimed engagements at La Jolla Playhouse and Paper Mill Playhouse.

Recipient of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award, Signature Theatre is a non-profit professional theater company in Arlington, Virginia dedicated to producing contemporary musicals and plays, reinventing classic musicals, and developing new work. Under the leadership of co-founder and Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland, Signature has presented 44 world premiere productions and is renowned for combining Broadway-quality productions with intimate playing spaces.

In addition to hosting the finest talent from the DC metropolitan area and New York, Signature has been home to such luminaries as Chita Rivera, Sheryl Crow, Barry Levinson, George Hearn, Hunter Foster, Emily Skinner, Kathleen Marshall, Ann Reinking, Marc Kudisch, Judy Kuhn, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Cameron Mackintosh, Terrence McNally, and the company's signature composer, Stephen Sondheim. Since its founding in 1989, Signature has won 97 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region's professional theater and has been honored with 368 nominations.