Cry-Baby The Musical at the Arcola Theatre

The musical will run from 6 March to 12 April

It’s 1954. Everyone likes Ike, nobody likes communism and Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker is the coolest boy in Baltimore. He’s a bad boy with a good cause – truth, justice and the pursuit of rock and roll.

Enter Allison, a strait-laced rich girl who trades her “Square” boyfriend, Baldwin, for the irresistible allure of Cry-Baby and his misfit crew, the Drapes. As rivalries intensify and hearts break, the city is turned upside-down in a rollicking tale of forbidden love and teen rebellion.

With infectious rockabilly hits like “The Anti-Polio Picnic” and “Girl, Can I Kiss You with Tongue,” Cry-Baby is a politically charged, laugh-out-loud cult classic. Described as “Romeo and Juliet” meets High School Hellcats”, this subversive musical directed by Mehmet Ergen, Artistic Director of Arcola Theatre, promises a toe-tapping, boundary-breaking good time.

Adam Davidson leads the cast as Cry-Baby and Lulu-Mae Pears as Allison joined by Elliot Allinson as Baldwin Blandish, Jazzy Phoenix as Pepper Walker, Eleanor Walsh as Lenora Frigid, Chad Saint Louis as Dupree W Dupree, Kingsley Morton as Mona Malnorowski, India Chadwick as Wanda Woodward, Shirley Jameson as Mrs Cordelia Vernon-Williams and Paul Kemble as Judge and Father O’Neill.

The ensemble includes JR Ballantyne, Laura Buhagiar, Omer Cem Coltu, Ellie-Grace Cousins, Joe Grundy, Ryan Heenan, and Michael Kholwadia.

Cry-Baby is directed by Arcola Theatre’s artistic director, Mehmet Ergen, designer Robert Innes Hopkins, choreographer Chris Whittaker, musical director Ashton Moore, lighting designer David Howe, sound designer Matthew Giles, associate designer Defne Ozdogon, and casting director Jane Deitch.

Cry-Baby has a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, and songs by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger.

The musical is based on the Universal Pictures film written and directed by John Waters