{"id":161207,"date":"2025-06-05T21:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T21:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/161207\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T21:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T21:12:16","slug":"lesley-garrett-cast-in-northern-ireland-operas-follies-after-cancer-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/161207\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesley Garrett cast in Northern Ireland Opera\u2019s Follies after cancer surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Classical singer Lesley Garrett has joined the Northern Ireland Opera\u2019s revival of Follies, after her cancer surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Garrett will play Heidi Schiller in Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman\u2019s musical about a group of former showgirls, at the Grand Opera House in Belfast in the autumn,<\/p>\n<p>The British soprano said on ITV\u2019s This Morning earlier this month that she had cancer surgery after being diagnosed with thymoma, a rare cancer of the thymus gland, which could have affected her singing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2.78531029.jpg\" alt=\"Lesley Garrett\" data-title=\"Sigourney Weaver in Shakespeare\u2019s The Tempest\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Ian West\" data-usage-terms=\"\"  \/>Lesley Garrett had cancer surgery (Ian West\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>Since the surgery to remove the tumour, she has made a successful recovery and will now be joining the Follies cast.<\/p>\n<p>Garrett said: \u201cI\u2019m so excited to be coming back to Belfast and especially to be making my debut with Northern Ireland Opera at the age of 70.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSondheim\u2019s Follies is a masterpiece and I\u2019m delighted to have been given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform the iconic role of Heidi Schiller.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The production marks the singer\u2019s 45th anniversary in the industry and her debut with the Northern Ireland Opera, where she will play the \u201copera diva\u201d of the Weismann\u2019s Follies.<\/p>\n<p>Set in 1971, the musical follows the group as they return to their former Broadway stage at Weisman Theatre, for a final reunion show before its scheduled demolition.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2.79330994.jpg\" alt=\"Lesley Garrett\" data-title=\"Covid-19 fifth anniversary memorial\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Danny Lawson\" data-usage-terms=\"\"  \/>Lesley Garrett performs during a ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic, at the National Memorial Arboretum (Danny Lawson\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>Jazz singer Jacqueline Dankworth, who was in the original cast of the West End debut for Sondheim\u2019s Into The Woods in 1990, will join the cast as Carlotta Campion.<\/p>\n<p>West End stars Anna-Jane Casey and Annette McLaughlin will play former room mates Sally Plummer and Phyllis Stone.<\/p>\n<p>The production is directed by Cameron Menzies, with Greg Arrowsmith as the musical director.<\/p>\n<p>The musical scored seven Tony awards at the 1972 ceremony and is best known for its songs Broadway Baby, I\u2019m Still Here and Losing My Mind.<\/p>\n<p>Follies will run from September 13-20.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Classical singer Lesley Garrett has joined the Northern Ireland Opera\u2019s revival of Follies, after her cancer surgery. Garrett&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,693,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-161207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-showbiz","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114632821869912891","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}