Sheridan Smith back in the West End after landing Shirley Valentine lead role in big budget show
SHERDIAN Smith is returning to the West End — as Shirley Valentine.
The Bafta-winner takes the lead in the Willy Russell play 37 years after it first toured.
The comedy drama centres on a bored Liverpudlian housewife who holidays alone in Greece.
Last night a source said: “Sheridan is perfectly cast.
“Everyone involved with the production is hugely excited. This is a total coup.”
They added: “It’s a script that will make audiences laugh and cry.
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“It will have an empowering feminist twist but it won’t be shoving woke down people’s throats.”
Rehearsals start later this year with the launch in the spring.
Sheridan, 41, is taking on a role made famous by Pauline Collins, who also starred when it was turned into a film with Tom Conti three years later.
Sheridan, who quit ITV show Starstruck earlier this year, has been in West End musicals including Little Shop of Horrors, Legally Blonde, Funny Girl and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
