MARIE & ROSETTA

MARIE & ROSETTA

BY GEORGE BRANT

BY GEORGE BRANT

Associate Director | May — Jul 2025 | Rose Theatre, English Touring Theatre & Chichester Festival Theatre

God don’t want the Devil to have all the good music, right?

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the roof-raising ‘godmother of rock ‘n’ roll’, influenced countless musicians from Elvis Presley to Johnny Cash. This sparkling, intimate portrait of Rosetta and her beloved singing partner, Marie Knight, restores these forgotten musical heroines to the spotlight as one of the most remarkable and revolutionary duos in music history.

Mississippi, 1946. Sister Rosetta has changed the face of gospel music with her exuberant, electric guitar-playing style. Shunned by straitlaced church folk for performing in nightclubs and glorying in rhythm and blues, she’s persuaded the saintly young singer Marie to join her on a tour of the segregated Southern states. But first she has to convert Marie’s pure Sunday sound into something that has just a little more swing…

Featuring a wealth of joyous rock and gospel hits including Didn’t It Rain and Peace In The Valley, the show will feature live musicians accompanying Olivier Award-winning West End star Beverley Knight (Memphis, The Drifters Girl, Sylvia, Sister Act) as Rosetta Tharpe.

Writer George Brant
Director Monique Touko
Set Designer Lily Arnold
Costume Designer Jodie-Simone Howe
Movement Director Kloe Dean
Music Supervisor, Arranger & Orchestrator Liam Godwin
Lighting Designer Matt Haskins
Sound Designer Tony Gayle
Intimacy Director Bethan Clark
Voice & Dialect Coach Joel Trill
Casting Director Jacob Sparrow
Associate Director Jordi M. Carter
Associate Lighting Designer Teresa Nagel

Creatives

Cast

Sister Rosetta Tharpe Beverley Knight
Marie Knight Ntombizodwa Ndlovu

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