Direct from EastEnders, after more than three years playing Felix Baker and his alter ego Tara Misu (the first drag queen to appear as a regular character in a British soap opera) Matthew James Morrison will join Wendi Peters in the 20th anniversary tour of the West End hit comedy Glorious!, as Cosme McMoon.
Glorious!, by Peter Quilter, is the true story of American socialite Florence Foster Jenkins, played by Peters, dubbed ‘the worst singer in the world’, who staged and starred in classical recitals in major venues including Carnegie Hall. Mocked, for her flamboyant stage costumes and poor off key singing, she nonetheless became a cult-figure in New York City during the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, garnering celebrated composer and songwriter Cole Porter and classical conductor Sir Thomas Beecham among her celebrity admirers.
The piece follows Florence’s journey as she prepares for her biggest ever sold-out recital at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall, building an unlikely friendship with her accompanist, Cosme McMoon, and defying her army of critics to follow her dreams.
Stage and screen favourite Peters, best known for her long-running role as Cilla Battersby in Coronation Street and most recently a regular on BBC’s Doctors as Nina Bulsara, stars as the tuneless songbird alongside Baker as her loyal pianist. The cast also features West End leading ladies, Caroline Gruber as Florence’s long-suffering maid Maria and society busybody Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, and Sioned Jones as Florence’s best friend and biggest fan, Dorothy. Jones will also cover the role of Florence Foster Jenkins, as she did 20 years ago alongside Maureen Lipman in the original West End production. Completing the cast are Ella-Maria Danson as ASM/Cover Maria/Dorothy and Mrs Verrinder-Gedge and Ryan Hall as ASM/Cover Cosme McMoon.
The new tour celebrates the show’s 20th anniversary when Glorious! wowed audiences in its original long-running West End production starring Maureen Lipman before coming to the silver screen with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. The show has since been seen by millions of people around the world, translated into 25 languages, and performed in 36 countries. The current production, directed by Kirk Jameson and produced by Thomas Hopkins premiered at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre.
Her many other TV credits include Midsomer Murders, Hetty Feather, Hacker Time and Sadie J. Wendi has also competed on various shows including Soapstar Superstar, Celebrity Mastermind, Celebrity Masterchef and Celebrity Sewing Bee for Children in Need, which she won. Wendi was most recently seen as Mother Superior in the UK Tour of Sister Act. Her other theatre credits include: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (UK Tour), You Are Here (Southwark Playhouse), BIG The Musical (West End), The Game (Northern Broadsides) and White Christmas (West End, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, The Lowry, Salford).
GLORIOUS! 2026 UK TOUR DATES
10-14 February, Poole, The Lighthouse | 17-21 February, Eastbourne, Devonshire Park Theatre | 24-28 February, Derby Theatre | 2-7 March, Ipswich, New Wolsey | 16-21 March, Windsor, Theatre Royal | 23-28 March, Liverpool, Epstein Theatre | 31 March-4 April, Barnstaple, Queen’s Theatre | 6-11 April, Malvern Theatre | 13-18 April, Oxford Playhouse | 21-25 April, Basingstoke Haymarket | 27 April-2 May, Cheltenham, Everyman Theatre | 5-9 May, Guildford, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre | 12-16 May, Darlington Hippodrome | 18-23 May, Coventry, Belgrade Theatre | 26-30 May, Mold, Theatr Clwyd | 1-3 June, Tunbridge Wells, Assembly Hall Theatre | 4-6 June, Exeter, Northcott Theatre
Tickets for all dates here.
