Regent's Park Open Air Theatre Artistic Director Drew McOnie on taking the reins

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s new artistic director Drew McOnie talks about his exciting summer season, which kicks off with the UK premiere of Shucked.

In a room overlooking the tarpaulin-wrapped seats of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (OAT) — a space that has, in one capacity or another, entertained audiences since the early 1930s — Drew McOnie is contemplating his first season as artistic director. “I feel quite emotional about it,” he shares. “Everything I am as an artist has been ignited and solidified by my work at Regent’s Park.”

Before being offered the top job, McOnie choreographed and/or directed some of OAT’s most memorable successes, including 2016’s Jesus Christ Superstar, nominated for Best Theatre Choreography at the Oliviers (an accolade it missed out on to another show a then 31-year-old McOnie choreographed: In the Heights). He also directed 2017’s On the Town, and choreographed 2021’s Carousel.

But OAT can’t take full credit for McOnie’s making. In 2016, he reworked Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom into a musical, with Luhrmann’s blessing. In 2018, McOnie made his Broadway debut, aged 33, directing and choreographing King Kong, and last year, he earned rave reviews for The Artist at Theatre Royal Plymouth.

OAT is about to re-emerge from winter hibernation, and it seems fitting that where outgoing artistic director Timothy Sheader’s final season closed on one field of crops (the wheat pastures of Fiddler on the Roof), McOnie’s first opens on another: the UK premiere of Shucked, a romcom about a town’s corn supply, which earned nine Tony nominations on Broadway.

Though recast with UK talent, members of the US creative team are crossing the pond, including director Jack O’Brien, who turned up in Regent’s Park dressed head to toe in merch. “This is how much he believes in it,” laughs McOnie, who chose the musical because it “makes you feel deeply in a way that’s predominantly expressed through joy and humour”.

Next is Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Dream Ballets: A Triple Bill, showcasing sweeping dance sequences from Allegro, Oklahoma! and Carousel. McOnie is confident it will be well-received in a space known for “reexamining and reintegrating old musicals”. Besides, “I’ve wanted to do the triple bill since I was about 19… it’s sort of my dream job”.

Instead of mapping them himself, he’s bringing in a trio of leading female choreographers – Julia Cheng (Allegro), Shelley Maxwell (Oklahoma!) and Kate Prince (Carousel). He envisages the medley as “a love letter to Agnes De Mille,” who choreographed the originals.

McOnie calls it “the adventurous element of the season”, but it’s not the first time OAT has put dance centrestage: in 1934, it staged an al fresco ballet danced by Robert Helpmann. He hopes the show will attract both dance and theatre fans. “I would feel proud with either dance or theatre critics… hopefully make them realise they’re not two separate communities.”

Eventually, he hopes to “break down the boundaries between what is considered to be a play, a musical, a ballet, an opera”. But all in good time: if his predecessor’s 17-year tenure is any guide, McOnie could be in the job for a while.

Also joining the team is Tinuke Craig, who directed 2024’s A Raisin in the Sun at the Lyric Hammersmith, as Associate Artistic Director. She’ll direct Noughts & Crosses, adapted by Dominic Cooke. “We’re very lucky to have Craig,” says McOnie. Why choose Malorie Blackman’s story? “It’s a great play for building empathy and learning about lived experiences.”

A late summer thrill comes with the first London production of Brigadoon in 35 years. McOnie will direct and choreograph a new adaptation by Scottish playwright Rona Munro, updating the plot to WWII. Instead of American tourists, air pilots crash in the Highlands and discover Brigadoon. Having Munro on board lends it “a more authentically expressed love of being Scottish,” he says.

The theatre also welcomes back last summer’s hit, The Enormous Crocodile. The revival, McOnie says, is about “giving ourselves time to deliver original young people’s work,” but also because “it’s something we feel very proud of.”

Exploring programming outside the summer window is also on his list. Last year, the theatre broke ground by opening in March with Bear Snores On. Now, he’s giving “serious consideration” to Halloween and Christmas. Outdoor events in chillier months, he hints, are often promenade.

“The venue has traditionally been used beautifully for romance and optimism and joy,” he says. If there’s a flipside, it’s “how we might start using it for terror and horror and Halloween.”

Even if it veers into dark places, McOnie’s reign looks very bright indeed.

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This article first appeared in the May 2025 issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Drew McOnie, inset, rehearsals for Shucked. (Photos by David Jensen, Pamela Raith)