Cast announced for Backbeat at Duke Of york's

Casting has been announced for Backbeat, a musical stage adaptation of Iain Softley's 1994 film, which charts the early rise of The Beatles, which opens at the Duke of York's Theatre on 10 Oct 2011, following previews from 24 Sep 2011 - booking to 24 March 2012.

Nick Blood (Stuart Sutcliffe), Andrew Knott (John Lennon), Ruta Gedmintas (Astrid Kirchherr), Daniel Healy (Paul Mccartney), William Payne (George Harrison), Oliver Bennett (Pete Best), Adam Sopp (Tony Sheridan / Ringo Starr), Dominic Rouse ( Klaus Voorman), Ben Fox (Arthur Ballard / Bert Kaempfert ), James Wallace (George Martin).

The stage adaptation is co-written by Iain Softley and Stephen Jeffreys, with direction by David Leveaux and musical direction by Paul Stacey. It will be produced on the West End by Karl Sydow.

Backbeat tells the early story of The Beatles, when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe embarked on their journey from the famous docks of Liverpool to search for success in the seedy red light district of Hamburg.

The musical concentrates on the relationship between The Beatles original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, the striking German photographer Astrid Kirchherr with whom he fell in love, and his best friend John Lennon. The Beatle's songs- 'Twist & Shout', 'Rock & Roll Music', 'Long Tall Sally' 'Please Mr Postman' and 'Money,' will be performed live on stage.

Backbeat had its world premiere at Glasgow's Citizen's Theatre in 2010.