Josie Rourke chose to end her seven-year reign at the Donmar Warehouse with Broadway classic Sweet Charity to give “an amazing part to an extraordinary woman”.
The outgoing artistic director of the Covent Garden theatre said she first promised Anne-Marie Duff a musical role when they worked together on one of her earliest productions at the theatre in 2012.
She said: “During my time at the Donmar, Anne-Marie has been one of the most incredible women I’ve worked with and I wanted to find an amazing part for an extraordinary woman.
“She just took the most unbelievably courageous step in doing a musical for the first time... and that felt like the best expression of what the Donmar is.”
Rourke said the idea for the revival of the classic show, about a New York nightclub dancer looking for love, started after they worked together on a play called Berenice.
She said: “We went out for lunch after the run and I said, ‘What do you want to do next?’ and she said ‘I’ve always wanted to do a comedic role, because people don’t often ask me to do comedic roles, in an American musical’.
“It’s taken me a while to get round to it. I actually have a series of unfinished promises from my time as an artistic director but I’ve managed to finish this one.”
Rourke, who previously ran the Bush Theatre in west London, is succeeded by Michael Longhurst.
