Photo Flash: First Look at GREAT EXPECTATIONS in the West End!

A new stage adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectationswill open at the West End's Vaudeville Theatre on 6 February 2013, following previews from 1 February. Reprising their roles from the play's recent, successful UK tour, Jack Ellis will star as Jaggers, Chris Ellison as Magwitch and Paula Wilcox as Miss Havisham. The cast of 14 also includes Paul Nivison as Adult Pip, Grace Rowe as Estella and Taylor Jay-Davies as Young Pip. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage in the West End below!

Ellis is perhaps most recognizable from his role as Harry Mason in Coronation Street. He has appeared in Where the Heart Is and Bad Girls, and in the West End in A Few Good Men with Rob Lowe and Suranne Jones. He performed in an international tour of Richard III with Kevin Spacey, directed by Sam Mendes.

Ellison is best known as hard-nut Frank Burnside in The Bill. Among Paula Wilcox's many well-known roles are Hilary Potts in Emmerdale, Lilian in The Smoking Room and Chrissy in classic '70s sitcom Man About the House.

Director and co-designer of Great Expectations is Graham McLaren, who established Theatre Babel and is an Associate Director for the National Theatre of Scotland.

Despite its many previous dramatized incarnations, this is the first time Great Expectations has been presented as a full-scale stage play in either the West End or on Broadway.

The play recounts the story of a poor lad called Pip Gargery and his entanglement with embittered and reclusive Miss Havisham en route to wealth and status, and is perhaps the best loved Dickens tale of all.

Dickens' masterwork has been adapted for the stage by Jo Clifford, one of Scotland's leading playwrights. She is the author of approximately 80 plays and her work has been translated into several languages and produced throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Roy Tan