FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLIVIER AWARD WINNER BILL DEAMER AT THE HELM TO DIRECT DEVELOPMENT PHASE FOR NEW STAGE MUSICAL RUMPELSTILTSKIN’S DAUGHTER

LONDON & NEW YORK, Sept 14, 2026 – Olivier Award-winning choreographer and director Bill Deamer (Top Hat, CATS, Hello Dolly!, Follies) is leading the creative development of Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter, an original, large-scale stage musical currently in active development for a UK regional premiere targeting London’s West End.

Created by writer and producer Robert Neal Marshall, with music by the late Tim Battle and additional music by composer Brian Pamphilon, the production offers a fresh, narrative-driven answer to an industry increasingly reliant on jukebox catalogues and revivals. Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter brings full-scale theatrical storytelling back to the forefront, blending classic craftsmanship with sharp satirical edge.

Based on Diane Stanley’s award-winning book, this dazzling new musical comedy offers a clever twist on fairytale tradition, blending over-the-top camp, sharp satirical wit, and big theatrical heart. When Rumpelstiltskin and the Miller’s Daughter escape together to raise a spirited daughter of their own, years pass before the realm’s absurdly gold-obsessed King traps their now-grown child. Armed with sharp ingenuity and mischief, our fiercely independent heroine outsmarts the tyrant not by spinning gold, but by convincing him that gold can be grown. Under the guise of “planting coins,” she tricks the King into distributing his royal treasury to the starving populace. As the coins sprout miles of golden wheat, feeding the nation and turning royal greed into vital sustenance, she sparks a kingdom-wide transformation that proves kindness and community triumph over institutional greed (and ultimately declines the King’s marriage proposal to become Prime Minister instead!).

Critics have described the show’s distinct theatrical identity as “a stylistic cross between Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods” (The Baltimore Sun). Set in a world where 1700s French Restoration fairytale grandeur collides with 1940s radio broadcasts and newsreel projections, this deliberate collision of eras mirrors contemporary reality: greed and self-interest belong to no single era.

“This show is a large-scale, original musical built on story, character, spectacle, and song,” says book writer and lyricist Robert Neal Marshall. “Audiences feel what is missing in today’s landscape. Original musical theatre, crafted with full heart and structural rigor, answers an unmet hunger for timeless, high-energy entertainment.”

Deamer, whose choreography won an Olivier Award for Top Hat and whose West End and international credits include Hello, Dolly! starring Imelda Staunton at the London Palladium, 42nd Street, the Palladium revival of CATS, the National Theatre production of Follies, and BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, was drawn to the show’s scale, humor, and heart.

“It’s funny, absurd, campy, and packed with room for massive, sparkling tap-dance numbers, but underneath all that spectacle, it has real heart and an incredibly timely message about kindness and community,” says Bill Deamer. “In a way, the story feels more relevant right now than ever.”

Marshall originally worked in London’s West End as Assistant to producer Richard Armitage at the Noel Gay Organization on the West End and Broadway productions of Me and My Girl, as well as High Society starring Natasha Richardson, Rowan Atkinson — The New Revue, and The Entertainer starring Peter Bowles. Marshall independently produced and directed the critically acclaimed limited West End engagement of Is There Life After High School? at the Donmar Warehouse, featuring future West End and international stars Caroline O’Connor, Mark Michael Hutchinson, and Rosemarie Ford. His broader career encompasses film production and associate casting work alongside Emmy® Award-winner Pat Moran, CSA, famed casting director for iconic filmmaker John Waters (Hairspray, Serial Mom). Marshall’s casting credits with Moran include HBO’s Emmy® Award-winning Game Change and the Emmy®-nominated first season of VEEP.

Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter was initially conceived alongside composer and singer Tim Battle (Boys Choir of Harlem) following their meeting at the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. Early developmental stagings spanned the Boys Choir of Harlem, regional US venues, and the Assembly Rooms at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where press hailed it as “a fairytale adaptation that’s pure gold” (The List, UK).

Marshall is collaborating with his longtime London colleague Jenny Montefiore, whose extensive West End background spans agency representation, casting, and overall project management with the Noel Gay Organization, to steer the project’s commercial trajectory as Associate Producer. The team is actively expanding its production infrastructure, engaging potential co-producers, seed funding partners, and general management, ahead of industry workshops and developmental presentations slated for 2027.

MEDIA, PRODUCING & INVESTMENT INQUIRIES RNM Productions, LLC:

Website: www.rumpelstiltskinsdaughter.com

Robert Neal Marshall (US)
Email: RNM@RumpelstiltskinsDaughter.com
Phone: +1 410 984 0225

Jennifer Montefiore (UK)
Email: JSM@RumpelstiltskinsDaughter.com
Phone: +44 7976 392369

High-Res Media files: https://rumpelstiltskinsdaughter.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Rumpelstiltskins_Daughter_Press_Media_Files.zip

#    #     #

Project Development Logo

Book & Lyrics/Executive Producer Robert Neal Marshall
Photo courtesy of Robert Neal Marshall