Cynthia Erivo's 'Bad Fairies' Adds Kylie Minogue, Jonathan Groff and Catherine Tate

Kylie Minogue, Jonathan Groff and Catherine Tate have joined the voice cast of "Bad Fairies," the Warner Bros. Pictures Animation and Locksmith Animation musical comedy led by Cynthia Erivo. The film opens May 27, 2027, with production already underway in London.

Erivo announced the casting herself at her Thursday evening Hollywood Bowl concert, "Let Me Sing to You." The second half opened with an orchestral piece built on "Hard to Believe," the song her character, Jayne Staplegun, sings in the film. Erivo brought Groff and Tate on stage, then revealed that Minogue — seated in the audience — would join them. The film follows a group of what the producers call "delightfully defiant, rule-breaking fairies."

The new arrivals take distinct roles. Minogue voices Clowder, the Cat Witch. Groff voices Robin Goodfellow. Tate voices the Fairy Gothmother. They join a cast that already includes Serrana Su-Ling Bliss as Fei Chang, James Acaster as Stickers, Dee Bradley Baker as Groundbeef and Ncuti Gatwa as Butterwort.

Who is making the film?

Megan Nicole Dong directs, with Olivier Staphylas as co-director. Deborah Frances-White wrote the original screenplay. The songs come from Tony Award winners Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss of "Six: The Musical," with a score by Isabella "Machine" Summers of Florence and the Machine. Ian Eisendrath, music producer on "KPop Demon Hunters," serves as executive music producer. DNEG Animation is the digital partner.

The creative team also includes producer Carolyn Soper, editor Sim Evan-Jones, cinematographer James C.J. Williams, character designer Uwe Heidschötter, heads of story Rikke Asbjoern and Chris Garbutt, and production designers Justin Hutchinson-Chatburn and Mike Redman.

The executives framed the casting as a natural extension of the project. "'Bad Fairies' is about characters who break the rules to do some good, and Cynthia brings that spirit to everything she does, so there was no better way to share this news than from the Hollywood Bowl stage in her voice," Bill Damaschke, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, said in a statement. "With Kylie, Jonathan and Catherine joining her, we have a cast as bold and joyful as the film itself."

Natalie Fischer, CEO of Locksmith Animation, struck a similar note. "From the moment we began developing 'Bad Fairies,' we knew it was exactly the kind of story Locksmith exists to tell: funny, surprising and full of heart," she said. "Cynthia Erivo's extraordinary voice has been the soul of this film since she came on board."

What do the actors bring?

Minogue, for her part, kept her expectations modest and her enthusiasm specific. "And getting to play both a cat and a witch? It's a little bit magical, a little bit mischievous and a whole lot of fun," she said in a statement.

Dong said Minogue was the first choice for Clowder. "Clowder needed to be impossibly glamorous and hilariously chaotic in the same breath, and Kylie was always the dream," the director said. "She has made the character completely her own."

Staphylas credited the cast's instincts as raw material for the animation itself. "Our animators are building on our fabulous actors' instincts and comic timing to create characters that feel both larger than life and genuinely real," he said.

The statements are warm, and the names are bankable. What they do not say is how large these roles actually are: no screen time, no song count, no indication of whether Clowder, Goodfellow or the Fairy Gothmother anchor the plot or orbit it. Marketing announcements of this kind rarely do.

What does this change for audiences? A release two years out, May 27, 2027, now carries a cast list strong enough to sell tickets on its own — and a Bowl-stage rollout that signals Warner Bros. and Locksmith intend this film to compete as an event musical, not a quiet family title.