Danielle Tarento, producer and casting director
Michael Bradley, musical director
Colleen Morris-Glennon, costume designer
Andrew Exeter, set and lighting designer

The Bodyguard  is a 2012 musical based on the eponymous 1992 thriller starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. It tells the story of Rachel Marron, a pop star who becomes the target of a dangerous stalker, and Frank Farmer, a former secret agent who is deeply devoted to his duty but haunted by the past, when he failed to prevent the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. The musical and film feature music made famous by Whitney Houston, including such hits as I Will Always Love You, I Have Nothing  and I Wanna Dance With Somebody.  The musical is directed and choreographed by Mykal Rand, a renowned British artist and a regular guest of the summer festival, and will be performed on the festival stage in Ljubljana’s Križanke. Rand began his career as a performer, then progressed to supervising dancers and making sure everything was perfect, then became resident director and later choreographer and director of his own shows. He has previously staged several very popular musicals in Ljubljana, including Hair (2011), the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar (2012), Grease (2013), Evita (2014), Chicago (2021) and West Side Story  (2022).

The musical will be in English with Slovenian surtitles.

• the estate where Whitney Houston’s character lives in the film also appears in The Godfather  as the home of film producer Jack Woltz
• John F. Kennedy and his new wife Jackie spent part of their honeymoon on “Rachel’s” estate after their 1953 wedding
• Houston originally intended to record a cover of Jimmy Ruffin’s hit What Becomes of the Brokenhearted  instead of the famous I Will Always Love You 
• in 1997 Kevin Costner contacted Princess Diana about starring in a sequel, she agreed but the sequel was cancelled following her death