George Crawford on starring in summer musical 'The Great Gatsby'

The Great Gatsby actor George Crawford is embracing the Jazz Age at the London Coliseum. Performances continue until 7 September.

Having won praise for his scene-stealing performances in Newsies and now The Great Gatsby, stardom is waiting in the wings for George. Currently covering the show’s two male leads – Gatsby and Nick – he says he feels more kinship with the latter. “I would say I’m quite... ‘quirky’ isn’t probably the right word, but I’m definitely not the kind of regal man that Gatsby is.”

George says it’s a pleasure to appear in a spectacular show in an opulent theatre. “In the world of Jamie Lloyd-esque productions where things are stripped back and mysterious, it’s sometimes nice to come to a theatre and be blown away by the scale of something like The Great Gatsby.”

George talks to London Theatre Magazine about being born into a theatrical family and sharing the stage every night with his fiancée.

How did you get into theatre?
My mum and dad were heavily involved in amateur dramatics – my dad’s mum would choreograph a show, my mum’s dad would direct and my parents would play the leads. So, I was born into this theatrical world that was so normalised. It wasn’t like it was forced on me, it just felt like the only thing I would ever want to do.

Were you familiar with The Great Gatsby before being cast?
To quote a line in the show: “Everyone knows Gatsby!” It’s such an iconic novel and it never ages. So yeah, I’d seen the film, I’d read the book and then I obviously started listening to the music when the musical was coming. When I got the show, I reread the book to get a more thorough understanding of Gatsby and Nick.

Isn’t your fiancée, Aimée Fisher, in the cast with you?
Yes – we met doing the musical Waitress on tour. Aimée actually got cast in Gatsby before Christmas then everything shut down and I had to wait patiently to find out that I’d got it too. When we were going into our final, I had my copy of the book at home and we ripped off the first page, cut it in half and each put one half in our back pocket. I said: “If we get it, we can date it, say what we’re doing then frame it.” It’s now on our shelf at home.

You previously named Jack Kelly in Newsies as your dream role and then ended up playing it – did it live up to expectations?
When I was at ArtsEd, we did Newsies as one of our third-year productions, but when I auditioned for the Troubadour production, I knew that Jack was already cast. I said to my agent, “I’d take anything just to be involved in that show” and they gave me Alternate Jack Kelly. I loved doing the show but I LIVED for those performances where I got to go on and sing those numbers!

Book The Great Gatsby tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: George Crawford. (Courtesy of production)