Theatre Interviews with Top West End Stars

'J'Ouvert' star Sapphire Joy on creating space for the underrepresented in theatre

Notting Hill Carnival may be cancelled for the second year running, and swathes of people may not be congregating to dance together for a while, but theatre can transport us anywhere. J'Ouvert at the Harold Pinter Theatre has audiences imagining they're partying all night long.Set at the world-famous carnival, J'Ouvert (pronounced like duvet) follows three friends as they find their personal space in a world that should be theirs. Yasmin Joseph's carnival play premiered at Theatre503 in 2019,...

Neil Gaiman on bringing his novel ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’ to the stage

Neil Gaiman is a master of multiple literary forms. The award-winning British author has crafted comic books, novels, television series, movies, audio plays, and more, and his works have been adapted for all mediums, including the theatre. His latest work to hit the stage is The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which premiered at the National Theatre in 2019, and the acclaimed production will transfer to the West End for a run at the Duke of York's Theatre from October 2021. Tickets are available...

Most everyday things have a certain magic, says 'BKLYN' star Jamie Muscato

Theatres have been closed for over a year now, but that doesn't mean shows have stopped for good. Virtual productions have entertained us in a year of abnormality, with an online revival of BKLYN streaming this month. Set in New York, the lives of street performers intersect in incredible ways, discovering new stories between them. Last seen at the Greenwich Theatre in 2019, BKLYN is back with a new production, starring Emma Kingston, Marisha Wallace and Jamie Muscato. Best known for playing JD...

'Dear Evan Hansen' star Sam Tutty on awards, Shakespeare, and surviving the pandemic

Sam Tutty was five months into his career-making star turn on the West End in Dear Evan Hansen when the pandemic shut London theatres down last March, since which time none of the big musicals has yet been able to reopen. Far from sitting idle, the industrious 22-year-old has done the odd gig here and there, including a virtual concert of Godspell and, perhaps most remarkably, playing Romeo in a technology-intensive fresh take on Shakespeare's play. That filmed theatre production streams for two...

West End star Matt Croke on representing theatre on 'The Voice UK'

We spoke to Matt Croke about The Voice UK.

Charlie Stemp on 'Mary Poppins,' the pandemic, and a safe theatre reopening

Charlie Stemp has been on a roll ever since the shining-faced newcomer lit up the West End late in 2016 as the irrepressible lead in Half a Sixpence, playing a drapery shop assistant who inherits a fortune. Stemp's own good fortune found the performer heading to Broadway early in 2018 to take over the role of Barnaby in Hello, Dolly!, followed by a return to London that Christmas to appear in the Snow White pantomime at the London Palladium.More recently, Stemp has been putting his terpsichorean...

Rachel Tucker on returning to theater with ‘Songs For a New World’

Rachel Tucker can't wait to get back on stage. In fact, she's been dreaming about being back in the rehearsal room for Songs For a New World, Jason Robert Brown's four-person song cycle which Tucker will star in at the London Palladium on 11 October."I love the freedom of the pace and the individual-ness of every song," Tucker says of the show, which seems tailor-made for social distancing. "You can be a different character in each song. And I just, I love the freedom of that."Tucker was in New...

'Six' writers Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss share the 'Six' secrets

SiX is back in the West End, and we could not be more excited! We chatted with the musical’s writers Toby Marlow and Lucky Moss earlier in lockdown, and they answered some fan questions. From writing Quarantine: The Musical to ideas that didn’t make the final cut, Marlow and Moss share some behind the scenes secrets, potential future projects, and more in this exclusive interview. Book Six tickets on London Theatre. If you were to write a musical about any other historical figures, who would it...

Baby Reindeer's Richard Gadd: 'The second you perform on autopilot, you're shortchanging the audience'

Thousands of shows make their way up to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe each year, with some shows breaking out from the festival to become global phenomenons like Fleabag and Six. Making it into the mainstream may not be easy, but Richard Gadd's Baby Reindeer is set to be a West End hit, as the play transfers to the Ambassadors next month. Richard Gadd writes and stars in his one-man play that's based on a period of his life that saw him stalked by a stranger. What was once a terrible time has...

The Secret Garden's Celinde Schoenmaker: 'It's a musical that deserves so much more attention'

Even though The Secret Garden is a three-time Tony Award-winning musical, the two London productions of the musical have only played for a collective total of 22 weeks. But, it's coming back to the West End in style, thanks to a concert production coming to the London Palladium next month.Based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's best-selling novel, the musical tells of a young girl sent to England to live with family she's never met, with music by Lucy Simon and a book and lyrics by Marsha Norman....