Theatre Interviews with Top West End Stars

Rebecca Trehearn and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt on playing strong-willed women in ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella’

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella is set in Belleville, a quaint French town under matriarchal rule. The Queen governs the ‘"Most Attractive Town" and values looks over personality, while the wicked Stepmother controls Cinderella's life. These determined women stop at nothing to get what they desire, even if it’s at the expense of other people’s fortunes. “I enjoy the fact that the Queen claims her power,” said Trehearn, who plays the Queen in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella. While the monarch...

‘Back to the Future: The Musical’ star Olly Dobson is ready to up the ante onstage

Olly Dobson is one of Back to the Future's biggest fans, so it's been a dream come true to step into the shoes (and onto the skateboard) of the time-travelling teenager Marty McFly in the new stage adaptation, which is set to open at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End in August.But to make this iconic character really sing, both literally and figuratively, onstage, Dobson has to take things up a notch."The ante has to be up," Dobson says of translating the beloved movie into a musical....

Roger Bart on reimagining Doc Brown in Back to the Future The Musical

Many actors would shudder at the idea of recreating one of the most-beloved film roles of all time onstage. The kind of role that has become so synonymous with the actor who originated it, that it seems impossible to separate the two.Well, the was the challenge Roger Bart faced when he took on the role of Dr. Emmett Brown in Back to the Future The Musical, a character made so memorable by Christopher Lloyd in the film trilogy."How does one fill the shoes of the iconic and amazing Christopher...

Puppetry designers Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell on creating magic in 'Life of Pi'

Are there more puppets than actors on our stages at the moment? Well, perhaps not quite, but this is certainly a golden age of puppetry in British theatre — from Life of Pi, Frozen, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and The Lion King in the West End to Animal Farm on tour, and the upcoming 101 Dalmatians at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Crucially, puppets can make the impossible seem possible. Finn Caldwell, co-puppet designer and puppetry and movement director for Life of Pi, knew the show's...

Liisi LaFontaine on introducing ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ to a new generation and new audiences

Liisi LaFontaine never thought she would do musical theatre professionally. The Los Angeles native grew up in the shadow of Hollywood, where film and television rule, and she always gravitated toward pop and R&B music rather than show tunes. She also never imagined her stage career would take shape in London, but after making her West End debut as Deena in Dreamgirls in 2018, she's back across the pond, this time starring as the sultry nightclub songstress Satine in Moulin Rouge! The...

Ria Jones on ‘Habeas Corpus’s' timeliness and the joy of comedy plays

Watch the news at the moment and it's like seeing a farce unfold. There's exaggerated stories, nobody trusts each other, and everyone shakes their heads in disbelief. But what if crazy turns of events were actually meant to happen? When we spoke with Ria Jones about Habeas Corpus, Alan Bennett's 1970s comedy play being staged at the Menier Chocolate Factory this winter, it's apparent that life is imitating art. "It's quite bizarre how [the dialogue] is so current to a point where the audience...

Simon Lipkin on learning the ‘Brian & Roger’ play in eight days

Typically, performers spend weeks in rehearsals, developing scenes and memorising their lines. But what happens when that time frame is drastically reduced? Simon Lipkin found himself with limited time for preparing for his latest show, called in to play Brian in the world premiere of Brian & Roger - A Highly Offensive Play just eight days before the first preview."I had a friend meet me every night and we would work in the theatre until late," Lipkin told London Theatre. Learning 700 lines...

Dino Fetscher on the continued timeliness of ‘The Normal Heart’

As soon as Dino Fetscher went on one of his first vacations post-lockdown, he scored an audition for The Normal Heart at The National Theatre, a play he had read in drama school and is very close to him."If I really want to get a job, all I need to do is book a holiday," Fetscher jokes over Zoom. "And then without a doubt, I get a job that clashes with the dates."Fetscher ultimately landed the role of Felix Turner, a closeted reporter in 1980s New York who falls in love with Ned Weeks, inspired...

Disney Theatrical President Thomas Schumacher on updating musicals and the role of the audience in making theatre

Thomas Schumacher, the longtime president of Disney Theatrical Group, isn't scared of making big changes - whether its adding a song to a time-tested musical, testing a show in a new international city, or reopening multiple productions around the world in the wake of a global pandemic."There are real things in life to be afraid of in musical theatre isn't one of them," Schumacher says.His latest venture in London: opening Frozen in the West End at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The beloved...

Nathaniel Parker on playing Henry VIII and working with Hilary Mantel on 'The Mirror and the Light'

Nathaniel Parker could well classify as the British theatre's leading history boy - or shall we say man. He played the onetime prime minister Gordon Brown on the West End in The Audience; was the former speaker of the House of Commons, Jack Weatherill, in James Graham's This House; and has spent the better part of a decade living on and off with the character of Henry VIII in the various stage versions of Hilary Mantel's trio of novels about Thomas Cromwell and Tudor England: Wolf Hall, Bring up...