Sharon Sexton reflects on her time playing Sloane in Bat Out of Hell: The Musical including her single audition for the part, creating the show ("Please can we have a shower in the set?") and how the company celebrated the life and legacy of Meatloaf after his death in January 2022.

Follow Sharon on Twitter @SharonSextonIRE and Instagram @shar.sexton

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Peter Hannah talks about playing the Wolf and Cinderella's Prince in the first major UK production of a Stephen Sondheim musical since the composer/lyricist's death in November 2021.

Into the Woods is playing at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, until Sunday 27th February 2022. For tickets: https://lyrictheatre.co.uk/whats-on/into-the-woods

Email me: Mikey@backstagewith.com

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Two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Oremus talks about creating some of the biggest musicals of the last two decades, conducting the orchestra for the Frozen movies, and arranging and conducting Lady Gaga's performance at the Academy Awards.

Stephen's credits include:

On Broadway and worldwide: As Music Supervisor/Arranger and/or Orchestrator: Disney’s Frozen; Kinky Boots (Tony Award for Best Orchestrations; Grammy Award); The Book of Mormon (Tony & Drama Desk Awards-Best Orchestrations; Grammy Award); 9 to 5; All Shook Up; Avenue Q; Wicked. Off-Broadway: The Wild Party, tick, tick…BOOM!; Film: Vocal arranger/conductor for Frozen & Frozen 2; String arrangements/conductor for Lady Gaga’s “I’ll Never Love Again” (A Star Is Born) and "Til It Happens to You” (The Hunting Ground). Music Director for Rufus Wainwright’s for Rufus Does Judy, TV: Music director of The 87th Academy Awards, The Wiz Live (NBC), Rent Live (FOX).

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The Olivier award-winning star of Hamilton talks about what it was really like in The Room Where It Happened.

Giles's book, Hamilton & Me: An Actor's Journal, is available now.

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Reflecting on the reopening night of Come From Away in the West End.

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It sure feels good to be back in your podcast feed. Are you ready for a new series of conversations with your favourite theatre people?

First up is Kayi Ushe who's preparing to play Simba in The Lion King when the show reopens in the West End. You may have seen him as Lola on the UK tour of Kinky Boots or during his four-year stint in The Book of Mormon.

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Gavin Spokes was playing King George III in the London production of Hamilton when the West End went dark the week before the UK went into lockdown in March.

You might have recently seen him wrestling with Mel Giedroyc as Harry in Marianne Elliot’s West End revival of Company, working his way up to a million pounds as the Major in James Graham’s Quiz, or as pollster Andrew Cooper in Channel 4’s Brexit: The Uncivil War.

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Susie McKenna was creative director at Hackney Empire for seven years and wrote, produced and sometimes starred in its pantomimes for 22 years.

She is now an associate director at Kiln Theatre, in north west London. 

Susie's many stage credits include Follies, Cats, The Witches of Eastwick, Woman in White, Ragtime, and Chicago.

When the pandemic took hold, Susie was over in New York where her wife - three-time Olivier award winning actress Sharon D. Clarke - was about to begin previews in the title role in Caroline or Change on Broadway.

We recorded this conversation back in September while Susie was staying at her house in Spain.

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Kiruna Stamell was working as an extra on the film Moulin Rouge in Australia twenty years ago when the director created the part of La Petite Princess just for her.

She used her pay check to come to the UK where she’s worked across television, film and theatre.

At the start of this year she was in the Jamie Lloyd Company production of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End, which won the Olivier award for Best Revival at the weekend. She was meant to be part of the show’s New York transfer but it was cancelled because of the pandemic.

Instead, she found herself shielding at home in the UK with her husband Gareth, and creating a web series for children called Pirate and Parrot.

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Gavin Lee is an Drama Desk award winner, Olivier award nominee, and two-time Tony nominee. 

He's best known for creating the role of Bert in the original West End, Broadway and U.S. touring productions of Mary Poppins, and originating the role of Squidward in SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical on Broadway. 

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Chances are you've seen Melanie La Barrie in at least one show in the last 20 years.

She's developed and appeared in a number of shows including the original productions of Mary Poppins, Matilda and & Juliet. She also played Ursula in the London pre-Broadway workshop of The Little Mermaid and on top of all of that somehow found time to complete full contracts in Les Miserables and Wicked. 

Prior to lockdown, Melanie was playing Nurse in & Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre, a role she'll return to when the show reopens in 2021.

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Daisy Maywood has been in some of the most high profile productions of the last decade such as the Les Mis 25th anniversary concert at the o2, The Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary performance at the Royal Albert Hall, and the 2013 revival of A Chrous Line at the London Palladium.

She was most recently seen as Susan and the Priest in Marianne Elliot’s West End revival of Company at the Gielgud theatre.

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Carly Mercerdes Dyer on playing Cassie in A Chorus Line at Leicester Curve, being on the Beeb at Christmas in Anything Goes (Boxing Day at 6.40pm, on BBC2), and if she'd ever go back to Six after Covid-19 ended her run before it had even begun.

#poweredbypastry

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This week’s guest lifted the Strictly Come Dancing glitterball alongside the Olympic Gymnast Louis Smith back in 2012.

Over the last eight years Flavia has co-created, co-choreographed and starred in four theatre productions with her professional dance partner, Vincent Simone. They've clocked up six tours, two West End transfers, and two Olivier award nominations for family entertainment.

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Stephen has worked in casting for over 20 years.

During that time he’s been the casting director for Mamma Mia! London and UK Tour productions, and has been casting consultant on productions in Germany, Holland, Norway, Italy, Spain and Russia.

His many other shows include Jerry Springer – The Opera, Chicago, Hairspray, and Mrs Henderson Presents.

He works alongside David Grindrod who used to be Andrew Lloyd Webber’s in-house casting director, and who went on to set up David Grindrod Associates casting agency.

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Two-time Olivier award nominee Sophie-Louise Dann is best known for originating roles in West End musicals such as Lend Me a Tenor, Bend it Like Beckham, The Girls (the Calendar Girls musical) and Made in Dagenham.

She’s also been in the musical pastiche productions of Forbidden Broadway and Spamilton.

You can see her this coming Saturday live in person, or on a livestream, as she returns to the stage at Crazy Coqs, in London, with her solo show May I have a Moment?. Buy tickets here or at BrasserieZedel.com 

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Harry Francis is an actor, singer and dancer, and a huge theatre fan. 

He's done five shows at the London Palladium and been in musicals such as A Chorus Line, Cats, The Book of Mormon, Hairspray and Wicked.

He’s currently in rehearsals to play Lewis/Theo in Pippin at The Garden Theatre, at The Eagle, in South London, from Tuesday 8th September to Sunday 11th October.

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Louise Dearman is only person in the world to have been cast as Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked.

So far in her career she’s starred in shows including Evita, Side Show, Guys and Dolls, Jekyll and Hyde, Grease and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

You can watch her Umbrella Rooms live concert here or head to @UmbrellaRooms on Twitter.

Click here to sign the petition to support the four pillar plan for recovery in the performing arts & entertainment.

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In the second part of our Phantom of the Opera special, Mikey speaks to Josh Piterman who was playing the Phantom when the West End went dark.

He joined the London cast last autumn and is hoping to return to the when the show reopens at Her Majesty's Theatre with a brand new physical production of the brilliant original.

Click here to sign the petition to support the four pillar plan for recovery in the performing arts & entertainment.

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150 days after the chandelier fell, we're talking about what the future holds for The Phantom of the Opera after the announcement the original production will not reopen after lockdown. 

A new physical production of the original will reopen at some point in the future, after major renovation work at Her Majesty's Theatre.

In this two-part special, Mikey speaks to the most recent actors to play the Phantom and Christine in the West End production.

Click here to sign the petition to support the four pillar plan for recovery in the performing arts & entertainment.

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Jenna Boyd is an original cast member of the Olivier award-winning musical Come From Away.

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Andrew Lippa is a Drama Desk award-winning composer, lyricist, writer, actor and teacher.

His vast body of work includes the off-broadway productions of John and Jen and The Wild Party; new songs for the Broadway version of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, the show for which Kristin Chenoweth won her Tony award; the music and lyrics for stage adaptations of The Addams Family and Big Fish; and the oratorio, I Am Harvey Milk, which he was commissioned to write for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.

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The host of New York 1's On Stage joins Mikey to compare what's happening in the theatre industries in the UK and US. 

Follow Frank online, on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. You can see his work at ny1.com.

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Savannah Stevenson is currently playing Marmee in Little Women at the Park Theatre in north London. 

Find out which song she was fearful of, why she wants people to leave Little Women wanting to call their mum, and the scene in which she'd love to make a cameo appearance in the film adaptation of Wicked.

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Alexia Khadime was the first woman of colour in the world to be cast as the principal Elphaba in Wicked. 

She's also known for playing Nabalungi in the original London cast of The Book of Mormon, Eponine in Les Miserables, and Nala in The Lion King.

This episode was recorded prior to the announcement of the Government's arts rescue package. 

We discussed the issue of race and how it relates to the theatre industry at length. #BlackLivesMatter

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Best known as the first British Elphaba in Wicked, Kerry Ellis made her name as the one of the most popular actors in musical theatre.

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This week's guests are currently touring the UK in Rufus Norris's production of Cabaret.

Kara Lily Hayworth (Sally Bowles) is best known for playing the title role in Cilla the musical on tour in 2017. 

Charlie Hagerty (Cliff Bradshaw) has worked extensively in the US, Europe and in the UK where he now lives with his husband. He was also in the original Broadway cast of If/Then alongside Idina Menzel in 2014. 

Mikey Worrall chats to Kara and Charlie at the New Wimbledon Theatre. 

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Miriam-Teak Lee is the WhatsOnStage award winning, Olivier nominated star of & Juliet the musical. 

The show won six WhatsOnStage awards and has been nominated for nine Oliviers. 

Mikey Worrall chats to Miriam-Teak in her dressing room at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

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Stephen Schwartz is an Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe and Honorary Tony award winning composer and lyricist.

His work has spanned six decades and includes Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, The Baker’s Wife, and London’s newest musical, The Prince of Egypt, which is based on the 1998 Dreamworks animated film. 

Stephen also wrote the lyrics for the Disney films Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Enchanted, on which he collaborated with the composer Alan Menken. 

We recorded this conversation in a dressing room at the Dominion Theatre a few days before The Prince of Egypt's opening night. 

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Rachel Tucker is flying off to New York next week to join the cast of Come From Away on Broadway.

Before that she's starring in a one-off charity performance of The Pirate Queen (by Les Mis writers Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg) in aid of Leukaemia UK. You can get tickets here.

Rachel is best known for playing Elphaba in Wicked in London and on Broadway. She was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical last year for Come From Away. She's also appeared in We Will Rock You in London and The Last Ship on Broadway. 

In between starring in all those shows she's released two albums and toured the country as well as performing a number of solo concerts over the last few years.

Subscribe to the podcast and our YouTube channel for plenty more theatre content. It's all in one place at backstagewith.com.

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This week's guest is Carley Stenson who's currently starring the UK tour of Curtains, the musical comedy. 

After 10 years in Hollyoaks, Carley moved into theatre where she's remained ever since. She's played Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, Princess Fiona in Shrek, The Lady of the Lake in Spamalot as well as appearing in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and, most recently, as Fantine in Les Miserables. 

We had a chat at the New Wimbledon Theatre in January when the show was back on the road after its West End transfer over Christmas. 

Subscribe to the podcast and our YouTube channel for plenty more theatre content. It's all in one place at backstagewith.com.

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Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel are getting ready to join the cast of Waitress the musical in London's West End for six weeks from 27th January.

Sara Bareilles wrote the music and lyrics for the show and has previously played Jenna for three engagements on Broadway, most recently alongside Gavin Creel.

Gavin returns to London as a Tony award winner (Hello Dolly!), after winning the Olivier award for best actor in a musical for The Book of Mormon, in which he originated the role of Elder Price in the London production.

He made his West End debut in 2006 as Bert in the original West End production of Mary Poppins.

To see what happened when on stage with Sara and Gavin, head to our YouTube channel to see the full video. Just search for Backstage With... Podcast.

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Rachel John is currently playing Mrs Neilsen in Girl from the North Country at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End. 

You may have previously seen her as Angelica in the Original London Cast of Hamilton, for which she received an Olivier nomination. Her other credits include The Bodyguard, Memphis, We Will Rock You and Sister Act. 

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In this episode we meet some of the 2020 WhatsOnStage Awards nominees from shows including &Juliet, Waitress and Dear Evan Hansen at the awards launch in the West End. 

Mikey Worrall went along to the reception at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden where he spoke to &Juliet's Miriam-Teak Lee, Cassidy Janson and Jordan Luke Gage, Waitress's David Hunter and Marisha Wallace, and Dear Evan Hansen's Sam Tutty. 

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The Last Five Years' Jamie on bringing the show to the West End, whether it should be categorised as new or a revival in awards season, and trying to straddle a model building atop a grand piano whilst playing a clock.

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Oliver Ormson is currently playing Rob in High Fidelity at the Turbine Theatre in south London. 

The theatre was recently founded by its Artistic Director, Paul Taylor Mills. High Fidelity is the theatre’s second production and its first musical. 

The show originally opened on Broadway in 2006 where it closed 10 days after its opening night. 

The show is about a north London record shop owner called Rob who ranks everything in his life in top 5 lists and whose girlfriend breaks up with him. It’s based on a novel by Nick Hornby.

You may have seen Oliver before in shows such as Cats at Kilworth House and The Addams Family UK tour.

We had a chat before a midweek matinee in the auditorium which was built beneath a railway arch on the mainline into London Victoria.

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It’s 25 years since Melissa Jacques left Sheffield to pursue her musical theatre dreams in London. 

A year-long course at the London School of Musical Theatre led her to summer seasons, pantomimes and rep work where she cut her teeth before she joined the original cast of Mamma Mia. That’s where Melissa says she grew up and really learned her trade.

This autumn she was promoted to the role of Margaret, one of the roles she previously understudied, in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, after joining the show as a standby last summer.

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Daniel Boys is currently playing Marvin in Falsettos at The Other Palace, just around the corner from where he saw his first West End musical as a child, Starlight Express, at the Apollo Victoria.

After graduating from Guildford School of Acting, Daniel appeared in Rent, Sunset Boulevard and Grease before auditioning for the BBC’s Any Dream Will Do, the search for a man to play Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He made it through to the live show stage and was the seventh contestant to leave the programme.

Daniel went on to star in I Love You Because, at the Landor Theatre, before landing the leading role of Princeton and Rod in the West End production of Avenue Q.

Since then he’s performed in numerous concerts and appeared in shows including Ordinary Days, Peter Pan, Spamalot and Nativity! The Musical.

We had a conversation in a basement dressing room at The Other Palace where a giant inflatable unicorn was being stored.

Falsettos is running at The Other Palace until 23rd November 2019.

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Jon Robyns is about to take on the role of Jean Valjean in the new production of Les Misérables which is due to open at the newly renamed and renovated Sondheim Theatre in December. 

Jon is currently playing King George III in the West End production of Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre. He will handover to an as yet unnamed heir in the coming months before moving across town to Shaftesbury Avenue to tell another revolutionary tale.

Jon’s many theatrical credits include Marius and Enjolras in Les Misérables, Robbie in The Wedding Singer, Emmett in Legally Blonde, Eddie in Sister Act, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Alternate Huey in Memphis and Jamie in The Last Five Years.

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Lucie Jones is currently playing Jenna in the West End production of Waitress.

Since appearing on The X Factor in 2009, Lucie has played Cosette in Les Misérables (West End), Elle in Legally Blonde (Curve and national tour), Molly in Ghost (Chinese tour), Maureen in Rent (UK tour) before returning to London to play Jenna.

This episode was recorded in Lucie’s enormous dressing room at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End.

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Caroline Sheen is currently playing Violet in 9 to 5 the musical in the West End.

She joined the original cast of the production after Louise Redknapp injured her wrist, giving her only a week to learn the show before having to perform it.

Over the years Caroline has starred in Mary Poppins (UK and US tours), City of Angels, Les Miserables (as Eponine and Fantine), The Witches of Eastwick, Mamma Mia, Into the Woods and Grease - to name a few.

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Andy Mientus is currently playing Patrick in The View UpStairs at the Soho Theatre in London.

Andy is thrilled to be making his London theatre debut, it’s something he’s wanted to do for a long time.

You might know him from the TV shows Smash, The Flash and Gone. He also played Marius in the recent broadway revival of Les Miserables, and Hanschen in the original US touring production of Spring Awakening. Andy played that role for a second time in the Broadway transfer of the Deaf West production of the show which he co-created with his now-husband, actor and director Michael Arden.

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Jamie Armitage is the co-director of the the hit musical, Six.

He took a break from rehearsing with new cast members to chat about his most recent project, Southern Belles, which is currently running at the King’s Head Theatre, in London.

You can buy tickets to see Southern Belles on the King’s Head Theatre website.

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Whose Mind is it Anyway? is a theatrical experience combining hypnosis, improv and movie musicals.

My guests this week are the creators of the show, Michelle and Simon. They’ve taken the show to the Edinburgh Festival where it’s running at Gilded Balloon’s Patter Hoose.

We recorded this episode in Michelle’s voiceover booth, which was extremely cosy, on one of the hottest days of the year so far.

Click here for tickets to the show. If you can’t make it to Edinburgh this summer, then you can catch Whose Mind is it Anyway? on tour later this year.

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Ricardo Afonso is currently playing Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar, a reincarnation of the 2016 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production at the Barbican. The show had a second run at Regent’s Park in 2017 after it won the Olivier Award for best musical revival, played Chicago in 2018, and will tour the US later this year.

The show, which was originally written as a rock opera album, is about the days leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

This particular production has received rave reviews each year it’s run in London. Apart from the fact this version is playing at an indoor venue, the only real difference is the casting, including the actors playing Jesus and Judas who are both new to the show.

Ricardo was actually offered the part in 2016 but had to pull out of the production for health reasons. He moved home to Portugal for three years before coming back to London earlier this year to finally play the part he has longed for his whole career.

Many of the reviews of this year’s run have singled Ricardo out as the ‘absolute standout’ and ‘vocal master’, with ‘soaring vocals’ making him ‘the star of the show’.

We met up at the Barbican one lunchtime, shortly before a midweek matinee.

Ricardo filled me in on what happened in 2016, why he had to move his family to Portugal while he recovered and how much he hoped this production would come back and give him another chance to play Judas.

No stranger to the West End, you may also have seen Ricardo as Galileo in We Will Rock You, Top Hat and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

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What better way to mark International Podcast Day and the week of Wicked UK's 15th anniversary than with a conversation with Wicked podcasters Quincy and Kevin. 

They are the Broadway connoisseurs behind Sentimental Men, a must-listen for any Wicked fan.

Follow them at @SentMenPod.

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Christie Prades is currently starring as Gloria in On Your Feet the musical, which you may have guessed is all about Gloria Estefan.

We recorded this episode in her dressing room at the London Coliseum almost three years to the day since Christie made her broadway debut as Gloria.

Now she’s come over to the UK to do the show after covering the role in New York and playing it on tour for two years in the US. She’s handing over the part to Philippa Stefani at the end of this run when the show embarks on a UK tour.

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Julie Atherton is making her London directorial debut with Bare: A Pop Opera at The Vaults in south London.

Best known for playing Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut in the original West End cast of Avenue Q Julie has also appeared in Sister Act (UK tour), The Last Five Years, Lift the Musical, Thérèse Raquin and The Grinning Man.

We recorded this episode just as technical rehearsals for Bare were about to begin.

Bare: A Pop Opera is running at The Vaults until August 4th 2019.

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Matt Henry is currently starring as Sam Cooke in One Night in Miami at Nottingham Playhouse.

He’s best known for appearing on the second series of The Voice UK and originating the role of Lola in the West End production of Kinky Boots for which he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

Matt was also honoured with an MBE for services to musical theatre in the Queen’s New Years Honours List in 2017.

Matt trained at the Urdang Academy after completing his degree in Sociology. He left his course early to join the West End production of The Lion King as Swing/1st cover Simba. He’s since appeared in Saturday Night Fever, Hair, Miss Saigon and Avenue Q.

We recorded this episode during rehearsals in Nottingham for One Night in Miami. The play is set on the night Mohammed Ali became heavyweight champion of the world and celebrated with his friends the activist Malcolm X, American football star Jim Brown and the soul singer Sam Cooke.

One Night in Miami is running at Nottingham Playhouse from June 7th to 22nd. It will also tour to Bristol Old Vic (June 25th to 29th) and Manchester Home (July 2nd to 5th).

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Layton Williams is currently playing the title role in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in the West End.

At the age of 24 he has been working in showbusiness for more than half his life. After going to an open audition in Manchester for Billy Elliot at 12 years old he was swept away to ‘Billy School’ before playing the role in the West End. That lead to a part in the BBC series Beautiful People, alongside Olivia Colman.

Layton trained at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts and has since worked with Sir Matthew Bourne and appeared in productions of Rent, Hairspray and Kiss Me Kate. He can also be seen in the three series of Bad Education which was also made into a film.

As well as performing eight shows a week, Layton has his own dance academy and works with the charity Stonewall on LGBTQ education and inclusion.

We recorded this episode in Layton’s dressing room a few days after the Olivier Awards. We talked about taking over the role from his best friend John McCrea, how he had to go back into the closet after going back to school in Greater Manchester after Billy Elliot, and being taught to knit by Olivia Colman.

You can follow Backstage With... on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to find out which stage door we’re going through next.

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