Interviews

THE BIG INTERVIEW: Maury Yeston Composer of Titanic

Features, Interviews, News, West End
Book now for Titanic the musical and Death Takes A Holiday at Charing Cross Theatre

Maury Yeston is the composer of award winning musicals including Nine, Grand Hotel, Titanic and Death Takes A Holiday. Douglas Mayo caught up with him to talk about making the great maritime disaster sing on stage and just what gives him inspiration when it comes to writing great musicals. It’s refreshing to speak to a composer like Maury Yeston. He is remarkably frank and open when it comes to talking about his musicals. Speaking with Maury we decided to start at the very beginning of the process and ask just how he decides what stories to tell? “I’ve always believed that things that sound like a good idea for a show may not be, and things that sound like unusual ideas may actually work out well” he says. “I think it comes down to the fact that the audience loves to be surprised and the minute you start showing something … Read more

INTERVIEW: Matt Corner On Playing Frankie Valli

Interviews, News, West End
Jersey Boys celebrates it's 8th anniversary in London's West End

As Jersey Boys approaches it’s 8th anniversary we got a chance to chat to Matt Corner who is playing Frankie Valli in the show that has become a massive hit around the world. Tell us a bit about your background? I grew up in Darlngton. As a youngster, I went to Stagecoach as a confidence building exercise and realised that I wanted to be an actor. I loved watching videos of Only Fools And Horses with David Jason, who I greatly admire, he’s just a genius as a comic actor. He was a huge inspiration and the reason I got into acting. I spent most of my time day dreaming at school. I’d be reading the text of Midsummer Night’s Dream stuck inside my maths text book. The teachers at school laughed – the careers adviser asked me what I really wanted to do for a living! Getting into musicals … Read more

BIG INTERVIEW: Willy Russell and Bill Kenwright on Blood Brothers

Features, Interviews, Touring
Blood Brothers on Tour

Willy Russell and Bill Kenwright speak to Elaine Peake about Blood Brothers EP: How did you come up with the idea of writing a full-scale musical? WR: The kind of theatre I was involved in right from the word go didn’t make a distinction between musical and non-musical. When I started work at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, it was commonplace to have music as part of your show. Blood Brothers was written very much in the Everyman ‘house style’ of the day, and that was the period when the resident company included people like Bernard Hill, Jonathan Pryce, Alison Steadman, Julie Walters, Pete Postlethwaite, Bill Nighy, Matthew Kelly, Antony Sher – you were working with that kind of actor. All of them could sing (some better than others!), and some of them played a musical instrument, so it was the way we did it. We’d all been influenced by … Read more

Fifteen minutes with …Philip Olivier

Features, Interviews, News, Regional
Ale House at the Dome Theatre Liverpool

Liverpool lad Philip Olivier – best known for his role as Tim O’Leary in Channel 4’s Brookside, not to mention a killer set of abs – spills the beans on his directorial debut: a site-specific production of The Ale House opening next week at The Dome in Grand Central, Liverpool. Tell us a bit about The Ale House It was written by Tony Furlong and Jimmy Power back in 1995 and it went down a storm even back then in Liverpool. It’s about your local boozer, with lots of Liverpool jokes and the caricatured characters you’d expect to find in your typical Liverpool ale house. Would you say the play works best in Liverpool then? Yes. It’s got the same sort of comedy angle as Mrs Brown’s Boys, and we’ve brought it right up-to-date. The writers brought the play back in October last year for a run at St Helens … Read more

BIG INTERVIEW: David Schaal and Vincent Regan on A Steady Rain

Features, Interviews, Off West End
A Steady Rain at the Arcola Theatre

Following a successful stint at East Yorkshire’s East Riding Theatre, Keith Huff’s critically acclaimed play A Steady Rain is set to tread the boards at London’s Arcola Theatre. Layla Haidrani caught up with lead actors David Schaal (The Office) and Vincent Regan (Troy), asking what audiences might expect from its London premiere.  Q: What initially drew you to A Steady Rain? VR:  I was looking for a really good contemporary play and one that didn’t have a very big cast as we couldn’t afford to pay a lot of actors. I came across Steady Rain and liked it so much I thought I’d like to do it myself. I don’t usually do much theatre – I’ve only done a couple of plays in the 15 years. DS: I was immediately drawn to the amazing script. Very rarely do you read a play and think I absolutely have to do it … Read more

BIG INTERVIEW: Creators Of Grey Gardens The Muiscal

Interviews, Off West End
Grey Gardens at Southwark Playhouse

Douglas Mayo had an opportunity after the opening night of Grey Gardens to speak with the shows creators Scott Frankel (Music), Michael Korie (Lyrics) and Doug Wright (Book) to discuss the show and get their thoughts on the current production at Southwark Playhouse. On the morning I spoke to the creators, the first of many 5 star reviews had started to come in for the production and the team were elated. Not many people know that Grey Gardens was the first musical ever to be adapted from a documentary. How did you go about tackling the adaptation to make it work for a musical theatre stage? DW: When they first approached me, I told both Scott and Michael, this it was an absurd premise MK: And disrespectful! DW: I said the film is brilliant. I revere it. Any attempt to translate it for the theatre will make it an exercise … Read more

INTERVIEW: Drew McOnie on making musicals dance

Interviews, Touring, West End
Drew McOnie

Speaking to choreographer Drew McOnie, you can’t help but get caught up in the infectious enthusiasm of youth and be in awe of the talent that this young theatre creative exudes. It’s enticing stuff! Douglas Mayo caught up with him briefly to discuss his past, his current shows and where he is headed next. What got you into choreography rather than just working as a dancer? It was sort of backwards for me in that I learnt dancing so that I could learn the vocabulary I needed for my dances. As a result I got the dancing bug and went from there. I loved watching the shows and I was always dancing around and making up shows myself, and I was affected by seeing performances. As a young boy, I would come out of the theatre saying I wish that was my idea or that I’d made up that choreography … Read more

INTERVIEW: Kyle Riabko on Close To You

Interviews, News, West End
Close To You transfers to the Criterion Theatre

Kyle Riabko spent his teen years touring as a support act for artists like BB King, James Brown and Jason Mraz before appearing on Broadway in shows like Hair and Spring Awakening. Kyle is the musical visionary and lead performer behind Close To You – Bacharach Reimagined, a new production that features fresh, yet faithful re-interpretations of classic Bacharach songs. Douglas Mayo spoke to Kyle this week, just as the show began previews at London’s Criterion Theatre. How did Close To You come about as a project? I was lucky enough to meet Burt in a recording studio in Los Angeles. I had been asked to come by to sing on some demos for some new music he was writing. It was a very exciting thing to be asked to do. When I got there, (not to be too cheesy), it was sort of a magical moment and we sort … Read more