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Wednesday 2nd February 2005

Thisisbuks online

Christopher comes home as a star

Amersham-born Christopher Jay stars as Jacob in the smash-hit.

Christopher Jay grew up in Amersham. He returns to his roots starring in the smash hit musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He tells Michelle Fleming what it means to him to tread the boards on home turf.

EVERY Christmas as a boy, Christopher Jay, shuffled into his front row seat for the annual panto at the Wycombe Swan, which his gran took the entire family along to.

Many years later, I catch up with Christopher, now 27, as he prepares to step on The Swan stage starring as Jacob in the hit musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat next month.

Christopher says: "Wycombe is my local theatre, so I'd been there every Christmas. It's quite exciting, as I've never been backstage before, and I'm looking forward to finding out if it's what I imagined it would be, like the dressing room and all the other off-limits areas away from front of house."

Amersham-born Christopher, who graduated from the Royal College of Music more than a year ago, tells me when he first stepped on stage as Jacob he dedicated it to his panto-loving gran, who died last year.

"She was in hospital the month I got my first professional job but never saw me perform, so when I got my job in the West End I dedicated it to her she would have just loved it seeing me up there and I thought about her a lot."

Christopher attended the Beacon School in Amersham, and later he went to New College Choir School, Oxford, where he became head chorister.

He smiles: "Some of the kids at the Beacon School are doing Joseph too this term, so they will be coming along to see it."

After Oxford, Christopher went on to Radley as a major music scholar, during which time he joined the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, singing in Laudibus until this year.

After a four-year masters degree course in manufacturing engineering at Nottingham, he decided on a stage career, and eventually attended a postgraduate certificate course in Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music.

"I've always done a lot of music and was classically trained," reveals Christopher. "For a while I wanted to have my freedom from it, so I went away and did engineering at university. I really enjoyed it but when I left I didn't want to be an engineer. I tried different things like marketing but then realised what I wanted to do and got into acting.

"I'd always done musicals and never just plays, so at first I thought I couldn't do it but just after I graduated I got to work in Bridewell Theatre in Sondheim's Passion and it went from there."

Not long afterwards Christopher was snapped up by Bill Kenwright's team.

At first he was a "swing" at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, and more recently as Jacob in the Andrew Lloyd Webber family musical, which retells the Biblical story of Joseph, his 11 brothers and is packed full of popular songs including Any Dream Will Do, Close Ev'ry Door To Me and One More Angel.

"As the swing I had to learn the movements and about ten other parts and, then the part of Jacob came up."

Away from the West End, an entirely new team were being cast for a touring version and Christopher jumped at the chance.

He says: "It may sound strange but I prefer touring to the West End. When you're in London the audiences are a bit more cynical as they could have gone along to any number of shows so are harder to please, but when you go on tour the excitement of the crowd is just amazing wherever you go.

"When you're on tour you're in this bubble and it's only when you come off tour that you realise you actually have this other life."

When he is not working, Christopher has racked up a series of concerts at Amersham Community Centre the first to help him with his university course fees and the second in February last year to raise cash for the centre itself and another charity.

His gran won't be there when he comes to Wycombe next month but he's expecting a lot of home-grown support.

He laughs: "My mum has probably booked up half the theatre tickets by now. When I was in Nottingham all my mates from uni came and all my friends from here came to watch."

By Michelle Fleming

Colourful musical hits Derry

by Paddy McGuffin

09 February 2005

Acclaimed singer and actor Richard Swerrun, star of Joseph which begins its run at the Millennium Forum later this month, was in Londonderry for a flying visit last week.

But he took time out to speak to the NW Telegraph about the demands of the role, hitting a top 'C' 75 feet above the ground and the perils of disappearing loin cloths.

Although not yet a household name to many, Swerrun has an impeccable pedigree having performed extensively in the West End in a variety of musicals including Oklahoma, Westside Story and, of course, Joseph.

He also performs a solo big band show and has performed for the Thai Royal family in Bangkok.

Having now donned the technicolor mantle over 3,000 times there is no excuse for forgetting his lines but other potential pitfalls are less easy to control, he says.

The coat itself for example takes the entire cast to lift it at the show's finale.

"Joseph is a very demanding role as you are on stage all the time for two hours. I tend to lose about six pounds a week while performing," he says.

"I have played many leading roles but Joseph is unique in terms of character development. At the start I play him as an 11-year-old boy and by the end he is 42-years-old. It is very different which is probably why I keep doing it."

He relishes the opportunity to flex his acting muscles in the role.

"I love the acting side of things. I adore singing but I also love being able to portray Joseph because there is a lot of drama and angst involved in the part," he says.

The show continues to develop from its original manifestation as a 15 minute drama which keeps the performances fresh.

Swerrun says, for example, that those who have seen the show before can expect the odd surprise.

"It never really stops growing. The show began as a 15 minute school play and has developed from there, each production brings something new to it. It's like the coats I wear in the show, they keep getting bigger and more expansive.

"People will find new things in this performance."

Swerrun is in the strange position of being highly regarded within his own millieux but unfamiliar to most.

He explains: "I think because I wasn't a TV personality it was only in the West End where I became known. But I must have played every major theatre in the land touring with Joseph and then doing my concert tours."

For him it is important to travel with the show, to introduce it to a wider audience.

"The West End is a magical place," he reflects.

"But it is very expensive and, therefore, limits who comes to see it not just due to this but also geographically. I love coming to places like Derry or the North of England and Scotland where people may not have had the chance to see something like this. The reaction is amazing."

But things do not always go smoothly despite his 100% record of standing ovations.

"When I am performing in the West End there is a moment where I am elevated on a hydraulic platform 75 feet out over the audience. I've never fallen off but trying to hold a top 'C' that high up can be difficult. In addition my loin cloth has been known to fall off on occasion.

"I have it held up with straps, velcro, pins you name it but it has happened a few times when you suddenly find yourself grabbing for it," he laughs.

Musicals have had a resurgence in popularity of late, and much of this is a result of high budget movie adaptations.

"I think that's right," he says.

"It goes in cycles, and it sometimes takes something like Chicago or Evita to capture the public's imagination. Joseph is a bit like that as well, it is a fantastic introduction to the genre for people who may not have seen a musical before."

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat begins at the Millennium Forum on Monday, February 21 and runs until Saturday, February 26.

a division of Independent News & media (UK) Ltd

Malvern show is more scary than Palladium!

WHEN Richard Swerrun literally bounces into the Circle Bar at Malvern Theatres it's impossible not to smile back at his beaming grin.

A ball of energy, he brushes his hands through his shoulder-length blond locks and places a hand over his impressively tanned - if not rather exposed - chest.

Just seconds after meeting the Malvern-born man it's easy to understand how he bagged the leading role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, about to burst on to the town's stage later this month in a whistle-stop tour of the country.

And for Richard, he's no stranger to the role. For he is proud to announce that this tour will see him making his 3,000th performance as Joseph.

"Which means I'll have sung Any Dream Will Do 12,000 times because you sing it four times each show, so there's no excuse for fluffing the words," said Richard, throwing his head back and letting out a dramatic laugh.

Oozing charisma, I expect Richard to tell me he took to the stage at the age of two and has never looked back, but was surprised to hear he was what he described as a "late starter".

It wasn't until he was 17 and he joined WODS (Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society) that he discovered his unbridled passion - but he certainly made up for lost time.

During his first year of dance school in London he decided to have a stab at an audition for the West-End musical Y - "just for the hell of it".

Meant as a learning curve, he was gobsmacked when he was told he had landed the leading vocalist role (for which he later won one of his now many accumulated awards) and beat off 6,000 other hopefuls vying for the part.

And it's unsurprising his skills were spotted so early. For it seems Richard is the definition of the term "natural talent".

He passed ballet exams that normally take 14 years to master in just two-and-a-half years - which he puts down to spending years in orthopaedic splints to try and straighten his bow legs. "An affliction that went in my favour", he says.

And he is first to confess he has never had a singing lesson in his life - instead learning his vocal skills by miming and singing as a child to classic greats such as Sinatra and Garland.

His work has seen him singing, directing choreographing, producing and dancing his way around the world, including his own one-man show and performing for the Thai Royal Family in Bangkok.

Being coy about his age, he admits he's worked in the business for more than just one decade, and said he felt fortunate that he has never been short of work.

But for Richard, he couldn't be more delighted to be back on stage in his hometown.

"I love performing here then being able to walk my dog home after the show," he chuckles.

"Seriously though, there's so much history here for me. It has a very special place in my heart.

"And having so many of my friends and family come to see the show it makes it more nerve-wracking than walking out in front of the London Palladium.

"I feel like people are coming to see me rather than the show, which is scary but great."

And Richard won't be the only local lad starring in the show. He'll be joined by 23-year-old Gregory Bradley, who was born in Gloucester but lived for more than 10 years in Ledbury and Hereford.

It's Gregory's debut appearance at Malvern Theatres, but he has fond memories of visiting it as a child.

"I'm really excited about the part and being here," he said.

He plays Benjamin, one of Joseph's 11 brothers in the legendary musical penned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, which will be at the theatre from Monday, February 28 until Saturday, March 5.