Country songs are theatrical songs, they tell stories, and wear the hearts on their sleeves and they have great melodies.
I send a text every day to my partner Cath, saying ‘I love you.’
Working every day isn’t hard if you love what you’re doing.
I’ve recorded a few Bacharach songs over the years and performed some in concert and always felt they suited me.
How many millions of times have I sung ‘Love Changes Everything?’ But when I see how it matters to people, it gives me the impetus to rediscover it and remember how lucky I am to have a song like that.
The first time I encountered Stephen Sondheim was like everyone else: through snatches of old songs people performed in drama school, through ‘Send in the Clowns,’ which everyone knew. I wasn’t aware at the time that he was the writing force behind ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Gypsy.’
All you have to offer as a performer is yourself.
I adore Dartmoor, where I grew up, and the Cotswolds are amazing.
Music is music and there are only two types: good and bad.
When I was playing Marius in the inaugural production of ‘Les Mis,’ I contracted glandular fever which developed into a post-viral depression. I was 23 and I couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.
Try to leave people feeling better for having met you.
I will always tour, it’s hard work it really is hard work, but the feedback and the buzz you get back from it is worth it.
You often take the mick out of the people you like best.
Ah, ‘Kismet,’ or Carry On Camel, as we called it. I thought the show was shocking. It was the worst designed production ever but it’s got a fantastic score. It’s not an awfully good book though. You really have to work hard to eke out any laughs from that script.
Songs from the theatre can be taken and put on record in a commercial and contemporary way, be reinvented and become standout tracks on their own.
The only thing I won’t eat is swede – I can’t bear it.
I made a conscious decision to stop watching ‘Big Brother.’ I was an avid fan, but I felt it was time to move on.
I tap my fingers and cheekbones before going on stage to calm down. But nerves are necessary; if you ever lose them, it’s a bad sign.
There’s something about the security and warmth of knowing that one person who, whatever happens, will always be on your side.
That’s the only show where, if anyone says to me, ‘Is there a role you want to play?’, I say, yeah, I want to play Sweeney Todd. Stephen Sondheim’s so clever; it’s a profoundly brilliant piece of work.
Musicals aren’t two-dimensional froth.
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