Musicals Magazine Podcast

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson talks to Jordan Luke Gage, currently starring in  Titanique in the West End. In a pretty meteoric rise since leaving drama school, Gage has been raising a little hell with characters as diverse as Clyde Barrow in  Bonnie and Clyde , JD in  Heathers  and Marilyn in  Taboo . He's currently aboard HMS Titanic in a show whose French title quickly es...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson talks to Bradley Jaden, possessor of one of the most recognisable baritones in Musical Theatre. Jaden has, in a relatively short space of time, established himself as the go-to heroic baritone of the UK's Musical Theatre scene. He's stormed the barricades of Boublil and Schonberg's Les Misérables , rising through the revolutionary ranks to assum...

Join Edward Seckerson in an intimate conversation with celebrated actress and soprano Gina Beck, known for her powerhouse performances on stages from the West End to Broadway. Gina reflects on her journey, sharing insights into her roles in classic musicals like  South Pacific  and  Les Misérables , as well as her acclaimed portrayal of Glinda in the US tour of  Wicked . In this episode, Gina open...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Julian Ovenden, universally acknowledged as possessing one of the most beautiful voices in Musical Theatre. Gearing up a rare solo concert with Broadway composer Scott Frankel ( Grey Gardens , War Paint ), Ovenden reflects on a career that has taken him from the Donmar's Merrily We Roll Along to TV's Bridgerton . His appearances with the J...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Jac Yarrow, who didn't even have time to collect his diploma before he was plucked from drama school to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium. His progress since has been fast and furious, establishing him as one of the go-to younger leading men in the business. He talks about li...

Edward Seckerson meets the fabulous Stephanie J Block, currently wowing London audiences as Lili Vanessi in Cole Porter's  Kiss Me, Kate . Her astonishing career has taken her from a Broadway debut as the young Liza Minnelli in the Hugh Jackman vehicle  The Boy From Oz  to  The Cher Show  (wait till you hear her Cher voice in this interview!) and a long-overdue Tony Award. She and Seckerson talk o...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Melissa Errico, celebrated purveyor of the songs of Stephen Sondheim and Michel Legrand and a cabaret artist of extraordinary magnetism. Her theatre career on Broadway and beyond has embraced some classics like  My Fair Lady ,  The Sound of Music  and  Camelot  with excursions into Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash's  One Touch of Venus  and Micha...

Edward Seckerson meets the prolific Frank Wildhorn ahead of the West End opening of  Your Lie in April , his latest venture (after  Death Note ) into the realms of Japanese Manga. From one huge Whitney Houston hit – 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go' – to well over a thousand songs and countless musicals, his is quite a story. At one time in the late '90s he had three musicals running simultaneously on B...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Christine Allado, fresh from lending her shining soprano to the  Old Friends  celebrating Stephen Sondheim at London's Gielgud Theatre. Some may remember her opposite Rob Houchen in the TV documentary  The Making of a Classic , chronicling the genesis of  West Side Story , but onstage the Filipino actress is best known as Peggy Schuyler an...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Jack Godfrey, one of the brightest and most engaging talents in the exciting renaissance of new writing, enlivening the West End and beyond. With  42 Balloons  – for which he wrote book, music and lyrics – fresh from its inaugural production at the Lowry Manchester and Babies opening at The Other Palace, Godfrey's insidiously memorable hoo...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Samantha Barks, who has travelled far since she and Rachel Tucker went head-to-head in a bid to win the role of Nancy in the reality TV show I'd Do Anything . Unforgettably, there was Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years where she and Jonathan Bailey lit up the then St James Theatre with their conspicuous talent. Then came Éponine in L...

For this Musicals Meets Podcast, Sarah Kirkup meets Bronté Barbé and Rebekah Hinds. The pair are playing the title roles in Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! , an award-winning musical comedy by Jon Brittain and Matthew Floyd Jones, which opens in the West End at the end of May. They have been involved with the show since its initial workshop back in 2022, taking it to the Edinburgh Fringe later th...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Sam Tutty, one of the youngest ever Olivier Award winners for his deeply affecting performance in the London premiere of Pasek and Paul's  Dear Evan Hansen . He journeyed with Evan across the great divide of the Covid pandemic , gathering a huge fan base as he did so. As he o pen s in the West End as the likeable and hyperactive Dougal in ...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Sarah Kirkup meets Timmika Ramsay, who's currently starring as Miss Adelaide in Nicholas Hytner's immersive production of Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre. Ramsay, who previously starred as La Chocolat in Moulin Rouge in the West End, talks about the challenges of following in the footsteps of Marisha Wallace, how she juggles eight shows a week with a small ba...

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Zachary James, who's currently hotting up the Underworld on the other side of that wall in Hadestown . James, who originated the role of Lurch in the Andrew Lippa musicalisation of The Addams Family , is perhaps best known to date – indeed immortalised – as The Scribe/Amenhotep III in Philip Glass's Akhnaten in the jaw-dropping Phelim McDe...

For this Musicals Meets Podcast, Editor Sarah Kirkup meets Marlow and Moss, the talented writing duo behind global sensation SIX . Following in that musical's footsteps was always going to be a challenge, but last summer they workshopped Why Am I So Single? at the Lilian Bayliss Theatre. Following two friends, who just happen to be writing a musical, as they enjoy a prosecco-fuelled evening, the t...

Edward Seckerson meets Evelyn Hoskins, forever associated with bringing Carrie White in from the cold in the invigorating 2015 Southwark Playhouse production of the ill-fated musical Carrie . They also talk Spring Awakening - which marked Hoskins's stage debut and is back for an original cast reunion; the loveable Dawn in Waitress where she shared the stage with the composer Sara Bareilles; and th...

For this Musicals Meets Podcast, Sarah Kirkup talks to Sarah Crompton, one of Britain's most respected writers and broadcasters, about the new production of Hadestown which has just premiered at the Lyric Theatre in the West End. Crompton is a huge fan of the show, having previously seen the UK production at the National Theatre and reviewing it favourably for WhatsOnStage. She recently wrote a fa...

For our first Musicals Meets Podcast, Editor Sarah Kirkup meets the actor and performer Joel Harper-Jackson. Starring as Harry in the revival of Standing at the Sky's Edge at the Gillian Lynne Theatre from 9 February, Harper-Jackson – previously known for Musical Theatre roles such as Charlie Price in Kinky Boots on tour and Simon in Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre – hit t...

EDWARD SECKERSON meets   OLIVER   TOMPSETT   at London's Wonderville Bar & Café to chat over his ongoing journey from The Who's   Tommy  (title role) at Arts Ed and a veritable portfolio of rock/pop shows –   Our House, Rock of Ages, We Will Rock You – to more legit fare like Fiyero in   Wicked and his winning turn as Will Shakespeare in & Juliet.   As we speak, he is preparing to launch a new sho...

In the latest MUSICALS podcast EDWARD SECKERSON talks to playwright and book writer JOHN WEIDMAN who collaborated with the late, great Stephen Sondheim on three of his shows -  Pacific Overtures ,   Assassins , and   Road Show  - and was in London for a long-awaited revival of the first of them. Chatting in the bar of the Menier Chocolate Factory the morning after the first preview he reminisces a...

Edward Seckerson drops in on Jenna Russell during the run of Richard Taylor/Rachel Wagstaff's  Flowers for Mrs Harris at London's Riverside Studios. They compare notes on the show and on other movers and shakers who've been instrumental in pushing the envelope on musical theatre including Sondheim (with whom Olivier Award-winning Jenna enjoyed several career-defining encounters), Jeanine Tesori (...

Jamie Muscato - the original Jason "J.D." Dean in the now cult hit Heathers  and currently the lovelorn Christian in   Moulin Rouge  - sits down with Edward Seckerson to talk   Once ,   Bend It Like Beckham , and being Kelsey Grammer's younger self in   Big Fish . Recorded backstage at London's Piccadilly Theatre in August 2023. The opening and closing musical excerpts featured in this podcast are...

In this episode of the Musicals Podcast Edward Seckerson drops in on the two leading ladies of the current revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects of Love - Laura Pitt-Pulford and Danielle de Niese - to compare notes on two fascinating women and re-evaluate the show itself 34 years on from its premiere. It's two hours before curtain up and Michael Ball's ears must have been burning… Recorded back...

In this episode of the Musicals Podcast E dward Seckerson talks to the multi-award-winning Jamie Parker ( The History Boys , Harry Potter - The Cursed Child ) about his current project  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a new musical by Jethro Compton and Darren Clark, and swinging like Sinatra with conductor John Wilson. Recorded backstage at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant in May 2023. The o...