It will come as no surprise to any of my theatre friends that my
favourite performer is the wonderful Jamie Muscato.
When did you first discover your
performer?
As soon as it was announced that Spring Awakening would be premiering in London
at the Lyric Hammersmith, I booked tickets for the very first show. When the
cast was announced in late 2008, Jamie caught my eye so I did a bit of internet
searching, found a couple of videos on YouTube and absolutely fell in love with
his voice months
before I saw him on stage for the first time.
Have you seen them perform live if so
in what shows?
So far I’ve seen him in Spring Awakening, Love Story, Les Misérables,
Rock of Ages (25 times as Drew and 3 times as Franz), The Light Princess and I
was lucky enough to be able to attend the reading of But I’m A Cheerleader the
Musical, which he was a part of. I’ve also seen him perform in various concerts
and as part of his hosting duties with After Show.
How would you describe them to your
fellow theatre fans?
Jamie’s just brilliant - one of the most talented performers I know yet
so humble with it and his vocal range is so incredible that I’m pretty sure he
could sing anything. Also, he’s basically just a young Hugh Grant, so what more
could you want?
Favourite performance?
At
the start of this year I was privileged to be able to see his only full
show in his cover role, Prince Digby, in The Light Princess. I had very
high
expectations and he completely smashed them, and it is still my
favourite
theatre moment of 2014 thus far, having happened on only the second day
of the
year! His last performance as Drew Boley in Rock of Ages is another
special one
for me - he’d gone from strength to strength understudying the role for
over a
year and he just gave that last show absolutely everything. I need to
mention
the fact that he got to perform at the 85th Academy Awards as part of
the Les Misérables chorus as that was such a highlight. I stayed up
all night watching a live stream on my laptop and I'm not entirely
ashamed to admit that I burst into tears the second
I saw him step out on to the stage - I was very overwhelmed with pride
at that
moment in time.
Favourite song you've heard them
perform?
Oh,
there are too many! ‘Take Me Away’ with Cordelia Farnworth at Scott
Alan’s Hippodrome concert in November 2012 was incredible, and as one of
few times I've seen him play guitar it was really lovely. ‘Never There
Before’ from the
workshop of ‘X’ that he did back in 2009 is a fantastic song brilliantly
sung. ‘I’m
Gonna Take You Home’ from But I’m A Cheerleader the Musical was
hysterical and
had me crying with laughter.
Have you met them?
Far, far too many times. He’s always been very generous with his time.
There have been times when he must have been sick of the sight of me (I know I
would have been if I were in his shoes), but he’s always lovely and has always
had time for a quick chat.
The
first picture is from the first time I met him, on Spring Awakening’s
final day at the Novello Theatre on 30th May 2009. The second was taken
in July
2012 on one of the many days I saw him as Drew in Rock of Ages (and is
one of the few photos I have with him where I don't think I look
completely awful).
What show would you like to see them
in?
For 6 years (ever since I
first saw this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajsmAVy59oc) I’ve been
wanting to see him as Fiyero in Wicked. I’d also love to see him take on Guy in
Once. If we do ever get a production of Next to Normal over here, I think he’d
be an incredible Henry. I definitely don't have a physical list of my dream roles for him...
I’ve had the best time so far following Jamie’s career for the past 5 years and I am so excited to see what
comes next for him. He’s already a star in my eyes, but his talent deserves to
be recognised by so many more people.
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