Interviews 2011

Interviews with artists, singers, band members and local music people on the Leicester arts scene

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West Side Story comes to Curve.

Photo© Pamela Raith

Left to right: George Mercer (Baby John), Ash Munton (Big Deal/Diesel), Abi Crossley (Anybodys), Greg Knight (Action), Danny Merrill (Mouthpiece), Ben Bateson (Snowboy), John Kearns (A-Rab), Joseph Holmes (Tiger), Niall McNamee (Gee-tar)

See our review of the opening night.

Interview

As West Side Story approaches it's opening night at Curve on 18th July, Artsin met some of the young actors from the production.

I met three of the cast members:

John Kearns (A-Rab, one of the Jets)

Emma Elliott

and Sojourner Hazelwood-Morris (one of the Shark girls).

I asked how they got into this production. John saw an advert about being involved in West Side Story, directed by Paul Kerryson. They were holding open auditions. They had to sing in front of a lot of people, including a panel of judges who would give comments after each performance. Three auditions over all covering singing and dancing. There was a list of songs that they could choose from, 10 songs for the boys and 10 for the girls. John says "It was quite a rigorous process." Emma thought it was cool. They had to wait a few weeks before they heard whether or not they had got the part. A large number of people applied for the auditions. "Alex who organised it was fantastic", Emma chips in.

I ask them what songs they had sung in the auditions. John sang Elton John's Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word. He tells me it went OK enough to get in. Sojourner sang All That Jazz (from the musical Chicago). "I wanted to do All That Jazz because I had sung it before and that went well" she says. Emma sang Mamma Do, adding "which is a quite a poppy number, which I enjoyed. For dance, we did a street number, to like a G6 song."

I asked if they had you done any auditions like that before? Sojourner says "Not one like this, in front of loads of people. It was held in the auditorium of Curve. Everyone could come and watch, a bit like the X-factor." It was a totally different experience to what she had been used to, she says. Emma, originally from Sheffield but studied here in Leicester, had done a number of shows in Sheffield such as Fame, the musical, and 42nd Street.

I wanted to know if the audition had been a fairly frightening experience? John jumped in right away: "Oh, yea, nerve racking. My microphone was shaking in my hand ... I was worried people were going to see it. It was terrifying. But from any experience like that you hopefully feel stronger, by going through it" he says.

Had they performed before?

Had these young actors done any public performances in Leicester before, I wanted to know? It's clear they have had some experience, in community productions, student work and a few small scale shows. Sojourner says "We both did His Dark Materials, which was a community production here at Curve. I have also done Lalita's Big Fat Wedding, which was also here and I also played The Tempest at Melton Theatre, I played Arial, a couple of years ago now. Other than that, there is not much I have done on a big stage like Curve."

So for these relative newbies, this must all be very exciting, if not daunting. John tells me this production at Curve is the biggest scale thing he has ever done. "I have just finished an acting course at Leicester College and I did a few student performances through that and I have also done something with Citizen 598."

Emma Elliot singing at her audition

Why is West Side Story exciting?

I ask them what excites them most about West Side Story, as a musical. Sojourner's eyes light up as she says "Oh! Everything really. I have always enjoyed the music in it, which is really lively, especially the dance." Sondheim", she says, "has always been one of my favourite people to listen to. Some people think that his lyrics are a bit too deep or a bit too manic but I really enjoy them. It's quite an eclectic musical, a mix of different people and some people do a bit of ballet, some do a bit of street dance ... It's really good to be on the stage doing it." For Emma, it's how energetic and vibrant it is. "You've got the competition between the Jets and the Sharks, the charge and energy that you get in the show, especially in the Gym number, It's just a fantastic musical", she tells me. You can tell their enthusiasm is sincere.

Had they seen it live before?

So I ask them if they have seen it done live before. John had seen only the film version. For John, musical is a fairly new genre. "It's becoming more appealing as you go through a process but I have never seen it live before" he says. He thinks this is good because, he says, "you're not trying to imitate another production." After this production he says he would certainly be interested in seeing how other people would do it. Sojourner has seen it live in Nottingham. She thought their 'Tony' character was a bit of a geek, so it's nice that our Tony is definitely not a geek, she says with a smile. "Every production is different, depending on where the stage is and who you have playing the characters, and who is the director, obviously" she observes. Emma saw it in the West End [of London]. "It was phenomenal" she explains, "which is what attracted me to do it. The dancing of Jerome Robbins is out of this world. I saw this and thought 'Yes I need to do it.'", she says.

What did they think of Curve?

I ask what most excites them about the performance at Curve. Emma, quick off the mark, tells me "It is a community production and working with Paul Kerryson is a great honour. He's very well known. Curve is a fantastic theatre, it's the best theatre you can work in", she says.

What's it like to work in the cast?

I wanted to know what it was like to be in a cast, like this, assuming they had not all known each other prior to the auditions.

John was quick to tell me that they are all a really good bunch of people to work with. "The camaraderie has been fantastic" he says, "I think this is important for the piece, because of the jokey gang mentality. If you have got good chemistry with your co-stars, you play the parts better. They are a very talented bunch of people, phenomenal singers, good dancers and actors, and some people can do all three." It's clearly been a good experience for him and by his enthusiasm you can tell they are all having a great time working together on the production. "It's been really good fun which makes the process so enjoyable" he says.

Sojourner is nodding, so I ask her if that was her experience. "Definitely" she says decisively, "We have always had this thing between The Sharks and the Jets, we have always had this group rivalry. Each scene we do, each dance, we want to be better than the other group", she explains, half seriously, half with a wry smile. Emma thinks the cast is amazing, "everyone is such a laugh" she giggles. "We get on so well, it's like a little family even though everyone is different ages."

It's a pretty energetic show I suggest. Sojourner agrees, "especially the Gym dance where some of the girls are thrown around all over the place. We are constantly dancing for about five minutes. But it's really fun, it's really enjoyable. You get to do a lot of different dance styles. It helps you to improve, all round, as a good musical person" she says. I wanted to know how they were feeling about the fast approaching opening night. John admitted to feeling nervous but rationalises "it if you didn't feel nervous it wouldn't be good ... you need the adrenalin."

See our introduction to West Side Story.

Bernstein's musical opens at Curve on 18th July. Find out from the Curve web site.

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