Musicals Magazine Podcast

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 John Wilson Orchestra highlighted his way with Golden Age Broadway scores, and Daniel Evans’s recent Chichester/Sadler’s Wells revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific afforded him his shining moment with arguably the two greatest ballads in the repertoire.

The musical excerpts are taken from Carousel: World Premiere Complete Recording, by John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London, released on Chandos Records on 13 September 2024; and My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert by The Rodgers & Hammerstein Concert Orchestra, conducted by Simon Lee, released on Concord Theatricals on 31 May 2024. The opening and closing musical excerpts featured in this podcast are from the Overture to Gypsy (film version), taken from Jule Styne’s ‘Overtures Vol 2’, courtesy of JAY Records.

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 life during and after drama school, the instant stardom of Joseph, his brush with Pippin in a stunning concert staging, and being part of the glitziest ensemble in town for the Sondheim tribute Old Friends. Plus, he looks forward to taking the world by storm with Les Mis as we’ve never seen it before.

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 of her life-changing journey with Elphaba – which she almost [ital] originated – in Wicked and Tony-nominated turns in Falsettos and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, plus the not-so-little matter of Boublil and Schoenberg’s ill-fated The Pirate Queen. One song still resonates: her glorious account of ‘Woman’, a performance for the ages.

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 Michael Legrand and Jeremy Sam’s Amour for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. But she thrives on the intimacy of the cabaret room and on disc she has garnered lavish praise for her two insightful and subtly jazz-inflected Sondheim collections.

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 Broadway. One of them, Jekyll & Hyde, has become one of the most performed and most revered all over the globe, while ‘This is the Moment’ can lay claim to being the most sung competition and audition choice ever. Then there’s the cult following growing for Bonnie & Clyde and the little matter of an 11 o’clock number he penned for Julie Andrews…

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 and Maria Reynolds – and sometimes Eliza – in Hamilton, and Tzipporah in Prince of Egypt. She’s about to give her Julie Jordan in a concert staging of one of the greatest musicals ever written – Carousel. 

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 hooks are ear-worming their way into all Musical Theatre enthusiasts’ consciousness. Godfrey writes pop songs with heart, soul, and zing. Can anyone wait for what comes next? 

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 Les Misérables both onstage and onscreen, and a Broadway debut as the feisty Vivian in Pretty Woman. Edward Seckerson meets her in her dressing room at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane where Queens Elsa is about to put the freeze on for a lot of adoring little girls. 

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 that year and then again in 2023, before touring it to Bristol and Manchester. 

They come to Musicals magazine’s headquarters to chat about the show’s upcoming West End debut, and why 2024 is an exciting year for homegrown, grassroots Musical Theatre.    

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 opens in the West End as the likeable and hyperactive Dougal in Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), he relives his journey so far – backstage at London’s Criterion Theatre.