MICHAEL DUKE plays the title role in the Olivier Award-nominated production of Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical at London’s Lyric Theatre, booking through to 8 January 2023.
Developed with the backing of Bob Marley’s family and with unlimited access to the musician’s platinum-selling catalogue of music, Billy Elliot The Musical writer Lee Hall’s latest musical is directed by award-winning director Clint Dyer.
Michael Duke’s theatre credits include: The Inheritance (Noël Coward), West Side Story (Manchester Royal Exchange), William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (Secret Cinema), Into the Woods (Cockpit), Outlaws to In-laws (King’s Head), Travels With My Aunt (Chichester Festival Theatre), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Aldwych), The Rat Pack LIVE! (Arts Theatre), Thriller Live (Lyric), The Lion King (Lyceum) and Bizet’s Carmen (Opera Holland Park).
Here Michael continues Musical Theatre Review’s interview series: Five Questions With…
What has it been like being the lead actor in a West End show not that long after such a challenging time for live theatre?
It’s amazing. I love it – you can really tell by the audience that it’s needed. And you can tell that people are really happy to be out and enjoying live entertainment.
Such a huge question, I know, but what does it mean to you, personally and professionally, to play the iconic role of Bob Marley in Get Up, Stand up!?
Personally, it’s really – as a person of Jamaican heritage – it’s really an honour to be able to celebrate and lift up the message and culture of Jamaican and Black people in the West End, you know? Not a small theatre somewhere – not that a small theatre is bad, but you think of a commercial theatre and the kind of show we’ve got here… It’s a blessing to be able to perform that to people, and to all kinds of people, you know?
What challenges does the role present you with, particularly when audiences will come to the show already such big fans of the lead character?
I think it’s probably the Jamaican and Caribbean audience members… You have to be good at it (laughing), you know? To be able to – I guess… to represent Bob Marley in the correct way and in a way that they can be proud of and feels authentic to them. That’s probably the real challenge.
Michael Duke in Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical at the Lyric Theatre, London. Picture: Craig Sugden
Do you try and represent him in your own way and with your own style, or are you trying to mimic him?
It’s both. So, I definitely have studied a lot of how he moves on stage, and some of his vocal qualities, but I’m not impersonating it. I definitely still have my own natural and authentic way of being, and I put that into the character as well. So it’s a mixture of both.
The show is celebrating running until January 2023 as well as 60 years of Jamaican independence, that must feel special?
It does feel special. Like I said, to have this show on stage right now in 2022, in the middle of the West End is special. And I think it’s in the right place at the right time.
Your career in musical theatre started playing Young Simba in The Lion King. What do you think makes musicals so adored and can you pick out a special highlight from your career so far?
What I think is so special is when you can see your stories, yourselves, the things you love and the things you know, on stage and represented. The struggles you might have been through: seeing that told to people. I think that’s special to people. And also, at the same time, it’s so much fun! You get the opportunity – I don’t know what kind of weeks you may have – but you get that opportunity to just laugh or whatever you need to. Depending on the show, you might also get to dance. And art in general, that’s what it’s there for. And that’s great.
Going back to the question, my career highlight would probably be this show. It definitely means a lot to me, and seeing how much it means to an audience is quite inspiring to me.
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