Five Questions With: Tosh Wanogho-Maud 

Fresh from starring in the West End premiere of Ain’t Too Proud at the Prince Edward Theatre, TOSH WANOGHO-MAUD has been performing a limited run of live solo shows, the latest of which is on Friday 5 January 2024 at London’s Piano Smithfield.

Tosh’s stripped back solo show debut Songs + Stories celebrates the artist’s career so far, featuring songs from Dreamgirls, The Drifters Girl, Ain’t Too Proud and more alongside some original material performed live for the first time.

Musical Theatre Review editor Lisa Martland gave the show five stars, writing: “If you can leave a show having made a connection with a performer, knowing them a little better, have laughed and cried, heard music that made you want to dance, music that touched your heart and felt better about the world, then it’s a very special thing and Songs + Stories achieved all that and more.”

Tosh began his West End journey as a child, starring as Young Simba in Disney’s The Lion King. He went on to study at the BRIT school for Performing Arts & Technology and graduated from Bird College of Dance and Theatre Performance. Thereafter, he won starring roles in West End productions of Show Boat and The Book of Mormon, as well as numerous other touring shows around the country.

His status as leading man was crystalised via the part of Jimmy Early in Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre in 2018, after which he began to diversify into film and television; securing credits in Netflix’s Bridgeton and Jingle Jangle, as well as BBC’s Roadkill. Some of his biggest roles to date came in 2021, as one of the five stars of Michael Harrison’s The Drifters Girl at the Garrick Theatre. Alongside Oliver winners Beverley Knight and Matt Henry, the cast told the decades-spanning story of The Drifters and their female manager, Faye Treadwell. Alongside waitresses, record execs and a gamete of other characters, The Drifters Girl saw Tosh bring musical legends Ben E King and Rudy Lewis to life via songs like ‘Stand By Me’ and ‘Under the Boardwalk’. Shortly after the Drifters ended their run in the West End, Tosh travelled to Toronto for a Pharaoh-stopping star-turn in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was seven fat cows by night and rehearsals for the biggest challenge of his career by day… the role of David Ruffin in the Broadway transfer of Ain’t Too Proud, which played its last show in September 2023.

Here Tosh continues Musical Theatre Review’s interview series: Five Questions With…  

Tosh Wanogho-Maud in Ain’t Too Proud. Picture: Johan Persson

Your first solo show sold out in six minutes and it wasn’t long before the two extra dates did the same. Did that take you by surprise?

Even now I’m not entirely convinced it really happened. I was sure that no one was going to turn up (tickets purchased or not) and so I’d resigned myself to the likelihood my audience would be made up of people who had accidentally stumbled in out of the cold and my friends and family!

I think you get the balance right in your two sets, there are familiar numbers from the musicals you have appeared in but some welcome contemporary and original numbers too. How did you go about putting the programme together?

First things first, thank you for saying that because it’s always nerve-wracking trying to get the vibe check right. First of all when putting the programme together I did a little insta poll to get to know what my audience wanted to hear. It was great to actually interact with everyone and connect. After that I really just thought about what story I wanted to tell and how I wanted everyone to leave feeling and chose songs that I thought would facilitate that. It was so much fun because I have such an eclectic taste in music and so many different genres I enjoy and can sing so it was nice to sprinkle in a few bits maybe people weren’t expecting. I love using all the colours my voice can create.

You mention in Songs & Stories that you were terrified of putting yourself out there in a solo show and not ‘hide behind a character’, but you are actually a real natural in that environment. What has the experience been like for you?

It’s been transformative, I adore it! It’s still just as terrifying being so open in such an intimate setting but there’s something so magical about being able to look directly into an audience member’s eyes as you pour your heart out… you both experience something together. Discovering just being me is enough… that’s a gift I’m really grateful for.

There are a couple of beautiful songs included from a musical you are writing with your partner, singer-songwriter Nick Gardner. Could you tell us anymore about that?

I’m so excited about this one. I’m a huge advocate for new writing and especially new British writing. We have such a wellspring of talented British writers that have beautiful stories to tell. Our piece is all about the complexities of being a black man trying to navigate a world that’s in transition and how he fits in the bigger picture.

What do you feel has been the highlight of your career so far? Do you feel theatre is doing better when it comes to diversity and inclusivity (sometimes it feels like like there is change but it’s very slow coming…).

Hmm, that’s a hard one. I’ve had so many highlights, I’ve worked with so many amazing directors, choreographers, writers, performers. I think that’s the highlight, meeting all of these magical people that create art and birth these beautiful pieces into the world. It’s hard to pick one definitive thing.

In answer to the second part of the question… phew… it’s a complex one, as most things like this are, that requires subtly and nuance when discussing it. I think the industry is certainly making an effort to address issues of inclusivity and diversity. I think we’ve had some great triumphs as of late. I also believe there is a way to go. Until we have a larger proportion of marginalised people occupying positions of power, important decisions will always be made from a particular lens by the nature of the people making those decisions. That’s not because those people are wrong, or inherently prejudiced, but because as humans we are hardwired to see the world from our own perspective… it takes great effort to see the world through some one else’s eyes, but I believe it’s a habit we would all do well to adopt. I think change is indeed happening… and it is indeed slow… but I think that slow change is better none, and it will take years to dismantle an institutional inequality that has stood for such a long time. We must remember we’re not trying to change the industry… we’re actually trying to change minds.

Readers may also be interested in: Review: Tosh Wanogho-Maud: Songs + Stories – Piano Smithfield, London.