GEORGE MAGUIRE is currently appearing in 35mm – A Musical Exhibition at London’s The Other Palace, featuring the photos of Broadway and theatre photographer Matthew Murphy.
George won the Best Supporting Actor in a Musical Award at the Oliviers in 2015 for his performance as Kinks guitarist Dave Davies in the musical Sunny Afternoon.
Other theatre credits include: Another Night Before Christmas (Bridge House Theatre), Busker’s Opera (Park Theatre), Lift (Soho Theatre), Twentieth Century Boy (Belgrade Theatre Coventry and New Wolsey, Ipswich), Hair (Munich), Thrill Me (Charing Cross Theatre), Fame (Shaftesbury Theatre), Bank (King’s Head Theatre), Rent (European tour), Tonight’s the Night (national tour), The Gate Escape (national tour), Sixteen (national tour), Quadrophenia (Nuffield Theatre) and Oliver! (London Palladium).
Can you explain the concept of the show?
The show is is essentially a song cycle based on photographs taken by Matthew Murphy, an American photographer, who does a lot of Broadway and theatre photography. His photos have been interpreted by Ryan Scott Oliver who has written the score – each song inspired is inspired by one of the images.
They are kind of stand-alone songs but also work very much together as a piece. It’s really cool because, as the poster says, the show is ‘a musical exhibition’. It’s a visual, audio kind of experience of really good contemporary musical theatre music.
George Maguire in 35mm – A Musical Exhibition at The Other Palace, London. Picture: Nick Brittain Photography
Is there a storyline?
There isn’t an obvious storyline, but what director Adam Lenson tries to do is allow audience members to create one for themselves if they want to.
There’s five of us in the cast and we all play different characters in each song, but actually there may be little connections with other numbers that make people say: “Oh, that must mean…”
One of the good things about the piece is that each person can take something different from it, see something that someone else doesn’t see and each song has its own story. It’s an evening of storytelling, whether it’s one big story or 15 little ones.
How does this influence the way you interact with your cast-mates?
Yes, it’s very much an ensemble piece with the five of us on stage all the time and you only have the song to pick up the character. It’s also a very interesting set, but I don’t want to give too much away.
It’s quite basic in its form, so we’re quite inventive with what we do to create the world for each song, and then we move on.
Tell us a bit more about the photos chosen.
Some have people in, some are black and white, they’re all extremely different. I don’t think anyone will necessarily look at them and get the same inspiration as Ryan did, but it’s incredible what he has come up with from looking at these pictures.
It was an option as to whether we wanted to use them as much to show the inspiration for the music, but I think it’s very important for the audience to see them and have them all around, so that it really is a musical exhibition. They’re brilliant, quite original, and all very different in their style.
Christina Modestou, George Maguire and Maisey Bawden in 35mm – A Musical Exhibition. Picture: Nick Brittain Photography
Does the audience get an explanation between songs, alongside seeing the photos?
No, we don’t like to make it too easy, there’s no dialogue in the show, but I think that’s the beauty of it. The audience is just taken on a musical and visual journey and it shapes the stories on stage. I think to explain the photos too much would take away the enjoyment of the audience’s discoveries.
How did you get involved in this show?
I was approached by the creative team and just straight away I heard the music and the the concept and thought: “Yeah, this is really cool, I really love the music.”
It’s new, it’s contemporary, and I haven’t heard music like it for a while in musical theatre. So that was it, I really wanted to get involved. I hadn’t done anything like it before so, it felt like a fresh challenge.
Do you have a favourite photo?
I do actually, there’s a picture that I do a duet to with Christina Modestou. The song is called ‘Make Me Happy’ and it’s about a couple talking about putting up with each other and just being happy. It’s got a few levels to it, again it’s how you want to interpret it. The picture sees two people sitting next to each other with masks on.
It’s the composition of these photos and the way they’re shot that’s really interesting. He [Murphy] has an original style and he’s very versatile with the genres and sounds he can create. That’s enjoyable because it means there is something there for everyone. As soon as I saw that one I thought it was a cool picture, they all are.
How did the first preview go?
The first preview is always exciting and there can always be things that can be changed, depending on how the director feels, but I felt it went well. The audience enjoyed it too. The show is quite quick moving, it doesn’t hang around, I would hope it’s quite an exciting thing to watch and it’s exciting to do as well.
Samuel Thomas, Christina Modestou, Maisey Bawden, Gregor Duncan and George Maguire in 35mm – A Musical Exhibition. Picture: Nick Brittain Photography
You’ve played a couple of iconic music figures, how do you prepare for that kind of role?
Being a music fan and being in a band throughout my life, I’ve always understood the feeling of being on stage and playing music to a crowds. It’s very different to being in a play or a musical, it’s slightly more personal in the sense that you’re not playing another character and I’ve always loved that.
To play someone like Marc Bolan or Dave Davies was a new challenge, I was always really careful not to do an impression, it’s the wrong way to approach it I think. People need to see and want to see characteristics that they recognise in the person and hear sounds they recognise. But to get it right, in my eyes, you need to capture the spirit of the person and build from there.
With Dave Davies in Sunny Afternoon, it was a really interesting challenge because there’s the responsibility of portraying someone who is alive and admired for their music.
Dave came to see Sunny Afternoon which was daunting and I think he liked it, he said I was ‘a good him’.
With Marc Bolan, who died quite young, a lot of his fans are very protective of his memory. It’s been a real honour to be able to play both roles and I hope that I did them justice.
You won an Olivier Award for Sunny Afternoon so you must have done something right…
To be able to play a part that is so similar to music I love and being in a band was quite a treat. To be awarded for something I loved was a really nice touch.
How did you get into musical theatre?
I went to a theatre school when I was young, so I was always doing acting and singing and training in dance as well. And I was in a band my whole life since I was a kid.
For me musical theatre was just the perfect opportunity to mix everything. It gives you an extra medium to express yourself and tell a story, which I think can be done very powerfully. I’ve been lucky to do some really cool musicals. I like all styles, so maybe I’ll pick up on something a little bit more classic one day, perhaps like Les Misérables. I’m known for doing a lot of rock musicals. It’s been great for me and it will always be something I get excited about.
George Maguire in Sunny Afternoon at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Picture Roy Tan
So would Les Mis be the dream role?
I wouldn’t say it’s the dream role, but one day when I’m older I’d like to play Javert, but I definitely think it’s a great piece. At the moment I’m especially interested in new writing and new musical theatre because I think that, especially in England, new musical theatre needs to be given more a chance.
There are venues promoting it like The Other Palace, places that are dedicated to championing new musicals, but in America the public get behind them more. I’m not saying that the British public don’t, there’s just more of an option to see them, so I’m really excited about doing that.
I think it’s much more exciting to learn something new, to be the first person to create the character, and come up with things on your own. I always endeavour to do that, but there are some pieces of musical theatre that I’d always be excited to be a part of.
Will it be more musicals after this?
Who knows? I’ve got my own music, I’ve got an EP hopefully coming out the end of the year so there will be a few gigs in the diary. There’s very small TV projects later in the year too, but there are some musical theatre shows I’m looking at. Watch this space…
Tell us a little more about your music…
I have been writing songs since I was about 15 when I was in bands, and as I’ve grown older the sound has changed and my influences have grown.
When I’m busy acting, it can be quite hard to find the time to do my own music. After playing Dave Davies, we played at a festival in front of 20,000 people and I thought: “Wow, I really want to be doing this kind of thing with my music”, playing in festivals and getting it out there.
I’ve got about three albums worth of music backed up that I need to work my way through, but I am determined to get the material out there. It’s rock and pop, plus my influences are Motown and a bit of punk and all sorts of music, so there will be something out soonish.
There is another George Maguire in the industry, have you ever had any funny mix-ups?
That’s the wonder of the internet now, if you Google ‘George Maguire’, he was one of the Billy Elliots. I can dance a bit, but not well enough to play Billy Elliot! Our paths haven’t crossed yet, but he must get it as well. I’ve had a couple of embarrassing interviews where they’ve based the whole thing around me being Billy Elliot and then you have to say: “Stop, stop, that wasn’t me!” It just looks really awkward, so now I just clear that before we start. There’s a corrected Wikipedia page for me that says ‘George Maguire, actor-musician’. It’s confusing.
* 35mm – A Musical Exhibition continues at The Other Palace, London until 30 September.
www.theotherpalace.co.uk/whats-on/35mm-a-musical-exhibition
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