Louise Dearman, Ria Jones, Alexia Khadime and Rachel Tucker are coming together for one night only for There’s Nothin’ Like a Dame to celebrate 100 Years of Women in Musical Theatre. The concert, at London’s Cadogan Hall on 30 August 2018, will feature songs from across the decades including classics by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Schwartz.
ALEXIA KHADIME is no stranger to strong female roles in musical theatre with credits including The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre), Wicked (Apollo Victoria), Les Misérables (Queen’s Theatre and film) and The Book of Mormon.
There’s Nothin’ Like a Dame is the debut production for new musical theatre production company Lambert Jackson. Seventeen-year-old student and competition winner Daisy Greenwood will also appear in the concert.
How did the idea for this show come about?
I was asked by the lovely Jamie Lambert whether I’d be interested in doing it. We’d worked together at the Royal Festival Hall on Southbank prior to this and he thought I would be a good addition to the show, which I was more than glad to do.
How do you choose the set list for a show like this?
It’s pretty difficult because there’s quite a few good ones, but the creative team made decisions on who would be best to sing which songs.
Did you have any input on the song choices?
No, just because it gets a little bit sticky, but there are so many great pieces. They obviously put some ideas by us and asked us whether we’d like to sing those songs. Obviously, we could make suggestions but the show has to be only so long.
Is there a running narrative through the show?
They’ve picked out specific songs that they think ring true and it’s going to be told that way. It’s celebrating women, which is different because a lot of the time, especially in musical theatre and theatre as a whole, it tends to be more male and a more heavily male company, On the whole, there tend to be more males than females, so I think this is a really important stamp. There are more shows coming through that have more female leads, but most of the time it tends to be male. It’s an important time to celebrate ladies in theatre.
Have you had a chance to meet your co-stars?
I’ve worked with Rachel and Louise before doing concerts. I didn’t do Wicked with them, they did it together and I’d never actually met Ria before. They are all such talented ladies. I’ve not worked with any of them in a show but just concert wise with Rachel and Louise, we did Kerry Ellis’ concert together where we all sang ‘Defying Gravity’ a few years back. So there’s bits and bobs we’ve done together like concerts as opposed to performing in a show.
If you can reveal it, what is the song you most look forward to performing and why?
I’m really looking forward to the group numbers because they’re always fun. It’s nice singing solo numbers but I really enjoy the group numbers because of harmony work and things like that. The music is really great and with the strong calibre of our ladies, it’s going to be phenomenal and it’s exciting. I don’t know that I’m allowed to divulge.
Are you all singing songs from shows you’ve been in or will you mix it up a bit?
It’s mix and match because there’s material from shows I haven’t done before. Being in musical theatre, as much as you sing songs from shows you’ve done in the past, there’s also a lot of material from shows you haven’t done. It makes it fun and it breaks it up because it’s new stuff so it keeps that creative edge in us going.
Three of you have been in Wicked, as you mentioned, and there are several career crossovers, is that something that you work with in this show?
I don’t know if I can say but it might… I’m not sure if I’m allowed to divulge what songs or from which shows but it’s going to be a good one and let’s face it, Wicked is one of the shows that has female leads so it’s probably likely. I think it would be almost a crime not to consider that.
Do you think there are enough opportunities for women in the theatre?
I think in some respects it’s getting better but it is still quite heavily male-dominated. It’s not a matter of me saying that women should take over, it’s a matter of having equal opportunities. There aren’t as many lead female roles readily available as there are male. Even when I was in The Book of Mormon, mine was the only role against all the others so it was again, male-dominated. It’s a great show, don’t get me wrong, but again it’s that balance where unless it’s called Carmen Jones or it has writing where the two leads are female, it is more male heavy.
They’ve got Tina out now, which is great. I think what’s fantastic is Company having Rosalie Craig playing the lead, they’ve put a twist on that. I think that’s the nice changes that are happening, they’re having females step into roles that have been done by males in the past and I think it needs to be celebrated. Women can do it too, it doesn’t have to be the guy leading it all the time, there’s some fantastic talent out there and why not get to see it rather than it always being on the side or non-existent.
Oh don't mind us, it's just @alexiakhadime blowing the ENTIRE ROOF off the rehearsal for tomorrow's concert at @cadoganhall celebrating women in musicals!
Get last minute tickets for £15 here! https://t.co/NxO4kjhR8X pic.twitter.com/N7hNZEaT2Y
— Lambert Jackson (@LJProds) August 29, 2018
The songs may be sung by women but a lot of them are written by men, do you think we need to see more women behind the scenes too?
One hundred per cent! That’s across the board within the industry, not just those who are on stage and who we see at the forefront. I think behind the cameras – when I think of any filming I’ve done, it’s rare that I see female directors. Yeah, they’re there, but it’s heavily dominated again by men and producers, we definitely need more of it. We need more female writers, a lot of the time it’s male composers and lyricists and we definitely need to see more females coming through. The talent is there, it’s not a matter of talent, it’s a matter of being pushed to the forefront.
In the show there’s a big message of celebrating women in theatre but what more are you hoping to give the audience?
Whenever it comes to shows and concerts you want to at least touch someone’s life through a message or a song that can reach out and maybe help someone with whatever they’re going through. I think the hundred years theme is important, it’s a big deal to acknowledge those women who stood up for equality in the past and those kicking arse out there today. For young girls across the board, to let them know that their dreams and aspirations can become a reality, that opportunities are getting better and they should go for it.
If we can offer inspiration as well, then we’ve partially done our jobs for the next generation coming up and all the little girls saying: “I want to do that someday.” That’s a possibility for them, I think that’s really important because the entertainment industry in this country brings in a lot of revenue for the country, so I think it’s important that we nurture our talent and give them the encouragement by doing things like this concert to inspire.
This show is only on for one night, are there any plans for it beyond that date?
It’s one night only! I think it’s more of a special momentous concert as opposed to an ongoing thing. It’s something that they could definitely bring back because it’s got legs to it and it could have more material to show off rather than just what we’ll do on 30 August but it’s a one night only concert, let’s celebrate it.
What kinds of characters do you find yourself most drawn towards?
I tend to play the strong female leads, I am drawn to characters like Elphaba, like Nala, that female who tends to be the strong woman behind the man, I’m drawn to those kinds of characters. I’ve also played Bob Marley’s wife in One Love and again she was this strong woman who was behind Bob Marley and people loved his music. I’m drawn to that and I enjoy playing that because there is just so many layers to that person.
What would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?
That’s really hard. I have to say playing Elphaba was a great experience for me, especially for being a black female, because that’s another thing in the industry which is tough. I think we’ve come a long way, but just showing that you can be from anywhere and still fulfil your dreams.
I had messages from people from other ethnic backgrounds and they said they had been thinking about giving up because they didn’t feel that there was a place for them in the industry. I think that it’s important for young girls to be able to look up and say: “She looks like me” or “I can do it too.” So that was important for me with Elphaba, it opened that door and black girls, Asian girls, were able to say: “I can do it!”
What would be your dream role?
I don’t know, I think I’m just so open and it depends on what material comes to me, I feel inspired by that. I also like new writing, so I don’t know if I have exactly an “Oh my goodness, that’s a dream role, I want to play that character.” It’s more, I’m excited to hear new writing and be a part of it.
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