Edward Seckerson chatted to Kerry Ellis as part of the Singular Sensations season at the Charing Cross Theatre, London
Singular Sensations – Kerry Ellis was at the Charing Cross Theatre, London.
Subtitled ‘Up Close and Personal with the Stars of Musical Theatre’, Singular Sensations is a series of intimate Sunday afternoon sessions at the Charing Cross Theatre aimed at musical theatre enthusiasts.
These sessions are hosted by Edward Seckerson, erstwhile presenter of BBC’s Stage & Screen, during which he talks with his guests, plays some recordings and, in some cases, they perform live.
To launch the series, he chose Kerry Ellis, a musical theatre luminary with the distinction of being the only British artist who has played the part of Wicked’s Elphaba, both in the West End and on Broadway. Together they provided two hours of exquisite entertainment to a packed house.
As an overture to their appearance on stage, a recording was played of Ellis and Queen guitarist Brian May’s thrilling rock version of ‘Defying Gravity’. And gravity was not the only thing Ellis was defying – with only five weeks left of her pregnancy, she was also defying immediate childbirth. None of which made any difference to her delivery of some powerful live performances.
Seckerson proved to be a first-class interlocutor who had clearly done his research as his questioning covered everything from Ellis’ childhood when she appeared, at the age of nine, in a production of The Wizard of Oz, through to its prequel, Wicked, and to later work.
Ellis recalled her audition for the National Theatre’s My Fair Lady, expecting to be taken on as Swing and becoming cover for Martine McCutcheon. This led to a discussion of the demands that eight shows a week place upon an artist.
Talking about Wicked, she felt that its popularity was due to a great story, great songs and spectacle. Seckerson related that he had seen the show on Broadway, both in preview and after opening, and commented on the amount of changes that had been made. When asked whether there were any technical problems in getting her airborne, she confessed that there had been a few, and even one occasion when she stopped the show as the machinery went forwards towards the stage.
Ellis has been collaborating with Brian May since he asked her to audition for the Queen musical We Will Rock You. With Will Stuart on piano, she then gave her version of ‘No-One But You (Only the Good Die Young)’.
The actress and singer also sang the title song from the musical Finding Neverland as well as Randy Newman’s ‘Feels Like Home’. From Chess, there was the wistful ‘Someone Else’s Story’, and from the show that she would very much like to do, ‘Tell Me On a Sunday’. She also offered a rendition of the beautiful ‘You Have to Be There’ from the Swedish musical Kristina fran Duvemala, written by former ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. As an encore, Ellis launched into a boogie version of ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’.
If the following sessions live up to this benchmark then the series is going to provide some excellent treats.
Barrie Jerram
The Singular Sensations series continues with Howard Goodall (6 October), Janie Dee (10 November), John Wilson (8 December), Patricia Routledge (19 January) and Jenna Russell (26 January).
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