Joseph star Lee Mead is Lording it up - AUDIO
THERE'S nothing like a prime time Saturday night TV show to put you into the consciousness of the nation.
But since winning the BBC's reality TV contest Any Dream Will Do in 2007 - and therefore the starring role in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in London's West End - Lee Mead hasn't wasted an opportunity.
He has released two albums, got married and having completed a solo singing tour went to America to hone his acting skills.
On Monday he takes the lead vintage moralistic comedy in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime.
"It couldn't have gone better, to be honest," says the 28-year-old following opening night in Windsor.
"We had a week and a half to block the whole play, which is quite quick, a break for Christmas for a week and a week of runs. I was working on the script four weeks prior to that first rehearsal so it paid off. It's nice to have a new challenge and to stretch yourself as an actor and I'm on for the whole two hours - that's 75 pages of script to learn, but I felt ready."
The production is based on Oscar Wilde's short story and has Lee playing Lord Arthur.
"The play is based on fate, really. I get my palm read by Gary Wilmot and I'm told I am to commit a murder. So it's a comedy based on me trying to find somebody to kill in order to marry and have a happy life. Lots of things happen along the way and there's a big twist at the end."
The cast includes Gary Wilmot, last here in Chicago and a veteran of West End hits Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Copacabana and Me and My Girl, playing clairvoyant Podgers. Kate O'Mara, of Dynasty, Howard's Way and Bad Girls fame was at The Lyceum in An Ideal Husband in 2009.
David Ross, previously starred in Beeb sitcom The Green Green Grass, with other TV credits such as Vanity Fair, Red Dwarf and Goodnight Sweetheart. Derren Nesbitt is best known for his Chief Inspector Jordan role in Special Branch and as Gestapo officer Major von Happen in film classic Where Eagles Dare.
"It's a great cast of actors," acknowledges Lee, whose Joseph stint lasted a sold out 72-week run in London.
"These guys are hardcore actors and to be involved with that kind of cast, learning and working alongside them, is wonderful."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy snow
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: West
