‘It was a no brainer – Crazy For You is absolutely my all-time favourite musical’
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TRICTLY Come Dancing champion Tom Chambers reckons he’s fulfilling a teenage dream by starring in the Gershwin musical Crazy For You.
“It was the very first live musical I ever saw on stage and it just filled me with so much wonder,” says Chambers of his 15-year-old self.
“It was amazing to see what they did with the theatre space and how the story was told. It was the only bit of theatre which truly inspired me.”
He plays Bobby, a banker sent to close down a failing theatre who falls for the daughter of the building’s proprietor. Determined to win her heart, he adopts the guise of a Hungarian impresario in order to save the theatre.
The all-singing, all-dancing musical is set to a Gershwin soundtrack which includes the likes of They Can’t Take That Away From Me, Bidin’ My Time and I’ve Got Rhythm.
Chambers says he’s always had a bit of a performing instinct, from rattling his feet on the kitchen floor as a youngster to enjoying watching black-and-white films starring the likes of Gene Kelly. But it was a school play that saw him tread the boards for the first time.
“I was playing football during a school break and the English teacher, who was directing the play, said no one had auditioned for it so there was a compulsory three o’clock audition. I ended up getting the title role in Dracula Spectacular. I loved that relationship recognition between the audience and I. It was fantastic making them respond.” Drama school followed which included a stint understudying Keith Chegwin in the pantomime Cinderella at Basingstoke. And his first job after leaving was a Spanish TV ad for Kit Kat.
He says: “I thought ‘this is great’. I am going to get non-stop work.” But things did not quite work out like that. Although he has turned down roles on both The Bill an arena tour of Bob The Builder, after which his agent fired him.
Then he applied for the Royal Variety Performance.
“I wrote a Dear John letter suggesting I do a Fred Astaire routine on a drum kit and I thought that might appeal with me tap dancing and kicking drums at the same time. They said ‘yes’ so I spent nine-and-a-half months doing just that. But a few weeks before the show they then got in touch and ‘we don’t want you’.”
He didn’t give up and eventually landed a role in Holby City, where he stayed for three years playing “a fiercely driven doctor wtih a bit of a roving eye”.
That led to Strictly, where he partnered with Camilla Dallerup, winning the glitterball in 2008.
From there, after a run in White Christmas opposite Aled Jones, he won the part of Jerry Travers in West End and touring hit Top Hat, which sealed his status as a musicals perfomer.
“Taking on Crazy For You was a no brainer for me,” he says. “It is absolutely my all-time favourite musical. And it has the perfect balance of humour, story and singing.”
■ June 4-9, Curve, Rutland Square, Leicester, £10-£42, curveonline.co.uk