DADDY WARBUCKS
MANY people will know Neels Claasen (pictured) from roles in the Kyknet soapie Binnelanders or, more recently, Black Sails. If you’re a musical theatre buff, you might have caught him recently in Pieter Toerien’s I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.
“It’s the nature of what we do,” says Claasen who, in the past few years has been writing and directing for theatre rather than performing.
But catch him as Daddy Warbucks and you can see he easily fills those dandy shoes. “I think I’ve matured a bit,” he says and he’s much more comfortable in his skin. Not that anyone watching this TUT graduate move through the ranks would have noticed that this wasn’t his natural milieu.
“I didn’t believe I could sing,” is his explanation for this lack of confidence in his ability as a musical theatre performer. “I didn’t believe I could do it, sing, but there wasn’t another option.” And now he has found his voice. It’s easy to see that this particular Daddy Warbucks is in a different headspace. Because his first auditions as a graduate flung him unexpectedly into the world of pantomime, he was forced to step out of his comfort zone right at the start of his career. He also stepped into teaching at TUT, a role he enjoyed, but none of this helped his confidence.
When Daddy Warbucks appeared on the audition horizon, Claasen didn’t even consider auditioning until he was asked to join the fray and – voila.
“I knew I had to get over myself now,” he says and he knew it was time to give it schtick! Suddenly, he is smiling and having fun. It’s lovely to watch the young ensemble cast, to cast his mind back and to know, what he’s looking at is 40 to 80.
Way to go! And he believes, if anything, this is his time!