We’re on for another great Knight
WHEN Beverley Knight took over the lead in The Bodyguard musical three years ago, it was her first stage role. Everyone knew she had a voice to die for, but few predicted she would act the hell out of the part and emerge as a bona fide leading lady — in fact, she ended up on The Stage news-paper’s Top 100 In The West End list. Now, the show that made her a West End ‘name’ is coming back. The Bodyguard will run at the Dominion Theatre for six months from July 15 through January 7. After the initial Adelphi run, she starred with Killian Donnelly in the musical Memphis, and did a season at the Palladium as Grizabella in Cats. Beverley said in the new production of The Bodyguard she wants to dig deeper into the part of Rachel Marron, the R&B star who falls for the security expert hired to protect her from a psychopath. ‘I understood Rachel from a singer’s point of view the first time. But she’s pretty conflicted about what she wants, and trying to get people to listen to her. There’s a sense of her trying to stand her own ground.’ When she sings the soaring ballads, it’s clear Beverley’s very much at home. I enjoyed watching her become Rachel. It’s a cool transformation. She told me she knows the Dominion stage, because she appeared there in West End Eurovision. ‘I’m glad I’ve had a little taste of it,’ she said. In the meantime, she’s writing songs for a new album and planning a tour. After Cats, she scooted off to Mexico, then Los Angeles. ‘We were doing pre-production in a little rickety studio in Glendale and there was this old-fashioned reel-toreel machine, and we were all squeezed into one room — and it was great!’ she said, because the result was an earthier form of soul. She has, she added, become a tad impatient with the R&B ‘lite’ performers out there. But there’s nothing lightweight about Beverley Knight.