JADAR

The latest musical to premiere in Manchester is I Should Be So Lucky, a jukebox musical using the music of Stock Aitken Waterman, with a book and direction by Debbie Isitt (Nativity!). I was lucky enough to interview Pete Waterman OBE, Isitt and stars Scott Paige and Kayla Carter at the launch event, back in Summer.

The musical began previews at Opera House Manchester last week and officially opens next week. It appears to have immediately won audiences over, and the cast and creatives are hoping that critics and reviewers (i.e. me) will love it just as much.

Ahead of the musical beginning previews, I did a fifth interview for the show (ATG, I better be your favourite) – this time, a proper in conversation – with Matthew Croke, who plays one of the lead roles.

Matt is best-known for playing the title character in Disney’s Aladdin in the West End. Onscreen, he appeared on The Voice UK, a show that has attracted other musical theatre stars, such as Kerry Ellis and Dean John-Wilson (another Aladdin, who I interviewed earlier this year).

Sadly, Matt was not at the launch event because he was away doing his own show; he could not even make the photoshoots so his face is not on the posters!

Matt was also away when I caught Aladdin in the West End but I saw him perform at an Aladdin pop-up and later alongside Alexandra Burke in the Aladdin panto in Manchester (he again played Aladdin!). I met him a few times whilst he was living in Manchester; he’s as lovely as he is talented so it was great to interview him ahead of me finally seeing him perform in a musical.

Whilst Matt has had a varied career, I Should Be So Lucky is his first time starring in an original cast; he has never been in a rehearsal room creating a role as you go along. Matt told me what Isitt told us at the launch: she gives her actors the plot and tells them to roll with it and say what they would say in that scenario; the script is written during that process. Matt has enjoyed this collaborative approach and creative input; it is a privilege rarely afforded to actors.

Matt’s character, Nadeem (spoilers ahead), is a tour guide of a Turkish hotel where the couple at the centre of the story, Ella and Nathan, were supposed to have their honeymoon. Nathan abandons Ella at the alter but the bridal party still decide to go on the honeymoon! Nadeem discovers that he has feelings for the jilted bride, whose fiancé returns and tries to win her back, creating a love triangle – and I’ll say no more (mainly because Matt said no more so I honestly have no idea what happens next).

Whilst Nadeem is a Turkish tour guide, Matt and Isitt decided to make Nadeem British-Turkish, which feels “correct because, one, I wouldn’t do a Turkish accent justice, and two, that’s staying true to me as well.” However, his character’s accent has transformed into “posh Northern” because the central family are “down-to-earth Northerners” and Isitt wanted to distinguish Nadeem from them.

It’s one thing for Matt to be speaking with a Northern accent onstage – of course, most British characters are written to speak RP – but he’s even found it a bit strange speaking with a British accent because he’s more used to American accents, having starred in many American musicals.

Whilst Matt is best-known for his work on the London stage, he has done “one and a half” touring productions before. He starred in a touring production of West Side Story a decade ago – “Wow!” I said on the Zoom, for I was merely 14 back then – which saw them visit Palace Theatre Manchester. He then starred in a small touring production of Singin’ in the Rain, which opened at the Octagon in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

This will be Matt’s first time touring whilst in a relationship with his fiancé (singer-songwriter Jahz Duncan), who is from Manchester and lived with Matt in London. He has moved up to Manchester with Matt (he has friends and family up here) and will be on the road with him; he can easily travel around for gigs and performances. They also have their dog with them!

Matt is thrilled to be starting the tour in Manchester for a residency run because it’s his home away from home.

“I lived in Manchester for over a year, when I was doing the pantomime and when we first met,” he told me. “It’s really nice to be somewhere really familiar. If I’m away from London, Manchester’s my place to be – even more so than Sheffield, where I’m originally from. I went through a lot of personal life-changers whilst I was living in Manchester so it’s got a really fond place in my heart. When [Jahz and I] got back yesterday, we both said, ‘It’s just so nice to be back.’”

Matt had met Jahz in London, when they both competed on The Voice UK (Jahz was in a double act, 2che, with his identical twin, Darius). Because of the pandemic, and the West End closing down, he moved back to Sheffield, which is, of course, not too far from Manchester – before moving to Manchester.

“The purpose of moving to Manchester was ‘for work’ but I think it’s because I met Jahz,” he admitted.

“You got work in Manchester so…”

Speaking of, I asked Matt what it was like starring in Aladdin the panto after starring in Aladdin the musical – because they’re so different.

“I think it was really enjoyable because it was so different. It didn’t feel like I was stepping back into that role at all. The pantomime of Aladdin doesn’t really tell the story of Aladdin as we all know it.

“It was a funny thing to do. I wouldn’t really shout about it from a career point of view but, like I said, I’d just moved to Manchester, I was in need of having some good fun, and it was nice to incorporate that with some work.”

“You got paid!” I said.

Matt especially enjoyed working with pop-sensation-turned-musical-theatre-star Alexandra Burke, who he described as “really lovely,” “really down-to-earth,” and “extremely talented”. Indeed, I know from working in television that Alexandra has a reputation for being a real gem – a girl I worked with on The Voice UK described her as “the nicest person in the world” – contrary to the media’s racist, sexist vilification of her.

Matt told me that the whole cast had a great time, especially because so many theatres kept having to close because of the pandemic and they had the opportunity to be onstage again.

“I loved it – living in Deansgate, walking to work everyday, performing, singing some nice songs, getting on a magic carpet!

“I did really enjoy getting back on a magic carpet – and in the pantomime one, it goes out into the audience, [whilst] in the West End, it flies around the stage.”

I told Matt that Dean told me that the “magic” behind the magic carpet in Disney’s Aladdin is way more simple than people realise – he concurred but, once again, he said no more (I’ll get it out of somebody one day!).

After asking Matt about working with Alexandra Burke, I had to ask him what it was like meeting Kylie Minogue in rehearsals recently.

“It was one of those moments that I was in, and she walks through – you know, she’s a human-being – so, this human-being walks in and you don’t really realise what’s going on until she’s left. Then afterwards, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘I’ve just met Kylie Minogue!’

“In person, especially when you’re trying to stay professional and work together, it didn’t really hit me that I’d met Kylie Minogue until maybe the next day,” he said, clearly still processing his encounter with the Princess of Pop!

“She was the sweetest, smallest, cutest person I think I’ve ever seen – and also really, really, really invested in the show and really cared about it and had lots of input, and she’s very much involved.

“And that was also a weird after-thought: Kylie Minogue’s really involved in the show that we’re all in – that’s crazy – but obviously makes it really exciting. And it’s the first time that she’s been part of something in the musical theatre industry.”

Kylie is reaching another career milestone at the moment with her first ever Vegas residency – and I’ll never forget her return to acting when she played a guest companion in Doctor Who! Is there anything she can’t do?!

This musical actually sees Kylie return to acting: as we were told at the launch event, Kylie appears in the show digitally.

A lot of new musicals rely on digital design in place of set – indeed, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory revival relied on digital design to create the eponymous chocolate factory – so I asked Matt if I Should Be So Lucky has a set. It’s a very important question!

Matt told me that the cast were set to see the set for the first time the following day. All they had seen so far were miniature models of what the set might look like.

“It’s very fun, bright, happy – even to look at, it’s filled with so much love and energy, and the digital parts of it are very clever. Even looking at the set, you can see that it’s gonna be everybody’s favourite feel-good show. This music is obviously so nostalgic, and I think the set absolutely matters… It’s very camp.”

The show is coming at the perfect time: Manchester is so miserable in Autumn and Winter so it’s great that we get to escape to sunny Turkey. My best-mate (speaking of weddings, I’m her “brides-man”!) is currently in Egypt, and I could not be more jealous.

“At first, [we thought] it’s a shame that the show’s not launching in the summer time, but when you flip it ’round, it’s keeping that energy and that feel for summer when you need it most,” Matt said.

“And the other big musical in Manchester at the time is Hamilton which is obviously depressing as f*ck!” I scoffed.

Matt admitted to never having seen Hamilton, even though “Trevor [Dion Nicholas], my genie, that I played opposite, was in it for ages, and I never managed to see it which is why I made a massive effort to go and see him in” – he had to think about it – “Next to Normal.”

“Oh, you’re a terrible friend!” I said.

Luckily, ISBSL and Hamilton have slightly different performance schedules – he has some friends in Hamilton who are coming to see ISBSL – so he will hopefully get to see it in Manchester.

I told him he must go see it, especially as a person of colour in this industry, which brought me on to my next question: are things getting better for performers of colour?

“A million percent. As an industry, we have worked very hard on celebrating everybody’s individuality and making it something that shouldn’t necessarily even be a thing. You do the jobs that you’re right for, regardless of anything. If you have the personality and the talent, it doesn’t really matter what you look like or where you come from or what sexuality you are or anything.

“Since a lot of things have happened – in terms of the world – I think our industry has listened and is very good at celebrating anybody who is anybody.

“Even in this show, Debbie was very passionate about having a cast of people – real people – lots of different types of people in the cast that are extremely talented and perfect for the show. Even going back to the set, it’s a celebration of people and telling stories and loving theatre.”

Matt told me that he is Black, Irish and Spanish. I told him that he is very ethnically ambiguous – of course, he is playing a Turk in this show – and he told me that people sometimes think that he and Jahz, who is mixed-race (Black and White), are brothers. I told him that, in all fairness, a lot of gay couples do look alike!

Alongside his musical theatre career, Matt also performs as a music artist. Most notably, he performs on cruise ships, where he gets to curate his own show; he is fully in charge of the creative process – even the staging and lighting. He gets to pick songs and tell stories which mean something to him. He sings a song about his late mother and tells the audience about the charity he has for her. Jahz has helped him create the show and even sings with him on the show.

Whilst ISBSL has allowed some creativity, he enjoys having full creative control of his own show.

Speaking of songs with meaning, I had to ask Matt about the pressures of singing some of the most iconic songs ever written in ISBSL.

“Stock Aitken Waterman have actually been in quite a lot of rehearsals with us to make sure that we’re doing the music justice so we’ve had lots of notes and we’re really remembering that it’s about celebrating the music as well as telling this new story. This new story is surrounded by such iconic music that it’s been drilled into us what [Stock Aitken Watermen] want.

“Even though they’ve got a group of musical theatre singers, it’s finding that mix of what the songs were and how we’ve made them and how we can gel it all together – so that’s been a big focus for everybody but I think we’ve got there.”

Before I let Matt go, I had to ask him what his dream role is – especially after having already played Aladdin, which, as a brown man myself, I imagined was already his dream role!

“Every interview that I had during Aladdin, and when it comes up, [I say]: I do remember, genuinely, running home from school wanting to put the film on. I’d even say to my mum and dad all the time, ‘They should make this a musical; I could play Aladdin.’

“And then even when they did make it a musical, I was just so happy that I’d go and get to watch it again and remember how I used to feel watching the film. Then when I got an audition, that was like the biggest, craziest audition process that I went through because I had dreamt that I would be Aladdin one day.

“So when something like I Should Be So Lucky comes up, it’s more of a professional thing in your career: an original cast, it’s exciting to be part of something new, you’re not quite sure what you’re getting yourself into. But for [Aladdin], I had a reference, and I knew that I wanted to be that character, and it was a dream since I was 6/7 years old.

“So when that came true – and I know this sounds corny, but I say it in my show: every time I think back to when I got offered it or when I was doing it, it gives me goosebumps, still, ’cause I can never really believe that that happened.

“I always say this in my show as well – to think what a dream role is now, I still struggle, after Aladdin, what that dream role would be ’cause that is really all I ever dreamt about.

“But there’s a few auditions going on at the minute for after I Should Be So Lucky – and the more you audition for something, the more you want it because you get to know the role more – and there’s one in particular that, actually, I would absolutely love to do, so we’ll wait and see.

“But I’m just very happy going with the flow in life. When I mentioned going through ‘stuff’ in life, you kind of realise that just kind of going with the flow and being happy and doing whatever makes you happy in the moment is probably most important. So, yeah, just go with the flow and see what happens.”

What a lovely end to the interview! I guess we spend so much time wanting but life does not always give us what we want – you might say, we should be so lucky…

You can catch Matthew Croke in I Should Be So Lucky at Opera House Manchester until November 2 and on tour around the UK until May the 4th (be with you).