Interview: Jimmy Osmond

Disco Fever

Boogie Nights star Jimmy Osmond chats to Zara Baker about his love for the UK, TV talent shows, playing Buttons in panto & creating caricatures
You’re coming back to the UK with Boogie Nights this month. Are you flying here soon?
“Yeah! I’ll be there soon, you know I spend about half my year in the UK, so that’s kind of home for me as well. So I enjoy it there. I’ve been in this particular play some years ago in Blackpool, and now I’ve come back to do a tour, which is quite thrilling!”

Was the show only in Blackpool before?
“Yes, but we toured a little bit. It was based in Blackpool when I first started it at the Grand Theatre. A friend of mine – John Holloway – wrote this with Shane Richie, whose another friend, and now his son is in the play which is quite cool – Shane Richie Jr, along with Gareth Gates and Andy Abraham. So it will be an all-star cast!”

And two of your brothers are in the show this time round…
“I actually wanted to do this over a year ago, this play, and we just finished the last big tour and Jay said ‘Hey, can I come along? I’ll be the drummer!’. So I said ‘Yeah! Come along!’. And then we finished our last date and Merrill said, ‘Hey! What are you doing over here?’. Then he said he wanted to come! I’ve done a lot of plays but my brothers have not really been in very many, and so it will be quite a fun experience for them. And this is perfect as the ’70s is all about music, and the music that we know and love. They say it’s going to be not as much of a play, but more of just a musical in concert – a celebration of all the things of the ’70s. It will be fun.”

Do you think your brothers will be taking directions from you for the show?
“I always boss them around…are you kidding? (Laughs) That’s what little brothers do, don’t they?”

Without giving too much away to people who have not seen the show, how does Boogie Nights unfold with the storyline and the hits?
“The storyline’s about Shane Richie and John Holloway’s life growing up. It’s kind of like Grease in a way, but focused around the ’70s, so it’s a love story, and we basically play ourselves. We pop into the club in the ’70s, so it’s quite easy to play ourselves… but yeah, it kind of works like that so we do mega-mixes – a melody of our own hit records but also the music we love throughout the ’70s like ‘September’. Do you remember that song [breaks into singing ‘September’).

Andy Abraham, Gareth Gates, Louisa Lytton, Chico, Shane Richie Junior 3 – credit Linda Lusardi

Why do you think disco is still so popular and everyone still knows the tunes and songs today to sing along to?
“The ’70s were like no other era really. I mean just really rad people and the designs in fashion and the wild clothes. And the songs were amazing! And they were so diverse! And so I think that’s why there is this fascination with the ’70s. It was a spectacle! I mean, it was all these genres of music, like nothing I’ve ever experienced. And the UK really gets it; everywhere loves the music of course, but for some reason the UK has the greatest fascination with music history. You know, it’s funny, you can sit in the pub with somebody and everyone knows the name of an artist of whatever, and you know that just doesn’t happen in the rest of the world. It’s a real culture and fascination in the UK for music.”

Is that why you love coming to the UK so much?
“I think you go where you feel welcome, and… I don’t deserve it but people have been so kind to me there. It’s just been so cool because whether it’s a guy or a little kid that comes up to me, they’ll be so nice! And it happens a little bit in other parts of the world, but not like the UK! I’ve always been able to kind of be my own guy, and not take yourself too seriously – whether it’s being Buttons in a pantomime, or Billy in Chicago.”

“I think Shrek is probably the closest thing to a panto in America!”

Where and when were you Buttons in panto?
“Oh, the last couple of years! I was Wishy-Washy in Aladdin. That’s what’s so cool about the UK, everyone doesn’t take things too seriously. You know in America they don’t quite get that, and I started producing – this year as a matter of fact! Well, last year I took Aladdin with all the 3D effects to China, we tried it there and it did real well. And then two years ago we did Peter Pan, and this year we did Aladdin. It was so cool to see the American audience feel and think that this is such a unique experience with the comedy… I think Shrek is probably the closest thing to a panto in America!

What are you working on now?
“Do you remember Jerry Lewis? He’s had an amazing career, he’s 87 and it’s his birthday! He’s been quite important and influential to us, and I produced a Special that’s going to air in March, so I’m just finishing up the editing for that, so that was quite fun. And I’m just getting ready to do Boogie Nights, then I’ve got some Christmas plans at the ready.”

Where are you happiest? Stage, TV, recording studio, or behind the scenes?
“Probably behind the scenes, but I really love live concerts. I mean that’s just awesome!”

What do you think of TV talent shows as a platform for emerging artists nowdays?
“I think it’s kind of sad that people come and go so quickly now. Back in my day we had someone that you followed for years and now it’s just absolutely insane!

Do you think The Osmonds would have performed on a show like The X Factor as a way of breaking into the industry today?
“Probably, Andy Williams was The X Factor in those days.”

Right, so we’ve seen you in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity…, and Popstar To Opera Star, and Dancing With The Stars. Which did you find the most fun to do?
“The jungle.”

And which one was the most challenging?
“The jungle! (Laughs)

What would you be if you hadn’t gone into the performance industry?
“I hopefully would have been a cartoonist because I love art and I love silly caricatures of people – and I love to create characters. I did that for a while for Warner Brothers!”

Jimmy Osmond stars in Boogie Nights, coming to The Brighton Centre on Sunday 17 February 2013and the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne on Thursday 21 February 2013.
www.brightoncentre.co.uk
www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk