Stage: Strictly Revel Horwood

There’s far more to Craig as Latest 7 found out

In late November on a Saturday morning I have an appointment to call one of the busiest people in the world of entertainment and especially at that time of year. Most of us know him for one thing only and that is in his role as the toughest judge on the BBC’s hugely successful celebrity competition Strictly Come Dancing, but Craig Revel Horwood is far bigger and far busier than just that. In a career that spans performing in West End musicals and choreographing shows he is now a much sought after director, not only in the UK but internationally where he not only tackles musical theatre but is also respected for his work in the field of opera. Behind the spiky comments and glances he is a consummate professional and a very busy one. My call finds him travelling to the BBC studios to record that week’s Strictly episode.

I apologise for taking up his precious time but he immediately puts me at ease – “That’s alright darling.” Wasting no time I get immediately on to the subject of Sister Act which he has directed and comes to The Brighton Centre in the new year. “I’m very excited about it and in particular working with Alexandra Burke.” She is clearly a very different kind of actor to the star of the film Whoopi Goldberg who whilst being very funny plays the character as a sort of grotesque caricature. “Whoopi was of course brilliant in the role but Alexandra brings something very special to this, and it was originally written as a very beautiful female role.” But can Alexandra bring to it the necessary comedy that certainly drives the story along. “Oh yes, she is a very witty performer with a great deal of comedic skill and talent, plus that amazing voice.”

Alexandra is a very witty performer with a great deal of comedic skill and talent, plus that amazing voice

This production follows a format that you have employed before, that of using actor musicians to play all of the roles and all of the music live on stage. “Yes I did that with my production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard which went into the West End and was very well received. I have cast brilliant actors who are also brilliant musicians and dancers too when that is required.” So we get nuns playing instruments, I love that, a nun in any show or film always puts a smile on my face! Craig laughs, in fact he laughs a lot, even though the telephone signal is weak and breaks up from time to time, but the impression I get is that he is a rather jolly guy and not at all like the waspish character that we see on our screens in Strictly.

I ask him how he manages to cram so much work into his year, he is after all appearing over Christmas, not only on our TVs but also in pantomime, this time as Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley. I tell him that I saw his wicked queen in Crawley a few years ago and again he laughs. “I love doing pantomime and it is part of the way I divide my year. For three quarters of each year I work on my theatre and opera projects, on Strictly and the strictly tour and on pantomime, and the remaining 3 months I holiday.”

I return to Sister Act, but it’s hard to focus because the man is so entertaining to chat to. I ask how well will the production sit in the large space of The Brighton Centre which has defeated some productions. “It will work brilliantly, it has been devised and directed to work in a huge variety of spaces, that’s my job and the job of the production team that I work with.”
I don’t doubt him for a minute and I suspect that I will leave the venue as excited as I did when I saw his brilliant Sunset Boulevard in the West End.

Sister Act is a great live show, by no means a pale imitation of the film, and it is packed with great soulful music, comedy and spectacle. Alexandra Burke will no doubt deliver that music with real style, and I trust Mr Revel Horwood when he says she can deliver the comedy too.

Sister Act
The Brighton Centre
11-14 January 2017
01273 290131 brightoncentre.co.uk/events
www.ticketmaster.co.uk