If you’re a fan of musical theatre, you’ll be delighted to hear that the lady who holds the title of Wicked’s longest-running Elphaba, Rachel Tucker, is bringing her first UK solo tour to The Apex, Bury St Edmunds on 31st May, and will be joined on stage by her special guest, Louise Dearman.
Rachel says:
“There was never any question about me wanting to take to the stage for a living; it felt as though it was the only option in front of me, and a very natural thing for me to do as a career.
From the age of nine I started singing with my dad around the local cabaret circuit, which is now pretty much non-existent in Belfast. After that, it wasn’t long before I was acting out scenes from Singing In The Rain with my brother (who wasn’t as keen as I would have liked!) so I decided to take my first drama lesson at The Golden Thread Theatre, where I played my first role… and my first male role at that! Bugsy Malone was to be the part and show that gave me the ‘acting bug’.”
Rachel studied singing, acting and dance for two years at Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education, before honing her stage-skills in one-year postgraduate course in Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music. She took work with touring theatre productions before seeing an advertisement asking girls to audition for the role of Nancy in a new West End production of Oliver – which led to her TV appearance in ‘I’d Do Anything’.
She explains:
“I knew that doing well in a show like ‘I’d Do Anything’ would give me the exposure to help land those auditions that I was really struggling to be seen for. I had no idea that I would remain in the competition until the semi-finals and had the absolute time of my life! It was such a joy to sing, act and dance my way through twelve huge weeks with the British public, to eventually have Andrew Lloyd Webber decide my fate!”
She was soon offered the part of Meat in Queen’s We Will Rock You, – her first West End show – and endured rounds of auditioning for her dream role – Elphaba. She appeared in Wicked the Musical for 3 years in London, where she holds the title of longest consecutive running Elphaba, then headed to New York for a triumphant 9 month run as Elphaba on Broadway. Rachel recently reprised her role in the West End as part of Wicked’s special 10th Anniversary cast.
Rachel has released a debut album ‘The Reason’, and for the concert, she will sing jazz, soul and musical theatre favourites, with a few surprises thrown in for good measure.
Rachel’s guest, Louise Dearman has a long list of theatre credits including; Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked; Daisy Hilton in Side Show; Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls; Mrs D in the world premiere of The Waterbabies; Grizabella in Cats and many more.
[box type=”info” align=”” class=”” width=””]Rachel Tucker will be at The Apex on Wednesday 31 May at 7.30pm. Tickets are £20, call the Box Office on 01284 758000 or visit www.theapex.co.uk for more information or to book your tickets. Also see www.racheltucker.co.uk for more information and further tour dates.[/box]
