Darren Day on his new shows, and how Blackpool is such a special place for him

Blackpool Gazette

Actor and singer Darren Day talks to The Gazette ahead of a special North Pier Show in memory of his dear friend Joe Longthorne.  He also talks about his new work, in Ben Elton's Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical, and his love for Blackpool, where he returns in November with Everybody's Talking About Jamie.

Transcript

00:00 I've been very lucky since lockdown because there's a lot of people sort of, you know,

00:08 when the theatres opened again, a lot of my mates in the business who still aren't working

00:13 or the work is sparse. But literally as the theatres opened, I toured as Billy Flynn in

00:20 Chicago for six months and then I went straight into Footloose as the Reverend for six months.

00:27 And then I've been touring, I've done a film, various bits and pieces between the Footloose

00:36 tour and in last year. And then I'm now in previews for Ben Elton's new musical about

00:42 Twiggy's life, he's written a musical about Twiggy's life. So we're in previews in London

00:47 for that at the moment and we have the press night this week. And then I go straight into

00:54 the studio, everybody's talking about Jamie and look, I don't make any secret of the fact

00:59 that I love Blackpool. I absolutely love Blackpool. It represents a very happy time in my life.

01:06 You know, 1996 when we did six months of summer holiday here. You know, it was such a successful

01:14 summer season. We took £3.8 million at the box office and I mean, look, you know, my

01:21 career that year was incredible and it was very exciting things. So I love Blackpool.

01:28 Plus we used to come here when I was a kid, you know. But I've done so many shows in Blackpool

01:35 and so I've wanted to play this role in Everybody's Talking About Jamie for quite a few years,

01:41 since my mate Shane Ritchie did it in London. And so it's one of those little tick off,

01:49 you know, your little wish list kind of roles. And so to be opening in Blackpool feels really,

01:56 really special, you know, and it will be my first show will be here in Blackpool. So yeah,

02:02 I'm excited about it.

02:04 I'm busy and I'm very lucky, you know, because I'm an old boy now. And you know, the fact

02:12 that people still want to employ me, you know, I mean, as long as they're happy to wheel

02:20 me out in new shows, then I'll keep being wheeled out. But I'm very flattered, you know,

02:26 I've been in musical theatre 30 years this year and been in show business for 35 years.

02:33 It's 35 years this year that I won Opportunity Knox and then five years later I got Joseph

02:39 and you know, that's when my musical theatre career began. So I've sort of, I can't even

02:45 believe I'm still around and on the planet, let alone in this business. But I'm lucky,

02:51 I'm really lucky, you know, that I'm still, I'm still here. People still want to employ

02:55 me and people still want to come and see the shows. You know, this show sold out very quickly.

03:02 The show that I'm doing for Joe tonight. And you know, Jamie, Joe's partner, just said

03:08 to me we could have sold it out numerous times, which is very flattering. And I don't ever,

03:15 you know, I never take anything for granted, probably more so now than ever before. When

03:23 people come to see me, like, I am so genuinely grateful that they've come. I mean, there's

03:28 people tonight, they've come from like Guildford, like in Surrey to come up here. And the fact

03:33 that people still want to see me, I feel very privileged about that.

03:39 What makes tonight's show so special then?

03:42 Well, I mean, mainly Joe, Joe Longthorn, who, you know, in this dressing room that I'm in

03:51 tonight, you know, I've sat with Joe in there so many times. And as a kid, you know, he

03:57 was my hero, my showbiz hero. And, you know, we became friends. And then when he got poorly

04:06 in 2014, he asked me to take his summer season over and his tour over. And I honestly, it

04:12 couldn't have meant more to me if Elvis Presley came down from heaven and said, take my tour

04:17 over. You know, it was like Joe was, he was my hero. He was my hero. And we do a very

04:25 emotional thing at one point in the show where the duet that we did together, he will be

04:32 on the screen. So I sing with Joe, which we'd obviously, we do in person. But now, he's

04:41 sadly, tragically no longer with us. So we do it like that. But I struggle to keep it

04:47 together emotionally when I hear his voice. And I went up to his grave today, sat with

04:53 him for a bit. I just loved him. And when my father passed away in 2003, ironically

05:00 enough, Joe, I remember Joe saying, I'll be your dad now. You know, he was like a father

05:07 figure to me. And we shared some very special moments. And so this is all for Joe tonight.

05:14 There are jokes, there's some mix of Joe's fans and mix of mine. And yeah, I'm looking

05:20 forward to it.

05:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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