Like A Rolling Stone

Transcription

1 Like A Rolling Stone Exclusive Interview with Jeff Edwards who play s Stoner the Keith Richards/Ronnie Wood inspired character in Tonight s The Night. By Mike Walton SMILER met up with Jeff Edwards on 18 th April while the show was in Stoke on Trent at The Regent Theatre, His character Stoner was the big hit of the show, getting rave reviews from the press and our own reviewers, Jeff was the only cast member to star in both the West End stage show in witch he played Bonehead and the touring show, A trained dancer he got his first big role playing the role of Fred Casley in the cast of Chicago, In our exclusive interview Jeff talks about Stoner, Rod, The show and his hopes for the future SMILER: How did you land your original role in Tonight s The Night? Jeff Edwards: I originally started off as a dancer and got a dance audition, After that I was asked to read for a few characters Stoner obviously being one of them, Haw Hey [Jorge] was another but I think it was pretty obvious Stoner was more my kind of character, Ben Elton really liked what I did with my audition and dialogue that he gave me at the time for Stoner, so it went from there, I got to understudy the role.

2 SMILER: Did you have to audition for the part of Stoner in touring show or were you offered it? I did have to audition, Pipa Ailion the casting director got in contact with my agent at the time and I was called to an audition it was a private audition not an open one, I ended up doing two auditions for the part. SMILER: How do you think the touring show compares to The West End show? Jeff Edwards in Scotland Well It s a really tricky one this, I ve been asked a few times and given the circumstances I wouldn t say that either one is better than the other, but I would say they are different but equally as good as one another, The set is very different from The West End version, but that doesn t mean it doesn t work, there are a lot of places on this tour that it actually works a lot better, because its so much closer together on stage. SMILER: Have you got any funny stories from the tour yet? As Stoner there s been a few, like recently I couldn t come on because I injured my foot on some scaffolding, it fell on my foot and I struggled to walk on at the end, I went for my bow but took way to long as I was limping, that looked quite funny but the audience reaction and stuff like that is the main kind of funny part for me, quite a lot of the time I get things shouted out and you have to deal with it, like someone sneezed the other night and I said Bless You little things like that go down well and make your character even better. SMILER: Michael McKell made Stoner a very recognisable character, so much so he took the same character to the hit Ben Elton TV show Blessed, What have you done to Stoner to make him not only your own but to some of our reviewers even better? Well for a start Michael is a very talented man, He s been in the acting world for a lot longer than I have and he was my knish for quite some time with the character and it is only when you become one hundred percent Photo MIKE WALTON comfortable that you start adding your own things, especially with this tour I have decided to make him as much of my own as I can, but without breaking things that already work, but I do try

3 to put my own stamp on it, Michael came to see the show in Birmingham and I am sure he was pleased with what I have done, but I wouldn t say I was better, I would say were both equally right for the part SMILER: Did you know any of these songs before you joined the show? Yes the obvious ones I knew, Rod Stewart is one of those guys that you don t feel you know a hell of a lot of his stuff, but then all of a sudden a song will start playing and your like Oh, right Rod did that and did that and that was one of Rod s so I knew more than I thought I did. SMILER: Did you get to perform with Rod at Children In Need or the London Olympic Concert? No unfortunately not, I never got to perform at either of those Michael did both shows. SMILER: Are there any rumours that Rod might come and see the touring production? There s loads of rumours about him coming to see the show but he s a very busy man at the moment I know that much, what with his new baby, there was talk of him coming to Edinburgh, but to be honest we don t really know, if he did come it would be great because he s not seen my Stoner yet so it would be really, really nice for him to see it. Ooh La La Photo MIKE WALTON SMILER: Have you got a favourite song in the show? To be honest there s a mixture, I obviously like Had Me a Real Good Time and I like Stay With Me, I love Reason to Believe Rachel Tucker sings that song. I pretty much like all of them I don t think there is a down point. Yeah pretty good all the way through! SMILER: What about a favourite part in the show? My own! [Laughs] it has to be said, the part of Stoner, I would say, not taking anything away from Ben Elton because he is a fantastic writer, but I would say Stoner is his forte and he s defiantly written that part from within an inch of his life, it s really, really cool and every single person goes out of the auditorium feeling that, so sometimes it s not the persons ability or the actors ability it s just that if you ve been given something really, really great to work with then you really cant go wrong, so I thank him for that.

4 SMILER: We ve met up with Ben a couple of times and he seems a really nice guy, but what s he like to work with? He s very good to work with, he s a perfectionist and likes change, if he puts something together and feels it s not working he s not afraid to try something new and to bring something new to the show, yeah he s a lovely man, on a personal level he s done so much for me, and given me the opportunity to go from dancing into acting, so I ve got to thank him for that and hope he puts me in for lots more stuff. SMILER: What was it like when Penny joined the cast in London? Absolutely brilliant, I must admit I had a little bit of a crush on her and I think she knew, she s the only woman to make me go red in quite sometime, but she s a lovely girl really nice and very down to earth, I was actually her dance partner in the West End, we were partnered up for two weeks, she is a very good dancer and taller than me which annoyed me slightly but it was cool. SMILER: So, does Jeff Edwards lead a Rock and Roll lifestyle? Well. I would say no, but over the last few days he has a little bit, I enjoy the character because truly if I m honest it is far away from my personality, the comical side isn t but the actual way Stoner is, so it is a challenge in it s self but once you perfect it you can turn it on whenever you want, which is great! In Scotland SMILER members meet the cast SMILER: What are your personal ambitions and what would you like to achieve in your career? I would like to see myself on television as I haven t really had the opportunity to work on television a huge amount. I have done little bits but I d like the challenge of bringing a character right down for television because with musical theatre your character has to be quite large but if you were to play the same role for television you have to bring it right down completely, making reactions and facial expressions as minimal as possible. I would like to see if I was able to do that. And just get as much experience under my belt as I can.

5 SMILER: A lot of actors choose James Bond or Doctor Who as their dream role to play what would your dream role be? That s a tricky one! I d quite like a serious one like a Robert De Niro type role or something like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. That would be quite nice, it sounds fun! SMILER: I believe some of our members have already met up with you especially some of our Glasgow members, what reaction have you had from people you have met on tour so far? I must say the people all over Scotland have been absolutely out of this world, we haven t done a show that the audience haven t been up on there feet by the end yet, I think it s because Rod has such a great following in Scotland his fan base is really big there, they really excepted us with open arms, throwing Scottish wigs on stage and when I put one on, that was it every one stood on there feet cheering for me and excepting me as one of there own, so I really enjoyed every single Scottish show. SMILER; Some of the people you met have contacted SMILER to ask if they could send in pictures they have had taken with you on the tour or other fan mail, Have you got a fan mail address? I m actually thinking of starting up a web site of my own, but I ve not had time to look in to it properly yet, as soon as I get it up and running I will let SMILER know and you can tell anyone who is interested, other than that if any body posts stuff to any theatre I am at I will be more than happy to sign whatever I m sent. SMILER: Our US readers are starved of TTN and are hoping for an American Tour. Do you think the show would be a hit in the US and have you head any rumours of a tour yet? Yeah, again I ve heard a lot of rumours but I wouldn t be able to say as I don t know myself. Rod Stewart is absolutely massive in America, but would TTN the musical be? I presume so as it s the same as over here. If people like Rod Stewart they ll go and see a Rod Stewart Musical, but it all depends on how the tour goes as well and what management decide to do at the end. SMILER: Well thank you for giving us the interview, good luck with the rest of the tour. Thank you, and please say thank you to the SMILER team for the card I received on the opening night, it was one of the best ones we got. Photo MIKE WALTON Jeff Edwards was interviewed on 18 th April 2006 by Mike Walton