Interview: Arthur Darvill Talks UK Premiere of HONEYMOON IN VEGAS

Arthur Darvill's work ranges from TV shows like Doctor Who, Broadchurch and Legends of Tomorrow to starring in Once in the West End and on Broadway, as well as composing music for projects like the recent stage adaption of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. This Sunday, he and Samantha Barks lead the UK premiere of Jason Robert Brown's Honeymoon in Vegas, in a special concert presentation with the London Musical Theatre Orchestra.

Did you know the show well beforehand?

I didn't know it at all. I knew other bits of Jason's work, and I'd listened to various other songs - I'd never seen a full musical of his before. But I was really excited when I was asked to do this, and I absolutely just loved it from the moment I heard it.

How would you describe the music?

Jason's really good at playing with style. It's set in Vegas and it has that razzle-dazzle element to it. I know I'll burst into tears when I hear the full orchestra playing - it'll be properly Michael Bublé, eat your heart out, big band stuff. But there's also these beautiful ballads, and above all it's just really, really funny - musically and in the book and the characters.

Tell us a bit about your character

It's about a couple, and the guy Jack, who I'm playing, has had this curse put on him by his mother to never get married. His girlfriend Betsey is desperate to get married, so they go off to Vegas, but the curse follows him around - it's brilliantly ridiculous.

On the night they're meant to get married Jack goes to play poker and loses loads of money to this guy who's seen them in the lobby and thinks Betsey looks like his dead wife, so he wants to entice her to marry him instead. So it's a big farce, and these characters are larger-than life, almost like muppets - you've got Elvis impersonators, poker sharks, and then the inhabitants of this Hawaiian island.

As a composer, what do you enjoy about the score?

I'm a big fan of musical references, and Jason's work really turns on a knife-edge - it's almost Looney Tunes music juxtaposed with heart-wrenching strings. I'm learning so much from being in a room with him and seeing him conduct. I'm just trying to soak it all up - he's a real master of this type of theatre.

I'm amazed this show isn't more well-known. It's a cult hit in America, and I'm so delighted to be involved in giving it an audience over here. Jason went on such a long journey to get it made, and it's so inventive and brilliant and surprising.

Perhaps this will inspire a full London run?

Maybe! It would be great if this is the start of a beautiful London journey.

Is it tough getting to grips with your character in so short a time?

It is an incredible, slightly mad thing putting a show together in a week. I'm lucky that we've got an amazing group - everyone just hit the ground running - so I have faith in our company.

It also helps that Jack is the kind of character where everything happens to him; he's so inactive. So all I have to do is react to everything that's going on! He's totally lost and a self-confessed schmuck - he has no idea how he's won this girl's heart - but he's definitely part of this crazy world they end up falling into. He's trapped in his own mind and body and by this curse.

Have you had some good notes from Jason?

It's so great having him in the room. He knows the show inside out, and the notes he gives are so clear - they immediately unlock something brilliant. Just watching him conduct you can see he's got the whole show in his head and knows how it should work, which does mean a bit of pressure! I'm trying to live up to his expectations, and maybe throw in a couple of curveballs for him...

Working with Sam is fantastic as well - she's just amazing, both vocally and acting wise, and really generous too. There's a song she sings, "Anywhere But Here", that I've had stuck in head. I was singing it on the Tube this morning.

How does this compare with other musicals you've done?

It's so exciting to do a big concert - that's such a rare thing - and I haven't really done any big, mainstream musicals. I was in Once and I've written music for things, but I'm more from that singer-songwriter background. So apart from shows at school, I've never really seen myself as a musical theatre performer. I'm really revelling in the challenge.

Would you like to try more musicals in future?

I do remember doing Little Shop of Horrors when I was 13 and sneakily thinking I'd quite like to be in musicals. I've been so lucky in my career so far - I've had the chance to do so many different types of work. I always thought I'd be doing classical theatre - that's what I wanted when I started and when I went to drama school. I loved theatre and going to watch plays that moved me and changed the way I thought about stuff.

So everything else, getting to do TV and things like this, it's really been such a bonus. That variety has just been brilliant. I would definitely never rule anything out.

What's it like working with the London Musical Theatre Orchestra?

I tell you what, I bloody love an orchestra. Weirdly my favourite part of most classical concerts is hearing the orchestra tuning up - it's like walking into a football match and hearing the crowd before the game starts. That anticipation makes me really emotional - so if you see me weeping on Sunday, that's why!

Have you been listening to any other singers to get that swing style, like Sinatra?

Maybe I should put some Frank on over the weekend and soak that up. We are doing it in tuxes, at the Palladium, which is just amazing, so that should get us in the mood.

Finally, are you pleased with the response to the new series of Broadchurch?

I haven't seen any of it yet, but I'm just so delighted to be part of it. It's an amazing programme, I'm really proud of the work everyone's done, and it's been such a family over the past four or five years - we all keep coming back to it because of that. This series doesn't get any less upsetting, so I apologise...

Do friends and family pester you for spoilers?

They mainly know not to now, and I don't watch it with them - I can't watch myself with anyone else in the room. Though my very enthusiastic parents are always trying to get information out of me!

Honeymoon in Vegas at London Palladium on 12 March

Photo credit: Brinkhoff Moêgenburg