BWW INTERVIEWS: AVENUE Q's Daniel Boys

On the day I go to see Daniel Boys at his dressing room in the Gielgud Theatre, he is very happy - his Avenue Q co-star Julie Atherton has bought him a goldfish, and he's sent his sister out to buy a swanky new tank for the fish, Hobnob, to swim around in. This is evidently just another day in the life of a West End star...

How's the transfer?

It's going really well - it's lovely that we're still running and didn't close after all. It's a beautiful theatre and it seems to be selling very well.

I've been told it fits much better in the space here.

It does. The location of it suits the show - Shaftesbury Avenue, Soho. Because it's a touristy area, we get more passing-by trade. The Noel Coward was a bit hidden away for that. It seems to be going very well. It was nice to have a little break from it, but it's great. It's exciting to be back.

How soon did you know you weren't going to close?

It wasn't actually long before! People thought we knew for months, but it wasn't - a couple of weeks, that was it. We'd heard rumours, but nothing was confirmed. Cameron genuinely didn't know whether he was going to do it or not. They didn't tell us till very late on.

I assumed that, with the way the cast came together for the last few months, you all thought it was finishing.

Yes. It was really weird. All of us had built ourselves up to finishing. Our bodies were thinking, "Finally - we can put our arms down!" To suddenly be given the choice - do you want to stay on for another six months? Oh no! I don't know whether I do! Do I? I mean, I love it, don't get me wrong. I've been in it for a year and a half now. I was just getting used to the fact that I was going to have to do something else. To suddenly be asked if I want to stay, I had to seriously think about it, but I've made the right decision. It's a terrible time out there for auditions - there are none, basically. It's a fun show to be in. I'd be mad to turn it down.

Of course you've been on tour...

Yes! That worked out perfectly timing-wise - I did John's tour [John Barrowman]. It was incredible. I've never done that sort of thing before, touring to a different place every day, the whole tour-bus experience, sleeping on the bus, and just being me and singing to an audience. They were mad - they're massive John Barrowman fans, so they're crazy in themselves, lovely but crazy, so to sing and get people just screaming was amazing. I loved it, it was great!

Last time I saw you, you were doing the recording for Only You Can Save Mankind.

Yes! It sounds beautiful - and I've heard the tracks with Kerry [Kerry Ellis] and Ollie [Oliver Tompsett], and they sound stunning. Just to be asked to do that is amazing. I keep pinching myself that I keep getting asked to do such things! It's weird!

It's lovely!

Yes! I still find it a bit surreal how things have changed.

I guess it happened quickly.

The whole Joseph thing changed my life, really. Not in a dramatic way - well, actually, it is dramatic! I hadn't been working and now it hasn't really stopped. I've been really lucky.

A lot of the reality TV lot who've gone on to really good things say that - and I don't mean "reality TV" in a bad way!

I totally agree! I think they're great things. I know they've had bad press, and people say, "It's not fair to people who trained at drama school," but I went to drama school and trained - anyone can apply for these things. I treated it like another audition for a part I wanted to play. Obviously it was different because it was on TV. You can't deny it's bringing new people into our box offices. The West End is doing the best it has done for years and years. That's down to these shows. It's bringing in a younger, new audience and creating new musical theatre styles. They've voted for the winner - it makes them want to go and see them.

So there's more of an engagement?

Yes, they feel like they know them. I still can't believe people talk about Joseph. At the stage door I still get people saying, "I voted for you." I find that bizarre - it was over two years ago - but it's so lovely that people still want to talk to me about that, and I don't mind in the slightest. It is surreal, I still get recognised in the street occasionally, and it's very odd.

I guess as a West End actor in general you wouldn't get that kind of recognition.

No. I do love it when I hear people going, "Oh, look, there's that guy from Avenue Q," rather than "There's that guy from Joseph." I like that. I think, "Yeah, I've made my mark now."

The audience from Avenue Q tends to be a lot younger.

Yes. It is aimed at a younger audience. I think it's good they do come because of the ticket prices - it's the cheapest show in town, I think - and that's a really wise decision of Cameron's, to change the ticket prices. I think he realised that students aren't going to come unless it's cheap. You look out every night, and you see the different ages. The younger audiences do enjoy it more. The older people are a bit shocked at first, thinking, "I don't know what the hell I'm watching here," but by the end they're all loving it. I think that's the key to the success of this show - people don't know what to expect. My mum said, "I don't think I'm going to enjoy a puppet show." I said, "No, I promise you will," and she absolutely loved it. My grandma came, and she's 93, and I thought, Good God, there's a sex scene, there's swearing, but she absolutely loved it.

You said about the walk-in trade - Spring Awakening closed recently, and that's a similar demographic to Avenue Q's audience.

Yeah, it's such a shame. I don't know why that closed, it's just a horrible time out there at the moment for new things. I guess audiences don't want to go and see new things, they want to see tried-and-tested titles that they've heard of. I think maybe it was the wrong location for Spring Awakening. No-one would walk past there. I don't know why that closed; it's such a shame. It's an incredible show.

What's the last thing you saw in the West End?

Actually, this is really sad, I saw Les Mis yesterday! It's the last week [before the cast change] and I've got a few friends in the cast so I wanted to support them. I've seen Les Mis so many times. What did I see before that? The Last Five Years, with Julie [Julie Atherton], during the break, and I was blown away by it. I knew the music quite well, and when I saw Julie's version, I was really moved - I thought she was incredible. I felt like I finally understood the characters.

On the subject of Julie, she must work so hard - she's always busy.

She never stops. Actually, people tell me that I should take more time off - I did the album, did John's tour, and then I was back here! I'd love to do more concert work and more recording, so we'll see what happens next...

Daniel stars in Avenue Q at the Gielgud Theatre, and his album So Close is available now.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.