BWW Interviews: Steph Fearon, About To Tour In THE WIZARD OF OZ!

Hi Steph! Last time I saw you, you were doing Smokey Joe's Cafe, which got great reviews.

That was a lot of fun, and totally different to Dorothy. It was nice to do something completely different, and it was quite a short run, with a three-week extension, so we didn't get bored. I loved it.

Then you've gone on to play Dorothy twice over!

Yes, in The Wiz, and The Wizard Of Oz! The Wiz was in Milton Keynes, and amazing. It's such a great score. I still got to be Dorothy, but with a twist, with a bit of soul in the songs. Then after that I started to work on my album. It's a bit mad, I had a month before panto started, and decided I wanted to do an album. My whole family mucked in. I did it independently, with a lot of my favourite musical theatre songs, and it was such a learning curve. That was intense. And then I went off to Buxton for panto.

How was that?

A drama, but really fun! I'd never done panto before. It's something so different to anything else I've ever done. Singing Defying Gravity twice a day was crazy! I saw in the script that I'd be singing "Gravity" and thought it was the Pixie Lott song until I actually got to rehearsals and saw the sheet music.

Panto is so intense, though.

Yes! You're like, "Where am I? What part of the show IS this?" But it was so much fun, and Buxton is beautiful. The snow was heavy, though. We had to stay really close to the theatre just in case.

Tell me about the UK tour of The Wizard Of Oz.

We start in April, and it's a busy schedule - we're in Liverpool, Skegness, Peterborough, Tunbridge Wells - basically ten different venues in a month.

A get-in every three days!

I know! It'll be tough. Some of them are literally one day in and out.

It's been in the pipeline for a long time - you were announced as Dorothy quite a long time ago bearing in mind it doesn't start until April.

Yes. It was booked before panto, so early on. Bobby Davro is playing the Scarecrow, and Sarah-Jane Honeywell is Glinda. It should be fun, I'm really looking forward to it.

And what happens after May?

I hope to record my own album with my own stuff on, and keep busy - I don't want to be waiting for the phone to ring!

Steph Fearon's album is available from her website www.stephaniefearon.com, where you can check out all her touring dates.

 

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