BWW Interviews: The Cast Of SONDHEIM IN REVERSE

Hello all! Tell us about the songs you're singing at Sunday's concert.

Anton Stephans: The songs I'm performing are my personal favourites, very emotional and in parts funny. I'm super-excited to be doing this concert.

Jeremy Legat: Now that would be telling - we need to keep Sunday cloaked in some kind of mystery or it would spoil the surprise! However, you can expect a broad sweep of well-loved songs, all delivered with the gender swapping twist, but some with a further twist or reworking. The songs that I am singing are all typical of Sondheim's witty, brutal and sharp sense of humanity and I can't wait to get my hands on them. We're talking Follies, we're talking Into The Woods...Right, I've said too much. I'll be found dead in a ditch somewhere if I told you any more.

Helena Blackman: My songs are Maria from West Side Story, Being Alive and Class from Saturday Night. All three are really different which is great fun for me. Class is something I brought to the table being a big fan of Saturday Night as I think it really works as a female singing it. I'm very excited and apprehensive about singing Being Alive as it's so well known, so many people have sung it and done a wonderful job of it that I'd like to do it justice.

Joseph Connor: Well, I'm really happy to be singing the Diva songs... slightly worried about why they have been given to me. Both songs have real passion behind them and with the witty direction that Damian [Damian Sandys] has provided me with, the true organic meaning will still shine through only this time told through a male.

Lucy May Barker: There's a few gorgeous Sondheim songs sung by men that I've always wanted to sing, and in the show I get to sing one of the ones on my wishlist which is really exciting for me! And there's another one which I think will be quite funny, which is a duet with the incredible Joanna Riding, but I'm not going to give too much away... you'll have to come and see it, hehe!

Are you all big Sondheim fans anyway?

Anton: I'm a huge Sondheim fan. His songs are about relationships for me. They are often about communicating what's happening in your heart right at that very minute. They are special moments.

Jeremy: I am indeed a huge fan of Sondheim, but I do find it off-putting how many people in this business get so obsessively geeky about his writing. He's really, really, really good - I get it. It goes without saying that he became a legend very early on in his own lifetime. I think as a performer or a spectator/listener, these songs demand you pay attention. Nothing is taken for granted and no word or note is wasted. To perform his songs is extremely daunting - they're notoriously complex both musically and in terms of thought process - but can be immensely satisfying in equal measure. Bring it on!

Helena: Always, I don't know an actor who isn't. I compare Sondheim to Shakespeare to a certain respect in the sense that everything is there in the text, all the direction for you; as the actor you just have to trust it and be loyal to it.

Joe: I'm a massive Sondheim fan. I love the way that Sondheim gets his actors to emote not just through the script but through the music and lyrics. It's so much easier for someone to feel emotion and to connect with the audience when every element all complement each other and climax to the same end of a journey. With Sondheim you will never feel lost but you can definitely lose yourself in the passion.

Lucy: MASSIVE. I've loved it all since I was about 12. What incredible music to sing. There is really nothing else to say!

What part in a Sondheim show would you love to play?

Anton: Definitely Bobby from Company! I really identify with him, and the Witch from Into The Woods - I really understand her and think a man could play the role with some imaginative casting.

Jeremy: I'm going to join the back - and then push, shove, and tread on toes to get to the front - of the long queue of actors who want to play Bobby in Company. I'm not old enough yet, but it's one to aim for. Company was the first Sondheim show I saw when my sister was in it at uni, and I earmarked that part for myself from that moment. Before then though, I'd love a crack at Tobias in Sweeney Todd. That show is so arresting, and every time I seen it, it never fails to twist my stomach into horrible knots. It's like a musical version of the film Saw...bleurgh.

Helena: I've already played her, Helen in Saturday Night. I loved every minute of her - her tenderness, her quirkiness, her loyalty and my favourite song So Many People - what a treat.

Joe: I would give my thumbs to be able to play Jack in Into The Woods. In a fantastical world I'd love to play Gypsy Rose Lee! Stand back Miss Lupone, here comes Joseph!

Lucy: It would absolutely be Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd. I played the character when I was 14 in a School Edition of the show, and I still know all the words, but I think I might have to wait a few years yet! To be honest, though, if anyone wanted to give me any part in any Sondheim, I would gladly accept!

What are you most looking forward to on Sunday?

Anton: I'm so happy to be doing this concert at this time when we are all celebrating Stephen Sondheim's genius. Thank heavens that the universe gives us folk who allow us to looking inside ourselves and sing out our feelings. These songs explore the human condition; Sondheim allows us to connect with ourselves and each other.

Jeremy: This is the second occasion I've worked with musical director George Dyer, and I'm looking forward to it once again. He's a bit of a maestro on the keys, and such a sensitive accompanist. His sense of humour doesn't go amiss either. I'm excited too at the prospect of Joanna Riding - meeting her, working with her, watching her songs. How cool is it that's she's doing this? I've admired her for a long time, as she happens to be one of those performers I've grown up watching in many different things. Lastly, I can't wait to wheel out all these glorious songs. It's such a talented line-up that's been assembled and we've got a terrific little band as well. I hope you'll come and lap it all up.

Helena: Singing with some amazing performers, it's always fab to be billed alongside those people you have seen in shows and who you know you can feel completely safe with on stage but at the same time know that the choices they might make may be completely unpredictable, it's exciting and feels just as it should be.

Lucy: It's such a lovely opportunity for singers because we get to sing the songs we'd never usually have the chance to sing, although it's a treat to sing Sondheim at any moment anyway, haha! Our profits are also going to the wonderful TheatreMAD, so it's going to be a great evening with an even greater cause! Come and see us!

Sondheim In Reverse plays the Freedom Bar, Soho, at 4pm on Sunday 24th October.

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