Going Out

Gary Wilmot sings praises of Chicago

In the 1980s you couldn't switch your television on without seeing Gary Wilmot. Now he has carved out a glittering career for himself in musical theatre. ABIGAIL SALTMARSH caught up with him on his way to Norwich with Chicago.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As soon as he slips into his tuxedo, Gary Wilmot undergoes some kind of transformation. The smiley song and dance man that viewers of a certain age will forever associate with Saturday evening light entertainment becomes slick Chicago lawyer Billy Flynn - and is ready to take on the world.

Gary, now 55, arrives in Norwich next week. In the years since shooting to fame on ITV's Copy Cats and going on to host his own series, the former impressionist and all-round entertainer has made a name for himself in a number of West End musicals and other highly acclaimed national stage productions.

But now touring with Chicago, and heading for the Theatre Royal in Norwich, he admits Billy Flynn is one role he has been keen to step into for some time.

“I have been very happy in a lot of the shows I have done but this one is very, very special,” he says. “The quality of the performances in Chicago is just so high. The show never gets tired.

“And Billy Flynn is just such a great character to play. He is a man who knows what life is all about. He is smart and sharp, and no-one ever gets one over on him.”

Born into a showbiz family - his dad Harry was a member of 50s band The Southlanders and was the bass voice that song the unforgettable line “I am a Mole and I live in Hole,” in the song of the same name - entertaining seems to have been in his blood from an early age.

As a young man, he toured the country, performing at holiday camps in locations, including those in Norfolk, before going on to become a finalist in TV talent show New Faces.

“Looking back now, it was all such a rush then. I would get in my car during the summer season and head for somewhere like Yarmouth or Cromer, do a night of stand-up and then head for the next place,” he remembers.

“I would often arrive late in the afternoon and then leave after the show, which was a shame because it didn't really give me the chance to get to know all these places.”

Gary's TV fame saw him become a staple of both Saturday night and children's TV.

He hosted BBC kids TV quiz show So You Want to be Top, was a regular on impression show Copy Cats and had his own ITV series Cue Gary!

“I don't miss TV now,” he admits, however. “It has changed a lot and money plays a huge part in how things are done. We used to be able to have more fun with it.”

Gary's move into musical theatre came in 1989 with a lead role in Me and My Girl, a production at the West End's Adelphi Theatre that brought him huge critical acclaim.

He went on to star under Simon Callow's direction in the award-winning Carmen Jones at the Old Vic, in London, before appearing in the premiere of Barry Manilow's musical Copacabana at the Prince of Wales Theatre, also in London.

“I enjoy the whole process of musicals. I know how it works yet it is always such a learning curve. Joining a show like Chicago that has been in the West End for so many years does give you a buzz.”

Over the past 10 years or so, Gary has taken lead roles in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Half a Sixpence. He has performed in A Midsummer Night's Dream with the New Shakespeare Company and has toured with his own national show, My Kind of Music.

“I love working live and being able to work on stage in the way I do. I like musicals, in particular, because they are true escapism.

“People often go to see plays because they are a reflection of life. With musicals it is different. It is a different kind of emotion,” he says.

Playing Billy Flynn has been a challenge, Gary admits, but one well worth taking on.

Based on real life events back in the roaring 1920s, the musical revolves around a story about nightclub singer Roxie Hart (played by Miriam Elwell-Sutton in Norwich) who shoots her lover. Along with cell block rival, double-murderess Velma Kelly (Twinnie-Lee Moore), she fights to keep herself from death row with the help of smooth-talking lawyer, Billy Flynn.

The musical is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice, and the concept of the “celebrity criminal.”

“Chicago is wonderful because it has so much depth. I'm a person who is always trying to improve myself and playing Billy Flynn has given me a chance to do that,” he says.

“I still do comedy from time to time and, looking back, I loved those days of working the clubs and talking to the audiences. I would certainly like to do some comedy again in some shape or form.”

But he adds: “Whatever I'm doing, I always get a great deal of delight from performing - and it is as much fun now as it ever has been.

“In fact, when I'm out there on stage I still feel like a sprightly teenager!”

Chicago, Theatre Royal, November 30-December 5, £27.50-£6, 01603 630000, www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk