Pantomime is just perfect for North-East Jesus Christ Superstar TV competitor Jon Moses, he tells Steve Pratt. The singer follows a starring role in Sleeping Beauty with a North-East panto-style prince in Rapunzel

NORTH-EAST singing Superstar Jon Moses is a prince among men. And not for the first time. Last Christmas he was Prince Rupert in pantomime. Now he’s the handsome (“I wouldn’t go as far as that,” he says) prince in the Easter family show Rapunzel.

This production comes from the same company that toured The Wizard Of Oz last year and has dates in Darlington, Newcastle and York.

The show marks the latest stage in Moses’ career after competing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Superstar TV show last year. He didn’t win the role of Jesus in the arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, but his appearance on the talent show has opened doors for a performer dubbed the “Butlin’s Jesus”

on account of his work singing in holiday camps and parks As a full-time professional singer, he was singing not only in this country, but in venues around Europe and in Egypt. He hasn’t returned to that lifestyle since the Superstar show, where he was, originally, only a reserve until Lloyd Webber decided to make the final ten into the final 11 and put Moses back into the competition.

Four years previously, he’d auditioned for The X Factor and was turned down – even by fellow Geordie judge Cheryl Cole. His father and his sister, together with his management, put him forward for the Superstar auditions.

The show was won by another North-East contestant, Ben Forster, but it has given Moses’ career a real boost and got him theatre work. “It’s been crazy since the show, I’ve been very lucky and working constantly,” he says.

“I’m completely thankful to that show. It was an absolute rollercoaster, first thinking I was in the show, then not in the show and then in the show. It was a real learning curve. A lot of the guys had been trained and I hadn’t, so it was a completely new world to me, like being trained in dancing and acting.

“I picked up a lot of information. It was great.

There’s not a day gone by since that I haven’t thought about it because it was such a life-changing experience.

If I was asked to do it again tomorrow, I would.”

He saw the new arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar on the opening night at the O2 in London and thought it was “out of this world”. Now he’s on the stage only having worked in the theatre a little, as an amateur, when he was younger.

Last Christmas, he did the pantomime Sleeping Beauty at the Connaught Theatre, in Worthing,on the South coast, and loved it. “I’m happy to play panto for the rest of my life. I really enjoyed it.

There’s something about panto that’s just so much fun,” he says.

He made a record (available to buy through his website, he points out), done charity shows and corporate work. He hasn’t returned to the international singing circuit. “There have been calls but, to be honest, I’ve been busy doing theatre work. Maybe it might happen down the line but, for the moment, I’m going with the flow,” he says.

And at present that’s Rapunzel, which features Jenny Jones, from CITV’S Hi-5 in the title role, and Kay Purcell, known to CBBC viewers as Gina in Tracey Beaker Returns, as Gothel the enchantress.

Completing the cast are Andrew Crawford and Joe Chambers, from Cbeebies’ The Rhyme Rocket, plus ex-Blue Peter present Peter Duncan, who not only plays Muddles but also directs the show.

“Peter’s so funny and creative. He’s had so much experience and knows exactly what the audience wants,” says Moses of his co-star and director.

“There are some fantastic songs in the show – a lot of current music for the kids and some classics, including one I sing that goes as high as the heavens.

“The prince is quite a cheeky chappy. It’s really fun, colourful and a bit tongue-in-cheek.”

His prince may also sound a bit different on the North-East dates. He’s been asked to drop his accent and play it RP – received pronunciation, ie standard English.

“I think when I get to the North-East he’ll be a Geordie prince,” says Moses.

RAPUNZEL

Darlington Civic Theatre, April 1 and 2.

Box Office: 01325-486555 and darlingtonarts.co.uk Newcastle Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre, April 4 and 5. 0844-4939999 and millvolvotynetheatre.co.uk York Barbican, April 7 and 8. 0844-8542757 and online yorkbarbican.co.uk