Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow is now a musical theatre star – but it all happened by accident, as he tells Steve Pratt

A MAN with a thick Glaswegian accent is on the other end of the line asking about doing the interview early so he can go for his tea. For a moment I think it’s a crank call or a wind-up, before realising this is Marti Pellow of Wet Wet Wet and musical theatre fame.

He’s calling 40 minutes before the prearranged time, but never one to deny anyone food – let alone the star of the new touring production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical Evita – we proceed to talk.

The singer has a number of musicals under his belt already. Among them Chicago, Blood Brothers, Chess, The Witches Of Eastwick and Jekyll And Hyde. He’s playing the revolutionary Che in Evita who leads the audience through the Argentinian leader’s rise to fame and glory.

Pellow first became aware of the songs through hearing David Essex – Che in the original London production–- singing them on Top Of The Pops. Essex had a chart hit with Oh What A Circus from the show back in 1978.

“That was before I made the connection it was musical theatre,” says Pellow.

“I’d worked with Tim Rice on Chess and when the Evita production came up they said why don’t we ask Marti to do it? I looked at the show and realised how any songs I was familiar with. It’s phenomenal writing,” he says.

Che is another narrator role like Blood Brothers in which he toured recently to Darlington and Sunderland. “Wait for one narrator job and three come along at once. Even Chess, which I did for the Abba boys, is quite similar, walking people though the journey of the show,” he says.

The move from fronting Wet Wet Wet to musical theatre leading man wasn’t planned. The closest he came many years ago was through Pete Townsend and the chance of doing The Who’s rock opera, Tommy. That opportunity came to nothing, but the Townsend connection came into play later.

“One night I was doing a show for Peter Townsend and Roger Daltrey for the Teenage Cancer Trust. They said come and sing some songs. One of them was with Ruthie Henshall, a wonderful musical theatre star who’d come in from Broadway where she had been doing Chicago. The producers saw us singing together and asked if I’d be interested in playing the part of Billy Flynn in the show,” he recalls.

“That was the start of it and introduced me to musical theatre. So I was spoilt doing something as good as Chicago at the start.”

He’s full of praise for Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret, in which Will Young has recently played Emcee, so I ask if he’s got his eye on doing that show. “It’s a beautiful score, but not really for me. I enjoy it as a piece, but Chicago is far more acceptable. My favourite would be Billy Flynn.

“As a singer-songwriter you inhabit the song.

You go inside the song and hopefully people can make the connection. You are the catalyst.

It’s great that you have access to other people who can make your dreams come true and work with people like the Tim Rices and Leslie Bricusses of the world who inspire you.”

Rice is, apparently, a big Wet Wet Wet fan.

“There’s a great pop sensibility to his music.

That’s how I got talking to him,” he says.

“I’d done some arrangements for (composer) Leslie Bricusse and he loved that and phoned me up to say he liked the interpretation. That led to me doing Jekyll And Hyde. I love the piece, it’s a dark piece.

“I look at something like The Threepenny Opera and the whole Brecht thing – and that’s nice and dark. It’s a fine balance where I’m moving in musical theatre. I’m being educated and it’s still got to be accessible for audiences.”

The touring aspect of Evita and other shows doesn’t bother him. Wet Wet Wet weren’t averse to going on tour for eight months at a time. “It’s a different discipline in the way you go about setting up your stall,” he says.

“When I go out and sing with Wet Wet Wet it’s a whole different place, but I enjoy it enormously.

It’s a bit of a dichotomy because our music is a by-product of our friendship. It’s going out and singing with my mates.

“They come and see me in things I do. It’s important you have your friends around you and I value their opinion.”

Surely acting is the next thing for him. He likes to diversify and doesn’t rule it out. “Never say never. If it’s the right script, who knows? I don’t think you should ever say never.”

  • Evita: Newcastle Theatre Royal, from Monday, February 24 to March 1. Due to demand there’s an extra matinee on Friday, February 28, at 2pm. Box office 08448-112121 and online theatreroyal.co.uk
  • Wet Wet Wet headline Music Showcase Saturday at York Racecourse on July 26. Tickets 01904-620911 or visit yorkracecourse.co.uk