Hardwick talks exclusively to Tom Chambers about moving on from White Christmas at Sunderland Empire to a starring role in the new touring stage adaptation of Big.

ACTOR Tom Chambers has got the musical bug in a Big way, thanks to landing a starring role in White Christmas at Sunderland Empire. The well-spoken performer, best known for winning BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2008 will move on from playing Bob Wallace in the stage version of the classic movie to take on the lead role in next year’s touring musical version of Tom Hanks’ popular 1988 film, Big.

“Pretty much all my career I’ve wanted to do musical theatre,” says the actor who made his name as Sam Strachan in TV’s Holby City. “I hope one day to bring something like Singing In The Rain or White Christmas to TV. Now I have a golden opportunity after auditioning for the Tom Hanks part in Big for the musical stage version and I’ve just found out that someone has said yes and after this (White Christmas) I’ll be trying to be a boy trapped in a man’s body which my wife will probably tell you isn’t too difficult.

“It starts February 14 in Liverpool and doing a six-month tour and you are first person I’ve told. I only found out yesterday it was greenlit and it’s a classic role that everyone loves and fingers crossed we can make it as good.”

Chambers is particularly looking forward to the famous scene where Hanks danced on a giant keyboard in a department store with the incentive of a West End run if the tour goes well.

He’s starring in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas with Adam Cooper, the man who has carved out a formidable reputation with the Royal Ballet and Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures company.

“They didn’t have to do much selling to me to appear in White Christmas because since I was about five I’ve always liked those Hollywood musicals and seeing Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire dance and I used to stamp about on the kitchen floor before I knew what tap dancing was all about. As soon as they said the it was the legendary film with Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby, it was really dream-type material to work with because it’s pure light-hearted fun and pure joy really,” says Chambers who admits that he hadn’t seen himself in the Crosby role of Bob Wallace originally. “That’s when I realised I had big shoes to fill on stage. The title song being the record hit of all time until recently and it’s now been the longest Christmas of my life because I started singing White Christmas back on June 2 and my household has heard it throughout the heat of the summer and even the postman has commented about hearing it first thing in the morning.

That’s because I was singing early in the morning, when no else was around, in case I sounded like a giant cat. It’s been about 11 years since I did things like the Edinburgh Festival with the National Youth Music Theatre before going off to do three years of music theatre at the Guildford School of Music,” he says.

But the magnitude of a top show at a 2,000-seater theatre in Wearside is beginning to sink in on him.

“The fact that we’ve got a 17-piece orchestra and full sets and costumes, makes this show the size of the Queen Mary 2 in terms of importance,” says Chambers who went on the web to to buy a copy of the classic film and has watched it over and over again. Chambers has just finished a series of Waterloo Road on BBC1 as evil executive head teacher Max Tyler and compares the experience to his early, 4.30am, start to reach Sunderland Empire for last week’s press launch. “For Waterloo Road you’re up at 6.15 and on set for 7.55 and your first rehearsal and you’re practically sleep-walking onto the set and as soon as they shout ‘action’ that’s when you try and come alive. Although that role was a challenge because I don’t feel qualified to drive a car let alone become a headmaster,” he jokes.

He has kept his dance ability alive thanks to regularly taking part in the Strictly Come Dancing live tour “I’ve been on a training regime and singing lessons for the past three months but I’ll be looking to Adam Cooper to help me out,” Chambers says.

He wasn’t aware that the Empire had changed its mind about staging a pantomime in the summer and gone for White Christmas instead. “When I was cast I immediately picked up the phone and told my folks and they looked it up on the website and they found it was something else and said ‘are you sure you’re not doing a room at the Red Lion or something’, but I was able to reassure them,” he laughs.

■ White Christmas, Sunderland Empire, Nov 19- January 1. Tickets: £15-£39.50. Box Office: 0844- 847-2499. Sunderlandempire.org.uk