NEW Yorker and musical star Cory English has lived up to his surname and taken root in this country to such an extent that he now has his own allotment.

In fact he opted to speak to me about his central role of Max Bialystock in The Producers while setting out tomato plants on his beloved patch of ground in London's Golders Green.

His route into Mel Brooks' famous film and musical as leading man has been every bit as tortuous as digging over his allotment prior to planting.

"I was originally a dancer who went into Broadway shows but I decided to train at the Drama Studio in London because I wanted to be a classical actor. I decided to go where nobody knew me and do the Shakespeare and do the Chekhov instead of sitting in a ballet studio where they tell you what to do," explains the five foot five inch 39-year-old, who ended up with his name in lights above The Producers in the West End.

Cory met his wife Eva Alexander, the CBeebies presenter and actress, at drama school here and, after a long distance romance when he later returned to New York, the pair married and late last year became the proud parents of son Sammy.

Back in 2004, the budding actor was actually the understudy for both Nathan Lane as Max and Lee Evans as Leo Bloom when one of those "the show must go on" moments arrived.

"It became obvious that Nathan couldn't go on because of his back injuries after doing a couple more shows and there I was standing unshaven at the beginners call when I was told I was taking over the role and the house was packed.

"I don't honestly remember the rest of that night except that the fear disappeared when the adrenaline kicked in.

"This is a really rough show on the role of Max because he's supposed to be around 50 years old but there are so many pratfalls that there's always a risk of injury. I think that's why Richard Dreyfuss dropped out as Max early on because it was so really, really tough," explains Cory. Having "rescued" The Producers by playing Max for 38 shows in this tale of a showman and his bumbling accountant who dream up the idea of putting on a sure-fire flop to pocket the left-over investments. Of course, Springtime For Hitler - the Musical is a massive hit and made showbiz history by following the route of film-musical-film.

He was actually replaced as Max later and went off to perform as gambler Benny Southstreet in Michael Grandage's impressive new West End version of Guys And Dolls. "I remember hearing Jonathan Ross asking 'who was the fat one doing the dancing'," comments Cory giving the distinct impression that the award-winning chat show host is not on his Christmas card list.

Then came an invitation to rejoin The Producers last year and an offer to take on the first UK tour, which is encamped at Sunderland's Empire Theatre for most of June (5-30). His co-star is squeaky-voiced comedian and king of the ITV jungle Joe Pasquale as Leo Bloom. It's fascinating to hear that Cory was always determined to play Leo but came on just once as understudy for Lee Evans.

"I've got to be honest, the only reason I agreed to do the tour is because my wife and son are coming with me. I don't think I could be away from them for months... or from the allotment," he says having given up his dreams of acting in New York when the 9/11 terrorists struck in 2001. "I was in New York and Sara (his wife's real name) was here and it was like 'where am I going?'."

So how English is Mr English? "Well my exercise was baseball and basketball until I got the allotment. Now I do gardening, and I have a shed, which I call 'the ranch' of course and it really ought to have a lift and a second floor, and have created this green space where I can go back and have a cup of tea."

Not bad for a young dancer who used to wander to work in Broadway from Hell's Kitchen in his early days.