AS Honey Mitchell in BBC1’s EastEnders, Emma Barton had a pretty miserable time what with difficult pregnancies, sick children and being married to Billy.

What a relief it must be for her to leave the horrors of soap life behind and have some fun on stage in the musical Chicago.

Honey and Roxie Hart are very different women.

Whereas Honey was sweet if not particularly bright, then Roxie is sexy and sassy. No wonder Barton says: “Roxie is so different to any other part I’ve played.

She’s vampy and sexy and very driven.”

She remembers Ruthie Henshall, one of the original performers in the London revival, as being wonderful in the part of Roxie, and also loves Linzi Hateley in the role.

“They’re two very different actors and that’s what’s quite nice. Those I’ve seen as Roxie have been very different. You can put your own stamp on it,” says Barton.

Those who recall her as Honey may be surprised to find her in an all-singing, alldancing stage role. But she trained in musical theatre and has performed in several London West End stage musicals and toured in Love Shack.

“I think I got the bug at junior school,”

she recalls. “They did the Nicholas Nickleby musical Smike. I played Mr Squeers and just loved the magic of it. Then I went into amateur dramatics. I’ve always loved singing and dancing.”

Now she’s on the road in Chicago, alongside Jimmy Osmond, in a production that’s already played Sunderland Empire and opens at York Grand Opera House on Monday.

“I’ve been pestering them for ages because I just love the show and it’s a part I’ve always wanted to play. I was desperate to do it and they were happy to see me for it,” she explains.

Despite her musical background, she was more than happy to hang up her dancing shoes and silence her singing voice to play Honey for three years.

“Being in a show like that is very demanding with long hours, and being in the studio you can sit back and get lazy.

I thought this was a really good time to do live theatre again. The reward you get is amazing. I did panto over Christmas and thought, ‘I’ve really missed what I like doing’,” says Barton.

“It’s funny, when you’ve been doing theatre, you think it would be nice to do some television. It can be a dream come true, especially if you’re a fan of the show and have this amazing character who’s so different from any of the other characters in the show.”

She left after producers decided they’d run out of storylines for Honey, a decision about which she seems to have no regrets.

“My contract was coming up anyway.

I’d done three years and you think, ‘would I want to stay or not?’. You can just be very comfortable, especially if you love the character that much.

“I didn’t die, so you never know.”

The role of Roxie demands a lot of energy from the performer, which could be hard on Barton, who admits: “I’m not a good gym person.” So it’s “drinking plenty of water and not burning the candle at both ends” to keep her fit. She doesn’t make that sound easy by adding that “theatre after the show is such a lovely place when you all get together and bond and go for a drink”.

But she’s enjoying the chance to see parts of the country she probably would not get around to visiting as Chicago tours nationwide. Once the show is up and running, she’s out looking round city centres.

Before Chicago, she was playing Snow White in pantomime. “That was great fun. You forget how magical panto is and the joy on kids’ faces. I’d never played Snow White before, I’ve usually been principal boy.”

Going from Snow White to Roxie Hart, she couldn’t ask for a great contrast.

■ Chicago: York Grand Opera House.

April 20 to 25. Tickets: 0844-8472322