Andrew White talks with singer and actor Lee Mead ahead of his appearance in Sleeping Beauty at the Darlington Hippodrome.
Lee Mead loves pantomime.
The 43-year-old singer and actor, shot to fame in 2007 in the BBC series Any Dream Will Do, when he won the title role in the West End revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, is still probably best known for being Joseph.
But he has had several other high-profile roles in musical theatre - including in Wicked, Legally Blonde and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - as well as some notable TV and film credits, most memorably as Ben 'Lofty' Chiltern in Casualty and Holby City.
But he is also a panto veteran. Lee will play the Prince in Sleeping Beauty, which runs at Darlington's Hippodrome theatre from Friday, December 6, to Thursday, December 31.
It will be the 14th pantomime he has done since first being cast by the Crossroads production company as Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk in Southampton. Highlights since then have included appearing in the first panto in 30 years at the London Palladium, as Prince Charming in Cinderella - "a great honour," he says.
So how did Lee go from Joseph to being a regular on the pantomime circuit?
“Good question," he says. "Crossroads asked me to do my first ever panto at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton and my biggest regret was not doing it sooner - because I absolutely love it and this is my 14th year now.
"It’s just great fun. I used to watch panto as a kid growing up in my local theatre in Southend where I’m from.
"I saw all the names like Joe Pasquale and Shane Ritchie do it over the years and now I’m doing the pantos with them. I did Milton Keynes with Joe Pasquale about five or six years ago and that was brilliant because I used to grow up watching him as a kid.
"But it’s a real family medium isn’t it, very different from doing musicals or a play. You get the three generations – grandchildren, the parents and the children - altogether, which is quite special I think.
"And it’s always nice to be performing over Christmas as well. I’ve got my own family and they’ll come up for a few days - and I’ll go home on my days off - but to be a part of people’s Christmas is really special I think.”
One of the big appeals of pantomime, he says, is the audience interaction and 'breaking the third wall'.
"I do a lot of theatre, plays and TV and musicals, you’re not allowed to break character and have to stick to the script," he adds.
"But with panto you can go ‘off book’ a little bit and break the third wall. The comic might say something. I did panto at Southend with Bobby Davro and he went off the book and you get in fits of laughter - but the audience love that because that’s part of what panto’s about, the mistakes and breaking the third wall.”
Among Lee's co-stars in Sleeping Beauty is Su Pollard, best known for her role as Peggy in the 1980s sitcom Hi-De-Hi! The cast also includes Josh Benson - returning as Muddles, the 'silly-billy' character - panto dame Jamie Jones as Nellie Nightnurse and Stephanie Costi as Princess Aurora.
After meeting the cast for the first time at a press call, Lee can already sense that they're going to get along famously.
“We clicked straight away, which is lovely," he says.
"I used to watch Su. I remember watching Hi-De-Hi! - the repeats on the telly when I was about 15 or 16. She’s great fun and I can tell already with Josh and Su and the whole cast that it’s going to be a lovely season.
"There are no egos as well, I’ve noticed straight away. We’re all down to earth and that’s a big part of making the show a success really. There’s no-one above anyone else, which is how it should be.”
Lee plays the part of Prince Lee of Longnewton and, although he hadn't yet read the scrips at the time of speaking, he already has a good idea of what it will involve.
“The Prince is generally known for being quite a straight character," he says.
"But in previous pantos that I’ve done it’s nice to get involved with the comic quite a bit and let them take the mick out of me. You’ve got to laugh at yourself a little bit, so it’s fun.
"I’m sure there’ll be the odd Joseph gag in there as well and at some point I’ll be singing Any Dream Will Do, probably.
“There’ll be a few songs, which is great. I guess a big part of why I’m here is for the voice and the music side of it.”
Despite being in the business for several years, this is the first time Lee will have performed in the Hippodrome, which was refurbished in 2017.
But he's already had chance to look around the town - and he likes what he sees.
“I’ve done most theatres in the country over the last 20 years," he says. "I’ve done the Theatre Royal in Newcastle, for example, but I’ve never performed in Darlington so I’m really excited.
"When I first got here I went to the Café Spice curry house. Oh my God, the best chicken jalfreizi I’ve ever had, hands down, it was brilliant.
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"And I took a walk around the town centre, there's a lovely square in the middle and there are some lovely pubs and restaurants so I think it’ll be a lovely three weeks here.
“As for the theatre, the front of house itself is beautiful, it’s a stunning theatre and combined with the modern side of it they’ve done a great job."
Lee Mead will be starring in Sleeping Beauty at the Hippodrome, Darlington, from Friday, December 6 to Tuesday, December 31. Visit www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk or call 01325-405405 for more details.
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