Rachel Stanley was first sent for dancing lessons to cure shyness at the age of four. Now she's stepping out in one of the all-time great musicals. Viv Hardwick reports.

STAGE star Rachel Stanley is guaranteed a very different sort of Christmas Day this year. She'll be on stage in Beijing performing in the hit musical Chicago.

"We're only there for a week but will be doing two shows on Christmas Day. And we'll be playing in a venue that seats 10,000 people," she says.

The trip to China comes as part of a year-long tour of the Bob Fosse razzle-dazzle musical, Chicago, which takes her to York for two weeks at the Grand Opera House.

Stanley's life on stage has been inextricably linked with not one, but two killers - the leading female characters in Chicago, the kiss-and-tell tale of nightclub singer Roxie Hart and double murderess Velma Kelly, who fight for press supremacy in the wake of their killings.

Stanley is playing Velma on tour but has already played Roxie in London, something of a rare double. She first went into the show five or six years ago when the West End cast was changed for the first time.

"I was a cell block girl and covered the role of Roxie, which I got to go on and do - and I loved it," she recalls.

She spent several years in the production, seeing several changes of actresses playing Roxie and Velma. At one point, she covered for American star Chita Rivera, the original Velma who came into the British production as Roxie.

"I went off to do other jobs and then the producers said, 'Can you audition for the show?'," she says. "They were looking for a Velma at the same time which is quite hard to find. You have people who sing, dance and act as Roxie, but Velma has to be a real dancer and whack her legs around.

"The role is very physical as well as vocal. They saw me with the idea of playing Roxie and ended up saying, 'You are definitely Velma'. I'm a bit older this time and that's what has changed. Roxie is quite vulnerable and maybe I was a different person back then."

Switching from one to the other wasn't without problems. She thought rehearsals would be fine as she hadn't played Roxie for so long but did find herself automatically doing Roxie's moves rather than Velma's.

Asked which role she prefers, Stanley says: "I love them both. They are very different. Roxie is a fabulous role to do because of the acting side and you're on stage a lot more. But Velma is a great role as well and gets the best entrance in show business -on a lift up on to the stage."

Stanley began dancing when she was just four. Her mum sent her off for dancing lessons to cure her shyness. Then she saw an old movie musical on TV and decided that's what she wanted to do. "I trained in singing, dancing and acting but leaned towards dancing," she says.

At 18, she left college and went on tour in the tap-dancing musical 42nd Street. Her other stage work has included My Fair Lady, Me And My Girl, My One And Only and Singing In The Rain.

Most recently, she was in the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes at the National Theatre and then the transfer to Drury Lane Theatre. She played Irma, as well as taking over the leading role of Reno Sweeney for a number of weeks.

Stanley's now six weeks into the tour of Chicago, including a season in Glasgow where Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow played lawyer Billy Flynn.

The last time Stanley toured was in Chess, the only time she's played in York. "I'm looking forward to touring - it's a hard life and also a good life. We have fun and it's like a big family," she says.

Having understudied in the past, Stanley now has an understudy waiting in the wings to play Velma if she's ill. "She's bound to go on at some point during the year," she says. "Although I've just had a horrible virus at a time we were doing six shows in three days and I still managed to go on."

* Chicago is at York Grand Opera House from October 26 to November 6. Tickets 0870 606 3595.

Published: 25/10/2004