Ben James-Ellis on making the transition from screen to stage
Another of the Joseph contestants who has gone from strength to strength on the theatre stage, Ben is currently starring as Norman in the UK tour of Dreamboats and Petticoats. I caught up with him at the Theatre Royal, Brighton.
Yes, it was. I was in the bottom two about four times but, it was something that I never even thought I would be involved with. I was quite happy training in musical theatre at Italia Conti on a three-year course and it was actually my Mum who sent in the submission. The first I knew was when she said, “There’s an audition that’s come through for this if you want to go.”
I thought that I may as well go for the experience as it was really my first “proper” audition. I was only 17 at the time and I was very new to it all, and new to London. I grew up in Scarborough, so London took some getting used to! Then when I was in the show and I got through all the rounds, well, it was something I didn’t expect and it was all a bit mad. My life changed completely overnight.
Was the show as emotional as it seemed?
I think, for most of us, it was very obvious from early on that Lee Mead was the guy that was going to win it. It only took us a couple of weeks to realise that and, I’m sure you can remember, in the first few weeks of the live shows there was a lot of crying with us lads being a bit…. sappy really.
After that we all grew up and toughened up really quickly – which we had to do. We all needed to develop that thick skin for it and to understand that it was just a television show that we were all there to make.
How difficult was it to hear some of the judges comments that came back to you?
It wasn’t easy, no, but I took every piece of criticism and I tried to be constructive with it. But, some of the things they said I just didn’t agree with and, I guess it was just my personality that made me answer them back. I was a bit outspoken, I think, but I was just young and naïve.
Also it was the fact that we we’re doing an audition in front of millions of people, with the judges and Andrew Lloyd-Webber sitting there. Getting critiqued in that arena was very difficult. I honestly don’t think I could ever put myself through something like that again.
How soon after it ended did you get offered the part of Link Larkin in Hairspray?
Well, immediately after the television show I was asked to do a sort of Dirty Dancing concert tour all around Europe. That lasted for about a month, but on the night I got knocked out of the competition David Grindrod, the casting director, approached me and said that he had a script on his desk that he thought would suit me perfectly and he sent it across together with a few tracks. I had never heard of Hairspray really, but I listened to the music and read the script and I completely fell in love with it. Then, within a month, I was called in to audition.
What preparations did you make for a full-time stage career?
Well, performing is my life really. Since the age of ten I’ve been doing shows and musicals and also I was in full-time training so, in terms of that, it was what I had always wanted to do. The prospect of being able to do it as a professional, and to earn money from it, was gobsmacking. To be honest it was just so exciting, it was a real whirlwind with everything happening at once.
There wasn’t a minute in the day when I could sit down and chill out. I was here, there and everywhere and it was just fantastic and definitely, the most exciting time of my life. I completely loved it when rehearsals started. It was the most phenomenal feeling to have the whole cast around me – and I was working with Michael Ball, who had been one of my idols for years.
We had the most fantastic American director and choreographers and it was the absolute top. Looking back on it, it was a very daunting prospect but I was so excited, so eager and so willing to learn and to work hard that I didn’t really have time to sit down and say to myself – “Oh my God – this is insane!”
You’re now in Dreamboats and Petticoats. Tell us about your character – Norman.
Norman is a person I’ve got to know very well over the last nine months or so and I guess the best description is that he’s like a bit of a naff Fonz (from the TV show Happy Days) really. He thinks he’s so cool, but he’s not really got it.
Is the production as much fun as it looks?
Yes, completely. That’s what keeps drawing me back to the show. I thought, after Hairspray, it would be hard to top that and when Bill Kenwright approached me to take the part of Norman, my first thought was that it was a rock and roll show for the older generation. I knew that it was on in the West End, but I’d never seen it and, to be really honest, had never considered seeing it.
Then they took me to see the show and I was just gobsmacked at how incredible it was. The script was funny, the songs were brilliant and then there’s that big finale. I left the theatre with a massive smile on my face and still, every night, I leave the stage with a huge smile on my face. It picks you up, it picks the audience up and it’s a perfect feel-good show.
After the current tour is finished, what next?
Well, the show runs until May and then there’s a break before it restarts in June. I have a few auditions coming up and things like that but I’ll just wait and see what’s out there. I’m just happy at the moment. It’s a great show and I’m the dance captain as well, which is some added responsibility that I’m really enjoying having. I guess it’s a case of – watch this space!
Ben will be appearing in Dreamboats and Petticoats at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne (9-14 April). The show will also be seen at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford (11-16 June), the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (30 July -4 August), the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend (13-25 August) and the White Rock Theatre, Hastings (17-22 September).
