The actress picks the musical numbers she couldn’t live without
Most recently known for hosting The Great British Bake Off (and the WhatsOnStage Awards), Mel Giedroyc's stage credits include New Boy (Trafalgar Studios) and Eurobeat (Novello). She recently starred in ITV's Sound of Music Live alongside Kara Tointon, Julian Ovenden and Evelyn Hoskins.
Mel is currently starring in Luce at the Southwark Playhouse.
We caught up with Mel and asked her: "If you were stranded on a desert island, which five showtunes could you not live without?"
My favourite ever musical. I would listen to it on my record player after school every day for about three years. This song has the best bass line of all time.
Again, it would go round and round on my record player ad infinitum after school. There wasn’t much else to do in Leatherhead in the 1970s. This song gave me a love of those fast wordplay wisecracking storytelling tunes that I still love to this day.
We did a school production of this and I got to play one of the gangsters who sings this song. We had fake taches, trilby hats, big suits and braces. I knew from that moment on that all I wanted to do with my life was to muck about on stage!
I worked backstage on this musical in 1986 at the Dominion Theatre. It was my first experience of working in the West End and my eighteen-year old eyes were out on stalks. Hearing this tune takes me right back there, to the Eighties. I used to love Jeff Buckley singing this on stage – he had the best thigh-length platform boots EVER.
I saw Sheridan Smith perform as Elle in the West End and I think she’s just amazing. She combines brilliant comic timing with excellent acting, singing and dancing. She’s one in a million and I was blown away by her. She’ll be remembered as one of the true greats.