#Danny Nattrass

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I can dim the lights and sing you songs full of sad things We can do the tango, just for two I can serenade and gently play on your heart strings Be your Valentino, just for you

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Band of Brothers

THE OSMONDS – A New Musical Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, Tuesday 15th March 2022 Some bands find their back catalogues turned into jukebox musicals.  Others have their life stories dramatized with their own music forming the score to the show.  This new musical about The Osmond Brothers falls into the latter category.  The rags-to-riches storyline is well and truly in place, and you know that…

[lewishamledger]

Taylor made

Above: Taylor Bradshaw (centre) with Danny Nattrass and Cameron Burt in Mamma Mia!

WORDS BY EMMA FINAMORE; PHOTO BY BRINKHOFF/MÖGENBURG

Lewisham’s Taylor Bradshaw only graduated from university earlier this year, but he has already landed a 12-month spot on the cast of Mamma Mia!

The feel-good musical, featuring classic tracks from Abba, has been running in the West End for 21 years – the same age as Taylor himself – at the Novello Theatre in Aldwych.

Taylor treads the boards as playful Eddie, a waiter at the taverna on the musical’s fictitious – and fairly action-packed – Greek island, alongside his colleague and partner-in-crime Pepper, performing to hundreds of people every show. Having kicked off his tenure in June, it was only a matter of months ago that he was still studying musical theatre at London’s ArtsEd performing arts school.

“I was flabbergasted,” Taylor laughs. “It [getting a role in a big production] was the dream from the beginning. I’m overjoyed, grateful, every day. Everything’s switching now and I’m getting my feet on the ground.”

It’s a moment he seems to have been rehearsing for his whole life. Born in Lewisham Hospital and growing up in Brockley, Taylor fell in love with dancing through his sister, who attended classes at the Scott ’n’ Wiseman School of Performing Arts in Forest Hill (now Studio 23). As a child he used to watch her shows and was captivated from the off.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to do that,’” he laughs. “Tap, modern, street jazz, ballet, singing, drama… whenever my sister had rehearsals I’d be standing on the side doing the same dance. I knew all the dances to every single senior piece.”

Taylor’s parents encouraged a keen interest in all activities from an early age: karate (he holds a black belt), art club, chess club, debating club. “I tried everything,” he says. “And then I said, ‘I want to do performing arts.’”

He went on to study at the prestigious Brit School, an environment just as motivating as the one he had with his family at home.

From there he moved to ArtsEd – whose glittering alumni include people like Julie Andrews, Martin Clunes and Tuppence Middleton – and from which he graduated with a BA in musical theatre before landing his role in Mamma Mia!

With his graceful, dancer-like way of moving, easy confidence and glowing CV, Taylor makes his route to the stage appear easy – which, of course, it hasn’t been. “A few months ago it wasn’t like this,” he says. “Not sleeping, trying to practise everything, all the time. They say put 10,000 hours of practice into something and you’ll be good at it, so I just fit everything in when I can. I like to work hard.”

During his degree Taylor began auditioning and taking part in as many performances as possible, even performing at the Olivier Awards last year, before going on to help present at the awards this year. It all led him to a life-changing opportunity to try out for Mamma Mia!

He sang Don’t You Want Me by The Human League at his audition, before performing a routine from the show. He also had to tell jokes and bounce off another character, Pepper. He clearly impressed: he got the part.

Taylor seems so confident it’s hard to imagine him fazed by anything, but a debut role in a West End show must be fairly daunting. Does he ever get stage fright?

“I can see where it comes from,” he reflects. “If you worry so much it goes into a cycle, especially something like opening night – you’re fine, then backstage, about to go on, you’re like ‘Oh, wait... I’m going on to a West End stage in front of important people, like a thousand people.’ It’s scary, especially if you make a mistake.

“It [the show] gets into your body though. Then you can just relax into it and experiment. That’s why I love that I’ll be in a show for a year – I can find so many different things there.”

He really does experiment too, with devices like a character diary that he writes for Eddie whenever he has a spare moment: “I just write down character stuff from his life before, brothers who live away, he just lives with his mum, he’s the smart kid at school, the types of holidays he likes going on… If I’m in it for a year I may as well see how far I can go with it.”

Obviously the music and dancing is as much a part of Mamma Mia! as the characters. Taylor says he’s lucky enough to dance lots of old-school jazz with a bit of funk, which he was pleasantly surprised by when starting the job. Even though he’d already watched the film many times (it’s his “guilty pleasure”, he says, along with Legally Blonde) he actually watched the stage production for the very first time after landing the part, during rehearsals.

“I watched it here,” he laughs, gesturing towards the Novello, “and I was like, ‘Oh my God it’s actually amazing!’ The concept, the lighting, the party at the end... yes!”

That enthusiasm hasn’t waned, either. Taylor talks passionately about his show highlights, like Voulez-Vous – “It is such a good number. No matter how tired you are, once you hit that C note, you’re like, ‘Come on!’ And the lights are flashing and there’s great choreography… it’s just a good vibe on stage.”

Then there’s the eight-minute finale, a medley of feel-good singalong hits like Waterloo, Dancing Queen and of course, Mamma Mia. “Everyone loves it,” says Taylor. “When my dad came to watch he came backstage afterwards singing it.”

As well as relishing the moment, he’s also ambitious about the future and reels off productions he’d love to have roles in, such as Fame, Hamilton, Memphis, Dreamgirls, The Tap Dance Kid – “such an underrated musical” – and Rent, as well as plays – “anything at the Young Vic” – and an idea for a new production he’s had: “I’m ready for a Muhammad Ali musical to come out.”

Taylor also wants to pursue dance further, citing Five Guys Named Moe, The Scottsboro Boys, Hairspray and Cats as dream shows for this.

He’s incredibly enthusiastic about the craft that goes into building a whole production too – in fact he hopes to write his own show one day.

“The backstage routine is just as impressive as the front routine,” he says. He paints a vivid picture of a brightly coloured, bustling and dynamic world, chaotic but also moving like clockwork.

A key part of the show’s mechanics for Taylor is his working relationship with Danny Nattrass, who plays Pepper. The two are good friends, having come through ArtsEd together. “We’ve known each other for years,” says Taylor, “and it’s made it so much easier; we’re just comfortable with each other, we understand each other.”

In spite of the kudos that comes from appearing in a top name West End show, Taylor gives off the vibe of someone who cares little about bright lights and big crowds – he does musical theatre for the love of it.

“Theatre and the arts are just so important,” he says. “The freedom people have to express themselves, that’s what we need – we don’t give ourselves time anymore. Just taking the time to open your eyes, look around you and take inspiration from it, and see the beauty, is so important.”

He’s just as appreciative of the beauty indoors at the Novello, when the curtain goes up: “Maybe I’m still in the honeymoon stage, but I’m loving it.”

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [06/??]

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Crazy Little Thing Called Love

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Danny Nattrass performing Love Me For a Reason

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [07/??]

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [15/??]

Oh every night And every day A ittle piece of you is falling away But lift your face the western way babe Build your muscles as your body decays

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [09/??]

And you're rushing headlong, Down the highway

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [17/??]

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [16/??]

Rich or poor or famous For your truth it's all the same Lock your door the rain is pouring Through your window pane Baby now your struggle's all in vain

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+ Bonus

Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [12/??]

But touch my tears with your lips Touch my world with your fingertips And we can have forever And we can love forever Forever is our today

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The Songs of Close Up: The Twiggy Musical, Part 1

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [23/23]

I've paid my dues Time after time I've done my sentence But committed no crime And bad mistakes I've made a few I've had my share of sand Kicked in my face But I've come through

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [21/??]

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Danny Nattrass as Galileo Figaro Appreciation post [20/??]

Well, give it to me one more time