Michael is currently originating the role of Jack Kelly in the London production of Disney's Newsies. After training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Michael has since appeared as Emmett Forrest in Legally Blonde (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); Benjamin “Benny” Coffin III RENT (Hope Mill Theatre); Paul Stephenson in To the Streets (China Plate & Birmingham Hippodrome) Maugrim in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (UK/Ireland Tour).
The show is running until the 30th of July and whilst in the middle of a cast change, we caught up with Michael.
You are currently playing Jack in the long-awaited and now Olivier winning production of Newsies. Thinking back to when you got the audition, how did you feel about potentially playing this part when you were going through that process?
You’ll hear/see a lot of actors say they know when a part “works” or “feels right”. Right through auditions I felt like I could connect to the character and his beliefs and perspectives. Every time I read/sang for it, Jack grew a bit more in my mind. So honestly it was a fun experience to keep on going in and building on the previous round. I still remember Bronté and I’s chemistry read - we went for a coffee afterwards just to talk/debrief about it as we’d had such a good time!
And please tell us about what happened when you got the part!
I was walking to work to an evening show for Legally Blonde. So there I was, walking through serene Regents Park, yelling down the phone. It’s so lovely to think about those special moments you have with your agents when they bring in the good news. Then I had to just sit on the secret for months before they made the announcement.
Tell us a little bit about your character, Jack Kelly. Between the film, the Papermill version, the Broadway version and our version, there’s a variation with this character but at its core, to me, Jack Kelly is an orphan working as a newsboy on the streets of 1899 New York. Like every kid, he has big dreams, and despite his complete lack of privilege, he holds onto them really tight - for him, reaching them is the salvation that will make the suffering end. The dream is a life working the land in Santa Fe. An almost completely opposite life to the one he lives now - I guess in his mind, if he runs away, his problems won’t follow him. He’s the leader of a gang of newsies in Lower Manhattan, for me, these relationships must hinge on the fact that Jack must be creating a feeling of purpose and his albeit grungy optimism must be infectious. I could talk about this for ages, but basically, we see this character’s principles and resilience put to the test by powers that are seemingly bigger and love that he’s not sure he deserves.
Newsies was a huge hit on Broadway and the UK has been waiting for what seems a lifetime for it to arrive over! What has it been like to recreate the show in this new version for London audiences?
I love doing this kind of thing! The opportunity to have creative license with a role is always one I would jump at. I’m grateful to our creative team for creating an environment that made this possible. It’s just brilliant as well to be a part of a show that feels so special because we’ve all been anticipating it coming in this direction!
You are performing the show at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, a gorgeous innovative space. The show is performed in thrust, now you must be in the swing of things by now but how was it navigating the set up with this huge show? The theatre is such a unique interesting space that feels full of surprises. On the first day of rehearsals, we talked through all the wild ideas that they had for the show - maximising the capabilities of the theatre. At the time I honestly wondered how we’d be able to make all that happen, but watching it all come to life in the theatre was something special. It’s such an important factor in creating the spectacle of the show, but also in making the audience feel surrounded by it - like they’re entering a space that is completely dedicated to the story. I will say the move from the studio to the theatre was one of the biggest leaps I’ve ever experienced. It’s a vast space, so filling it - whether it’s the athleticism needed to run, climb, swing, dance through it, or vocally reach all corners is extremely demanding. You have to make specific choices to make it work. This effort that we all make, I think, is a part of the charm of the show.
What can people expect from this production of Newsies?
Expect from the moment you walk into the theatre to feel enclosed into the world we’ve created (I remember the first time we saw Morgan Large’s set design, it’s breathtaking) Newsies will show up from every possible corner and this show is full of energy from the very beginning. Rehearsing this show I remember thinking it takes all the elements of Musical Theatre and pushes them to the max. In that way, it’s a celebration of the form. In a time when we’re seeing strike action happen in so many different sectors in the UK, it feels like a truly fitting story for when we’ve chosen to tell it.
The role of Jack in Newsies has become pretty iconic, a lot of people know Jeremy Jordan’s interpretation very well. How have you approached this role? A big part of working in musical theatre is being aware that more often than not, someone has played the same role that you’re about to play before. That can be quite a debilitating thing because when you start to go down the road of comparison, it will rob you of your creative license, and what you’re capable of will become narrower because you’re trying to naturally recreate (whether that’s copying or in spite of what someone else has done), which is quite a narrow perspective to start creating from.
I often try to think about the idea that I am just offering another part to the discussion of a character, as if a character or a story is one big discussional forum, and I’m writing a mini-essay on my perspective on it, as opposed to trying to create a definitive version, or the need to one-up anyone or be compared to anything anyone else has done, I’m just offering my perspective on a larger discussion. I think this helps me to separate from any kind of pressure related to who’s previously played the role. We’re different people and so how we’re affected, how we relate, how we understand and how we might communicate the same story will always be different, and that’s the beauty of it all. I can only provide the voice that I have, and that will be influenced by a whole lifetime’s worth of experiences and exposures, and that in itself will already create a difference, which is to be celebrated, I think.
Obviously then, when you go into the work of researching and trying to find the truth (because this is based on a true story as well, so there’s that incredible amount of source material of actual history), you then find more differences, too. I’m a black actor playing the role, so considering what kind of person Jack Kelly would have been as a young black boy in 1899 New York is already extremely compelling and different. He’s a leader, what kind of influences would he have from what he’s seeing around him? Who were his mentors and who were his idols? What was likely to be his view on the world based on the fact he was a black boy?
I looked into various different newsboys of the time that had been written about and there were a few. There was one called Black Wonder, who was known for being a really gifted and inspirational orator, so then you start to find who of this identity that I will share with this character, can I draw on? And that will always be different between actors and especially different because Jeremy Jordan and I are different races. So I start to recognise that some of the young black Newsboys that held any kind of influence had the gift of the gab. So I take that as inspiration and that might be different compared to what he might research and find based on the same newsboys at the time that fitted into the demographic that he might match.
At the end of the day, if you accept from the beginning that your interpretation will always be different and do your due diligence and research based on truth (and as a final self-talk tool, I remind myself that I am simply adding to the discussion), then you free yourself creatively to make something you’re proud of because it’s uniquely you because if you try to be someone else, you’re always going to fail. It’s truthful and you aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel or create a definitive piece. You’re not trying to close the book on the character as if it’s the final episode, so that helps me and that’s also a part of the fun of originating something! If I’m afforded the opportunity by a creative team, I always imagine I’m starting from scratch with the character. Having only graduated from Drama School in 2021, you’ve blasted onto the theatre scene with a huge bang! Most people will recognise your face from the Regent’s Park production of Legally Blonde, a momentum production that will be remembered for a long time! What was it like being part of such an inclusive and diverse retelling of this much-loved musical?
It’s been such an incredible rollercoaster of a start for me, and I’m so grateful to have been brought in to work on such exciting projects since I Ieft drama school. I’ve been surrounded by so many bold, creatively excellent actors/creatives, and Legally Blonde was no different with an added ferocity and power in its diversity. I learnt so much about the power of having a unique and individual voice from the people on that show. I also made some lifelong friends.
Emmett was a character at odds with/trying to make it work within the Harvard environment and there are real young black people from unprivileged backgrounds at Harvard and I wanted to do their stories some justice. It’s not without its challenges doing something like that knowing that the role had previously been played by only white actors. But it was hugely fun and rewarding to find this guy and to show you how someone from a different walk of life would look in the position that Emmett finds himself in. The script takes on whole new meanings - in Chip on your shoulder Emmett talks about being from Roxbury. It doesn’t take long to find that Roxbury is known as the “heart of black culture” in Boston and that proportionally the black community make up 53% of its population. The process was full of revelations like that. And because for me the show, in general, is so much about identity - fore-fronting this person's relationship with his identity - down to what shoes he wears and when (thank you Jean Chan), or why his hair is the way it is, was really special. If an audience member can walk out understanding or empathising that little bit more with someone they hadn’t before - hey that’s a big part of my job done.
And before Newsies, you were in the new production of To The Streets for the Birmingham Hippodrome. What did you enjoy most about creating the role of Paul in a new musical?I’ve always wanted to, and still have ambitions to play real people. It’s a whole different ball game and it’s exciting to observe someone and try to communicate their life back in performance. To The Streets felt special to me because it was an instrumental element of the UK civil rights movement that isn’t spoken about nearly enough - it felt meaningful to be a part of something trying to retell the story.
And finally, in one sentence, why should people come and see Newsies?
For the Musical Theatre fans, Newsies is a complete celebration of everything MT, aside from that it’s a story about what pushes people to strike - which is particularly relevant to our world today.
