Let's hear it for the (new) boy John!

Let's hear it for the new boy John Clay!  John joined AMTC after coming to see the recent production of The Wedding Singer and enjoyed it so much, he just wanted to get in on the action himself and decided to audition.  

"This is my first show!" says John.  "I've done a lot of singing and some dancing - but I've never done musical theatre, so this is my first ever performance where I will hopefully be putting both together!"  

John auditioned for Willard Hewitt, a simple country bumpkin with a warm heart, a big smile and a high voice! Not traditionally a tenor, John explains "I actually have quite a low singing voice and Mamma Says is quite nerve racking as a result".  

John has been loving every minute of the rehearsal process and has been fully welcomed by the company.  "Rehearsals have been really good, everyone has been lovely.  I've throughly enjoyed working with Ellie who is playing Rusty, we're having a lot of fun with that.  The characters are so awkward with each other, which is a lot of fun to portray with plenty of silly moments where Willard spends lots of time falling over!"

It's not all been straight forward however as John explains, "I've had to adapt to the challenging rehearsals and getting into the acting, and being way more emotive than I would usually be. Willard has a really strong country accent, so that has been a big challenge too!"

With five weeks to go until the curtain goes up, the cast have been cracking down and are now in the final stages of rehearsals, although John states "We've been having so much fun, I've not quite twigged that there is a show at the end of it until recently!  It's such a challenging musical, but I know that the cast will smash it!"

AMTC are always looking for new members and will soon be starting their next show.  Click here to find out more if you would like to get involved...maybe you will be on stage in the next show, like John! 

Tickets are now on sale for Footloose at The Lights, on between Wednesday 30th November - Saturday 3rd December (7:30pm) with a matinee on Saturday 3rd December (2:30pm).  To book your tickets now, go to The Lights Box Office at www.thelights.org.uk or call 01264 368368.