Daniel Boys
|
Age: 28
Currently: Stepping into Avenue Q at the Noel Coward Theatre, replacing Jon Robyns as Rod/Princeton. “The thing about this show is that it appeals to any audience,” Boys says. “It deals with life in a very real way—yesh, with a comedy aspect, but it says things in a very frank and honest way. Everyone goes through what’s in the show; it’s something we can all relate to.”
Hometown: Camberley, in Surrey, where he grew up the son of a chartered surveyor. Drama school was in Guildford, a 20-minute train ride away. “The first show I saw was Starlight Express when I was seven or eight; that’s what did it for me,” Boys recalls. I actually did start pretending to skate.” After that, he was taken to see Cats and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a show that became an important part of his future.
Schadenfreude: The likable performer became a TV name when he was jettisoned from Any Dream Will Do, the BBC reality TV show engineered to cast the current revival of Joseph. (The part, of course, went to Lee Mead.) “I don’t think Andrew Lloyd Webber sees me as a Joseph,” notes Boys, deadpan. “That was pretty obvious. Lee just looks like a Joseph, with long, curly hair and dark features.” How useful is it to be known for not having gone the distance on a reality show? “I guess I was the shocker victim, if you like,” he says pragmatically, “someone they said should have stayed in a bit longer. I got lots of comments from people who assumed that I would be in the final when, in fact, I came sixth. My goal was to come in the top five.” Still, as he notes, “For my sing-off song, I got to do ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Miserables; I got to show what I consider my strength, which is musical theatre singing.”
Reality Bites: Now that reality TV has become an important part of casting West End productions, Boys confesses to mixed feelings about the burgeoning phenomenon. “Obviously, it’s such a shame that the West End has had to end up like this, but at the same time, as an actor you have to think about yourself and your career,” he says. “The fact is, I wasn’t being seen. So when the opportunity came up—and I feel a bit guilty for saying this—you have to realise that that’s where the business is; you have to create a profile for yourself.” Not that Boys wasn’t getting shows prior to his BBC stint. He made his professional debut in the first UK tour of Rent, covering both Angel and Mark in a production that did 10 weeks at the Prince of Wales Theatre. In 2003, he was T-Bird Roger in Grease at the Victoria Palace, “my first big principal role.” But those periods unemployed—or working for a cement company, which Boys also did—aren’t quickly forgotten. “My CV looks as if I’ve done lots and lots, but there has also been a lot of time when I haven’t been working. There were three years when it wasn’t going particularly well and I thought, ‘Something’s got to happen here.’”
Attend the Tale: Now in a career upswing, Boys’ gift for theatrical singing was greatly in evidence during his recent stint in a semi-staged Royal Festival Hall concert performance of Sweeney Todd, in which he played Anthony alongside a starry cast headed by Bryn Terfel, Maria Friedman and Philip Quast. “It was very scary because during the first performance we couldn’t hear the orchestra at all,” he says now. “We just had to try to follow each other; we were terrified. But it was also incredible standing on stage with actors I’ve always looked up to and aspired to be.”
Lending a Hand: The busy Boys’ primary task now is doing justice to his dual assignments in Avenue Q, and making the puppeteering as second-nature as his singing. “It requires a lot of strength because your arm is being lifted in the air constantly,” he reports, speaking during a lunch break in his third week of rehearsals for the take-over cast. “It’s about moving your thumb up and down—you don’t move your fingers at all—and you’ve got to get the lip-synching right. At first we were all so stressed, getting so many notes, that the puppet looked dead. But it’s improved so much just doing it daily.” And, with luck, for the next year to come.