Musicals Magazine Podcast

Join Edward Seckerson in an intimate conversation with celebrated actress and soprano Gina Beck, known for her powerhouse performances on stages from the West End to Broadway. Gina reflects on her journey, sharing insights into her roles in classic musicals like South Pacific and Les Misérables, as well as her acclaimed portrayal of Glinda in the US tour of Wicked. In this episode, Gina opens up about the artistry behind interpreting beloved characters along with the thrill of breathing life into Golden Age classics and bringing them to contemporary audiences.

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Julian Ovenden, universally acknowledged as possessing one of the most beautiful voices in Musical Theatre. Gearing up a rare solo concert with Broadway composer Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens, War Paint), Ovenden reflects on a career that has taken him from the Donmar’s Merrily We Roll Along to TV’s Bridgerton. His appearances with the John Wilson Orchestra highlighted his way with Golden Age Broadway scores, and Daniel Evans’s recent Chichester/Sadler’s Wells revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific afforded him his shining moment with arguably the two greatest ballads in the repertoire. The musical excerpts are taken from Carousel: World Premiere Complete Recording, by John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London, released on Chandos Records on 13 September 2024; and My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert by The Rodgers & Hammerstein Concert Orchestra, conducted by Simon Lee, released on Concord Theatricals on 31 May 2024. The opening and closing musical excerpts featured in this podcast are from the Overture to Gypsy (film version), taken from Jule Styne’s ‘Overtures Vol 2’, courtesy of JAY Records.

For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Jac Yarrow, who didn’t even have time to collect his diploma before he was plucked from drama school to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium. His progress since has been fast and furious, establishing him as one of the go-to younger leading men in the business. He talks about life during and after drama school, the instant stardom of Joseph, his brush with Pippin in a stunning concert staging, and being part of the glitziest ensemble in town for the Sondheim tribute Old Friends. Plus, he looks forward to taking the world by storm with Les Mis as we’ve never seen it before.

Edward Seckerson meets the fabulous Stephanie J Block, currently wowing London audiences as Lili Vanessi in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate. Her astonishing career has taken her from a Broadway debut as the young Liza Minnelli in the Hugh Jackman vehicle The Boy From Oz to The Cher Show (wait till you hear her Cher voice in this interview!) and a long-overdue Tony Award. She and Seckerson talk of her life-changing journey with Elphaba – which she almost [ital] originated – in Wicked and Tony-nominated turns in Falsettos and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, plus the not-so-little matter of Boublil and Schoenberg’s ill-fated The Pirate Queen. One song still resonates: her glorious account of ‘Woman’, a performance for the ages.