‘I love it on stage when it just feels like I’m talking to friends’: Jodie Prenger on her top 10 magic moments

PINNING down Jodie Prenger to one thing is a difficult business.

She’s a singer, actress and one of Britain’s top stage musical stars.

Jodie, 37, really came to fame as the winner of BBC series I’d Do Anything and she has gone on to star in smash hit musicals such as Oliver! and Les Miserables.

Now Blackpool-born Jodie is winning rave reviews for her commanding solo performance in Shirley Valentine.

The much-loved tale of a housewife who runs off to find romance on a Greek island is at Glasgow King’s Theatre from May 2 to 6. It plays Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre from May 30 to June 3 and Blackpool’s Grand Theatre from September 11 to 16.

Jodie told iN10 of the biggest moments in her life.

 

DISNEY DELIGHT

Meeting Snow White at Disney World in Florida was where it all began. I was six and I still remember it vividly.

I’m a Disney fanatic to this day. I worked on one of their ships and used to write home Love, Hook and Pixie Dust. I mean, who does that?

That visit created the magic for me as a child and it opened me up to a theatrical side of life I’d never experienced before.

BLACKPOOL DAYS

I think growing up in Blackpool and being around all the shows and theatres had a big influence on me.

You had the summer seasons of Russ Abbott and Cannon & Ball and I remember my nan taking me to watch 42nd Street. Seeing such an epic show in my home town was a turning point for me.

My folks ran a hotel and I recall my nan miming to Shirley Bassey songs and that fun element rubbed off.

THEATRE OF DREAMS

I joined the National Youth Theatre when I was 15. I’d tell any youngster who was interested to apply for something like that.

It gave me a thirst to do more. It was based in London and it was the first time I’d stayed away from home. It was exciting rather than scary as I was doing something I loved.

I was at a pretty small girls’ school and there wasn’t a big drama scene so this was a leap of faith worth taking. My mum and dad were right behind me.

THE BIGGEST LOSER

Doing the TV series The Biggest Loser was a major step in my path. At my biggest I was close to 22 stone and when I went on the show I was over 18 stone but I got down to 9 stone 9lb.

It gave me my health back more than anything else. But women should be women and if you see too many ribs it doesn’t look nice.

I always want to be a bit less or more than I am. It’s all down to your lifestyle and I’ve got to hold my hands up that there’s nothing I like more than a cheese toastie after a show.

It saddens me when I hear stories of girls who can’t get roles or auditions because of their size. It’s so wrong. I’ve faced it throughout and there is a constant fight.

There should be a part out of there for everyone.

I’D DO ANYTHING

It was intense, extraordinary, everything I’d dreamt it would be and more. To get the money-can’t-buy prize at the and topped it all.

I tell Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber now that I’d have done that show for 50p and a Macdonald’s. It was my Willie Wonka’s Golden Ticket to be part of a West End musical.

And everyone involved was so nice – well, apart from one girl who was a bit weird! I never imagined I’d win. In fact, I’d prepared my brave loser’s face for when the announcement came.

I could imagine my dad’s reaction if I cried my heart out and I didn’t want to upset him. But I hadn’t prepared my face for winning. They keep showing that bit – and that’s not a good face.

LES MISERABLES

After I’d Do Anything, Cameron thought it would be good for me to get experience in the West End and, being as it was my first, it was very special.

Because I was coming in from this reality show, though, I thought they were all going to hate me.

But I couldn’t get over the warmth of everyone and I still stay in touch with some of them.

At the end of last year they opened Les Mis in an extraordinary new opera house in Dubai and I got the call to play Madam Thenardier. It was lovely to go back to something which was so important at the start of my career.

OLIVER!

I don’t think anything was as stressful as stepping out on to that stage on opening night knowing the world was watching.

If there was nerves scale of one to 10 it must have been about 55. The stars of that show were always the kids and the family aspect of theatre is what I love.

With Oliver! you really did consider yourself part of the family.

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS

Taking that to the West End was a brilliant experience but there was double significance as that’s when my fiancé Simon proposed to me.

It was St Patrick’s Day 2012 in an Irish oyster bar. That year I’d been invited to Buckingham Palace on St Valentine’s Day for Charles Dickens’ bicentenary alongside Cameron, Rowan Atkinson and lots of others. I had it in my mind Simon was going to propose on the day I’d met the Queen.

We went to the restaurant but he didn’t ask, which was a real shock. But when we were back on St Patrick’s Day, at the same table, when I wasn’t expecting it, he proposed.

I found out he had actually had it all prepared a while before in Ireland with a choir booked and everything and had to cancel it when I had to fly to Australia to film the I’m A Celebrity spin-off show.

DOWN ON THE FARM

We’ve recently got a farm in Lancashire. I want to set up an animal sanctuary and the farm is my first step towards it. It’s my dream and that’s why I’m grafting so hard.

I love animals – I’ve got to say I prefer dogs to people. I’ve always had animals no one wanted.

I once had a rabbit with one ear called Pardon. I’ve just got the chickens and dogs at the moment but I don’t care what comes. I’d have a three-legged goat or a sheep with alopecia.

SHIRLEY VALENTINE

If I hadn’t have done the one-woman musical Tell Me On A Sunday, I don’t think I’d have taken a one-woman play like this on.

It’s such a classic from Willy Russell and that brings with it a pressure, too. But I’m so glad I took the chance. It’s warm and funny but it can also tear at your heart.

The rehearsal process was really stressful because I wanted to get it right. It’s OK singing the songs, but finding the rhythm of the comedy is hard.

I love it when you’re out on stage and you just feel like you’re talking to a group of friends.

That’s what it’s like with Shirley and you feel a connection with the audience who associate with it.

Shirley Valentine will be coming to Glasgow King’s Theatre from May 2nd to May 6th, and Edinburgh King’s Theatre from May 30th to June 3rd.