Craig Chalmers - Any Dream Will Do, Interview

We were lucky enough to speak to Edinburgh born Craig Chalmers, who after taking part in the hit TV reality competition show, "Any Dream Will Do", landed the lead role of Joseph.

Jamie: Hello Craig, just thought I’d say congratulations on getting your extra part in Joseph. I’ve noticed your reviews have said that your playing so far has been really good; do you know what your highlights have been so far?

Craig: Well I’ve been on tour for 15 months, actually nearer 16 months now, and obviously the highlights were my very first opening night when we opened in Bromley, near London, and also going home to Edinburgh, my home town, and playing at the Playhouse, which is one of the biggest theatres in Europe – and getting to play to the home crowd, you know, the atmosphere was unbelievable, but yeah, there’s been lots and lots of highlights so far.

James: Was that quite nerve-wracking, going back to your home town, did that give you a bit of an extra boost?

Craig: Yeah, it was actually because there were plenty people in the audience that I knew so, yeah, it was quite nerve-wracking. I wasn’t as nervous as that on the opening night actually, but once you get on there and get the opening song out of the way you can just go on and enjoy it really.

Jamie: You’re still working on your second album; when will that be coming out or will you wait until after you’ve finished Joseph?

Craig: We don’t have a release date for it yet, but I know we are starting to record it very soon, we’re just getting the final songs put together so I had Bill Kenwright on the ‘phone this week and we’re going to be going into the studio very shortly.

James:
Have you had as much fun doing that as your first one?

Craig: Well, I love getting into the recording studio, you know, that’s always what I thought; if I was ever going to make it anywhere, I thought it might have been doing the recording side of things anyway, so I’m just very fortunate that I’m getting to record and obviously play a lead on live musical theatre as well.

Jamie: You seem quite busy. How do you balance everything out with all that you’re doing?

Craig: It’s a good question actually, it’s certainly very hectic, I know that. We perform 10 shows a week, every single week going to different places in the UK; so I’m quite an organised person and my girlfriend helps me out a lot with the fan mail and keeping all the receipts for my taxis and things like that; she helps with that side of things, and I just go out there and do my best, perform in as many shows as I do and as you said, managing to juggle other things as well, like the recording, the photo-shoots and things like that; it’s a lot of fun though.

James: It’s a good job to have, isn’t it!

Craig: Well, you know, it’s what I came into it for and if you’re busy in this business then that’s a good sign!

Jamie: As you grew up in Edinburgh, what started off your whole musical career?

Craig: To be honest, I was more into the pop side of things until “Any Dream Will Do”, so you know, it was very much a leap into musical theatre from pop, so you know, I know a lot of people do that, for example, a couple of the guys from the boy band Blue, they finished with that and then they went into the West End doing musical theatre so they’re quite closely linked really.

James: You’re a bit of an R and B and Hip Hop fan aren’t you?

Craig: Yes I am, myself and my girlfriend are very much into that kind of music. It’s a good release to chill out and relax, and listen to something different other than musical theatre.

James: Who have you been enjoying lately, CD-wise?

Craig: I like a lot of the stuff that Ne-yo and Chris Brown’s been coming out with, Akon as well.

Jamie: Do you have a role-model that you look up to or do you just try and stay with yourself?

Craig: Well, the role-model I grew up with was Beckham to be honest because I was mad on football as well as singing, but obviously I can’t model my career on what he does, I was always a fan of his so, you know, I’m aware that this part comes with a lot of responsibility, a lot of kids watch the show and look up to what I do, so I try to be a good role-model to everybody who follows the show.

James: Does that mean you’re a Manchester United fan then?

Craig: Yes, I am!

James: Oh no, I thought you’d be Hearts or something.

Craig: There is that as well, but I’ve got my Scottish Premiership team that I support.

Jamie: Do you have any advice for young people who want to do the same things that you have? Do you think that what you’ve done, by going through a t.v. show is a good way to get into big musical theatre?

Craig: Yes, it’s a good way to get a national showcase, if you manage to get to the final stages of a show like that, but you’ve also got to be aware that it’s extremely difficult to get to that point and for every one person that has a bit of success on a reality show, there’s thousands and thousands more that leave disappointed, you know, but the advice I would give is to just keep on working hard, training and keep trying to better yourself and hopefully get a break; it took me 8 years of singing before I got to this point so people have got to realise that it doesn’t happen right away and if you take a knock, keep on, try to bounce back.

James: When you were doing the Joseph show did you ever think you would get as far as you did, because here you are now, playing Joseph, and when you start out you think ‘Am I good enough to win it’?

Craig: (Chuckles) Yeah well, you do think that to yourself ‘I’m on the way’, but if you didn’t think you were good enough, if I didn’t think I was able to play it I wouldn’t have gone in for it in the first place, so you have to balance the self-belief with being aware of your frailties and try to improve those as well.

James: Okay, that’s great. Many thanks for your time Craig.

Craig: You’re very welcome.

Jamie and James: All the best to you in the future. Thank you.