Starting your first job is a nerve wracking experience for most people so imagine how Alexandra Emmerson-Kirby feels.
For on Tuesday, Alex will step on to the stage of Manchester’s Palace Theatre for the premier of the hit musical Hairspray in which she plays the leading role of Tracy Turnblad.
Alexandra Emmerson-Kirby
“It’s my first professional contract and you think that if you’re lucky you might get an ensemble role with a show like this,” she said. “It just feels like I’ve gone straight in at the deep end. It really shouldn’t happen like this but I'm so grateful that it has.
“I love this show; it was the first show my mum took me to see in the West End when I was eight so it feels as though everything has come full circle.”
As Tracy, Alex is at the heart of the production. Her character dreams of dancing her way on to a national TV show and winning the heart of teen idol Link Larkin. But she must overcome prejudice and bigotry in many forms along the way.
This all-new production is based on the 1988 film which starred Divine and Ricki Lake as Tracy. The stage musical has played on Broadway and in the West End picking up numerous awards along the way.
The new production stars Neil Hurst as Edna Turnblad and is being co-directed by Brenda Edwards who previously toured in the show.
The show strikes an unusual balance by being a fun rock and roll musical while tackling issues such as racism and body image head on.
“That’s what I love about it,” said Alex. “There are so many great numbers; it’s so fun and exiting and fizzy and then the messages come out from underneath.
“It is very much a feelgood show but it has a deeper meaning and a message which we want to get across to the audience.”
As part of the rehearsal process, Alex researched life in America in the late Fifties and early Sixties when Hairspray is set.
“We had someone come in and go through background of the civil rights movement which was really eye opening,” she said. “ I feel that in school you are taught a certain narrative which perhaps comes from white perspective. It was so interesting to go into the background of it all and give a voice where there always wasn’t one.
“The show is so relevant to today’s society where racial abuse and fat phobia is still all too common. With Tracy I really wanted her to have integrity. She loves her body, she loves who she is and she doesn’t really care what others think.
“I hope that younger audiences will see her as something of a role model.”
Alex herself could also be a role model given her meteoric rise.
“It’s just all about timing, luck and hard work,” she said. “It’s about one person taking a chance on you. I was so grateful to have got this job, you could never expect to get a lead role straight away.
“But what a confidence booster - it makes it feels like all the training was worth it. It’s a great feeling.”
Alex started taking ballet lessons when she was four and took part in numerous productions at the YMCA in her home town, Scarborough. At 17 she left home to go to performing arts college in Wakefield before securing a place at the prestigious Italia Conti school where she graduated from last year.
“I had the audition for Hairspray and I though it had gone OK,” she said. “I think it was at the audition that I realised it was serious, this was my job from now on and I’d have to get used to it.
“When my agent called and said they wanted to offer me to role of Tracy I just thought he was winding me up. I said ‘are you having me on?’ and then realised he as serious.
“It took me bit to process it then I called my mum and dad.
“The thing was that I couldn’t tell anyone else as they hadn’t made the cast announcement and I’m not that good at keeping secrets. But my dad’s worse. He’s the one I was really worried about letting the cat out of the bag - he was so excited about it.
“So I had to tell him ‘dad you cannot say anything to anyone’. Thankfully he managed it.
“But I feel so pleased for my parents. They have been so supportive from the start. I know they’ll be there on opening night but I’m going to have to force myself not to look at them.”
Alex will be with the show in Manchester before touring the UK until April next year.
“I’m really looking forward to the whole touring thing,” she said. “Everything is a new experience for me and I want to learn as much as possible from it.”
Hairspray the Musical, Palace Theatre, Manchester, Tuesday, July 16 to Saturday, July 27. Details from www.atgtickets.com
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