Claire Moore: “It is so important to support British young new writers”

A SONG CYCLE FOR SOHO, running at London’s Soho Theatre from 27 February until 3 March 2012 is a musical song cycle that explores Soho´s rich history.  It showcases the work of several British composers and lyricists, both established and emerging, including Douglas Hodge, Christopher Hamilton, Stuart Matthew Price, Dougal Irvine, Susannah Pearse, Tim Sutton and Stiles & Drewe.

A SONG CYCLE FOR SOHO is presented by Mercury Musical Developments (MMD), an organisation dedicated to developing the craft of composers, lyricists and book-writers working in musical theatre. The show is directed by MMD associate Simon Greiff, with musical direction from Tony Award winner Sarah Travis and book by Andrew Brinded. Claire Moore, Niamh Perry, Michael Cantwell and James Gillan are the full company for A SONG CYCLE FOR SOHO.

Claire Moore, who is best known for her leading role as Christine in Andrew Lloyd Webber´s THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and as Ellen in MISS SAIGON, tells us more details about this new show that is about to open off West End.
 HOW WOULD YOU INTRODUCE ‘A SONG CYCLE FOR SOHO’?
It is a collection of 17 completely original songs written each one by a different composer. They were all given a brief from the book which is devised by Andrew Brinded. He devised the book based on real life events and characters of Soho and then the members of the Mercury Musical Developments had a look at the brief and chose an event and then wrote a song that would be appropriate for what they wanted to do. Some ones about the street life in Soho, some about Soho history long time ago, ones about normal people making their way through everyday life in Soho, and how it feels to be a stranger in a big city. The book just gives us the narrative for the songs to have a journey which Simon Greiff has directed giving them shape. It’s really a showcase for new songs that have been put into some kind of narrative just to make them flow.

HAVE YOU GOT ANY FAVOURITE SONG/COMPOSER IN THE SHOW?
It’s difficult to say because we really have been attached to all the songs in the last couple of weeks, so I’m not going to suggest any preference. Obviously the songs that I sing are my favourites. But we are having lots of fun because quite a lot of the songs involve the four of us, and we’ve got duets, as well as solos, so it’s really good fun for us.
We have one song by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who a lot of people know, but quite a lot of the other composers are less known so it’s wonderful for them to have a showcase for their work to be heard publicly. It’s really important to bring the new writing to the forth, because we have fantastic writers in this country, we are really blessed.

AS YOU HAVE SAID, THE SONGS ARE WRITTEN BY DIFFERENT COMPOSERS, IN DIFFERENT STYLES… DO THEY FIT WELL TOGETHER?
Yes! Surprisingly! Actually I think a lot of it is because of the way Simon Greiff has directed the piece, because the styles are extremely diverse as you can imagine. One might be pop style, then we got something kind of historical, epic, operatic, and then another one is a little bit folky… Then we got the wonderful Sarah Travis, our musical director, who has made everything work together musically. Although we are quite minimal, we have managed to encompass lots of styles.

HOW ARE REHEARSALS GOING? HOW IS IT TO WORK WITH SIMON GREIFF AND SARAH TRAVIS?
I’m having a wonderful time. We are really enjoying learning the new material. It’s hard to learn so many songs by different composers, because usually you work with the same composer with a same style of writing so it makes it easier; but in this show every song is different, so there are a lot of words, a lot of notes, a lot of harmonies, but we are really enjoying the challenge. It is great.
 WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO TAKE PART OF THIS SHOW? HOW DID IT COME ABOUT TO YOU?
I received an email from the producer Neil Marcus before Christmas asking if I was interest in doing this, and I absolutely jumped into the jam because I really really think it is so important to support our young new writers, and so I was very very happy to do this.
DO YOU USUALLY FOLLOW THE WORK OF NEW BRITISH COMPOSERS? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT?
Yes! When I can! Of course I know George and Anthony for 20 years… And Stuart Matthew Price, and lots of people who are actors… And also I know Michael Cantwell, and Niamh Perry and James Gillan very well, so the four of us having the opportunity to work together is just brilliant. And quite a lot of these composers I haven’t heard of… But it’s been a brilliant opportunity to get to know this new people.

WHAT WOULD YOU TELL TO PEOPLE TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO GO AND SEE THIS ‘A SONG CYCLE FOR SOHO’?
The first thing is that this is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy new material. And it’s not expensive, tickets are only £10-£15 for a whole evening of new material. I think also it is really important that they will not only have a brilliant time, but even more importantly they will be supporting the Mercury Musical Development project, and they need that support in order to keep continuing writing wonderful new music for people in the future. So it’s vital to have this support. And everybody will have a great time! That’s perfect!

LAST YEAR YOU TOOK PART OF THE NATIONAL THEATRE PRODUCTION OF ‘LONDON ROAD’, WHICH WAS A HUGE SUCCESS, AND IT’S COMING BACK THIS SEASON. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU BEING PART OF THIS PRODUCTION?
It’s a wonderful production and we had an amazing time at the National Theatre last season. It’s an ensemble work, and we have worked absolutely as a team, and the joy of having some recognition is just lovely. We are so lucky

YOU WERE INVOLVED IN THE CREATION OF TWO NEW BRAND SHOWS IN THE WEST END THAT HAVE TURNED INTO MASTERPIECES: ‘THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA’ AND ‘MISS SAIGON’. WHAT MEMORIES DO YOU KEEP OF THE REHEARSALS OF THESE SHOWS? COULD YOU IMAGINE THEN THAT THEY WOULD BECOME SUCH A SUCCESS?
Well, PHANTOM was incredible. As we were running the technical rehearsal just prior to the opening, everything that could possibly go wrong, just went wrong. I think that everybody wondered if the show would ever even open. Never mind it run for 25 years. It was a very special time for me because it was my first massive break. And also what I loved about that show is that I had a classical training, I trained as a soprano at the Royal Northern College of Music, so for me to be doing my two favourite things: Musical Theatre combined with an operatic vocal training was just heaven.
And regarding MISS SAIGON… There were lots of young children, many of whom came over from Philippines and haven’t done anything like that before, and being part of something so epic was just fantastic. I hope they bring MISS SAIGON back soon.

DO YOU THINK THAT PRODUCERS TOOK MORE RISKS YEARS AGO THAN THEY DO NOW?
That’s an interesting question. I wonder if perhaps they did. I mean times are hard all over the world, financially, so it is more difficult to take that risk unless you have some guaranty… Shows that maybe twenty years ago would have run and run and run, are finding many more difficulties to get audiences to come every single night and the shows are not running as they used to… Fifty years ago a two year run was seen as a massive success, but now if the show doesn’t run for 15 years people don’t consider it a success… So I think we should measure the success by the quality not for the length of the run really.
 
YOU ALSO WORK AS VOCAL COACH, HAVING ALSO WORKED IN THE BBC REALITY TV SHOWS. WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST OF THIS PROFESSIONAL FACET? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE TALENT OF YOUNG MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMERS?
Yes! I actually had worked with Niamh who I coached in the Nancy’s program, so it’s so lovely to be with her again! There are a lot of talents, a lot of really good people, and then everybody goes into the wild world looking for the same job, so it’s hard, but it’s always been hard. But if it is something you have always wanted to do, you must do it. Nowadays there’s no such a thing as a secure profession, so people must do what makes them being alive and I would encourage everybody to have a goal. I love coaching. I’ve had some great help myself when I was a young student and it’s lovely to have the chance to do that for other people.

COULD YOU COMMENT YOUR FUTURE PROJECTS? HAVE YOU GOT ANY DREAM ROLE?
Well, of course at the moment I’m looking forward to go back into LONDON ROAD. And what I’d like to do? I did play Sally in Stephen Sondheim’s FOLLIES at the Landor Theatre a few years ago and I guess if I could ever have the chance to be doing a grown up version back in the West End I’d love to do that. And in my dreams I would always have loved to play Violeta in ‘La Traviata’.