Part 2: THEATRE AT SEA cruise on Cunard’s Queen Mary II - West End guest stars
Photo credit: Nick Wayne
Each day, we could join a charming insightful interview by Julian with each of the West End stars. It reminded you that reaching their level was a combination of talent, determination and luck in what is a precarious career choice but with all three, you can create a long successful career.
Linzi Hateley
First up was Linzi who trained at Italia Conti. In 1985, she played Éponine in the West End production of Les Misérables and has subsequently played Madame Thenardier as a part of the recent Arena Concert World Tour. At age of 17, she starred in the RSC musical Carrie which broke box office records in UK but was a huge flop on Broadway after only sixteen previews and five performances. At the age of 21 in 1992, she became one of the youngest Olivier nominees for Best Actress in a Musical for the revival production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as The Narrator alongside Jason Donavan. She has gone on to play Nancy in Oliver!, Roxie Hart in Chicago, and Winifred Banks in the original London production of Mary Poppins. She played Donna in Mamma Mia! at the Prince of Wales Theatre from 2007–2009 and 2010. She reprised this role from on 13 June 2016 at the Novello Theatre. Her daughter Meg previously played Sophie in the show, and is now performing in the West End revival of Avenue Q.
In 2018, she played Mrs Johnsone in the UK tour of Blood Brothers and in 2021, she returned as Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium, followed by a UK tour of the show in 2022.
Her most recent West End appearance was as Henry Frazer’s mum in The Little Big Things at @sohoplace about a young man with a spinal injury and on board, she sang the hugely emotional and powerful song ‘One to Seventeen’ from the show.
Blood Brothers won the Best Musical Olivier in 1983, Les Miserables was beaten by Me and My Girl in 1985, and Mamma Mia! was beaten by Honk! In 2000, Mary Poppins was beaten by The Producers in 2005, and The Little Big Things was beaten by Operation Mincemeat in 2024. But the shows she has been in have gathered a lot of nominations over the years.
Shanay Holmes
Shanay is a shining example how talent can overcome humble beginnings as she explained. Growing up with a single mum in High Wycombe, she could not afford to take up the Arts Ed offer and failed to get the part of Nala in The Lion King (a 2000 Olivier nominee). Her breaks came with a role in Thriller Live in 2009, an understudy role in The Bodyguard (a 2013 nominee) in 2014, and Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2016, before securing the role of Joanna in the 2016 revival of Rent (a 1999 nominee), a dream role as she had been inspired by the film and seeing “someone who looked and sounded like me” on the film. When the Bob Marley musical Get Up, Stand Up! started after a Covid delay, she played Cindy Breakspeare (a 2022 nominee) before playing Ellen (the first woman of colour to play the role) in the Sheffield Crucible production of Miss Saigon (a 1989 nominee). However, she finally got the recognition for her fine voice and acting as Nancy in the outstanding revival of Oliver! at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2024, for which she won Best Female Lead Actor in a Musical at the Black British Theatre Awards, and continued in the role until November 2025 when Oliver! transferred to London's Gielgud Theatre.
We also learned that she is one of the founders, with her husband, of London’s Musical Con, now in its fifth year. Together, they made a charming and friendly couple while making an immense contribution to the Cruise programme. You can see Shanay in concert at Cadogan Hall on 11 July.
Norman Bowman
Norman, or Bowsie as his partner Frances Ruffelle calls him, has an extensive list of productions that he has been in after a troubled start to life in Arbroath, Scotland where he was arrested and fined for shoplifting, and recalls seeing the Black and White Minstrel show as a child. He highlighted Marius in Les Misérables (West End and UK Tour) where he worked with Lea Salonga and Frances Ruffelle, Sam Carmichael in Mamma Mia!, Munkustrap in Cats (UK Tour), Danny Zuko in Grease (UK Tour), and Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls alongside Patrick Swayze's Nathan Detroit (Donmar West End/Piccadilly Theatre). We saw him as Harry the Horse to Ewan McGregor's Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls and vividly remember the brilliant capture for screens of Macbeth, directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford, in which he played Ross at Manchester International Festival. He played Nym/Williams in Henry V, directed by Michael Grandage at Noel Coward Theatre, alongside Jude Law and Curio & understudy Feste in Twelfth Night alongside Sir Derek Jacobi's Malvolio, also directed by Michael Grandage, at the Wyndhams Theatre.
He recalled how strange the job was being a romantic lead and kissing the leading lady eight shows a week, but it was not until Covid that he reconnected with Ruffelle, and they became partners on and off stage. See part 3 for details of their show together, The Scot and the Showgirl (arriving tomorrow). His most recent appearance was in Brigadoon at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
He played Tony in West Side Story (UK Tour) and sang ‘Something’s Coming’ for us before following up with another party piece of ‘Deliah’. His charismatic chat made him a firm favourite with everybody on board!
Liz Robertson
Liz absolutely charmed us and showed at 72, she can still dominate a stage with her wonderful voice and delivery. She took us back to her beginnings as a scantily clad cabaret girl at the Savoy and then part of the Young Generation dance ensemble on TV before breaking into West End in A Little Light Music at the age of 20, before understudying in Side by Side by Sondheim (which we saw in 1976 and was a SWET nominee) before first playing in My Fair Lady at age of 22 in Liverpool. Then, in 1979, Alan Jay Lerner re-directed the show for London for which she earned an Olivier nomination and a proposal to be his eighth wife! They married in 1981, though he was 36 years her senior. However, when they opened Dance a Little Closer in 1983 on Broadway, after three weeks of previews it closed after the opening night earning the nickname “Close a little faster”.
She recounted working with Rudolph Nureyev on the US tour of The King and I and how Nureyev hated rehearsals, often arriving late for the performances, and appearing in Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom of the Opera, which earned the epitaph “Paint never dries.” She has more recently played Velma Von Tussle in Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre, and Miss Smythe/Miss Andrew in the second London revival of Mary Poppins (2005 Nominee) at the Prince Edward Theatre.
The highlight of her chat with Julian Bird was a brilliant medley from The Sound of Music, which she toured UK with Christopher Cazenove, and included ‘The Hills are Alive’, ‘Lonely Goatherd’, ‘Sixteen Going On Seventeen’, ‘My Favourite Things’, ‘I Have Confidence’, and ‘Do Re Mi’ in a delightful mash-up.
Hugh Maynard
Hugh moved everyone in the theatre with stories of his troubled upbringing until he found fame in Jesus Christ Superstar and Sweeney Todd. Brought up initially in a Birmingham care home until he was fostered to a family in Torbay, he dropped out of Naval college due to racial abuse and had to learn to control a lisp. His song ‘Where is Love’ from Oliver!, which he sang at the care home and performed for us, was beautiful and poignant, and when he performed ‘Bui Doi’ from Miss Saigon, it seemed heartfelt and appropriate, and apparently led Cameron Mackintosh to instantly offer him the part. He may have been taking a break from live performance over last five years, but he can still deliver a song with power and soul, and we look forward to seeing what he does next.
Frances Ruffelle
We felt like we’d already gotten to know Frances from hearing Bowsie talk about how they had rekindled their relationship but when she finally sat down with Julian to chat on the last day, we discovered she came from a theatrical family as her mother was the drama school Queen, Sylvia Young, and she first performed at age of 3!
She was the Narrator at just 17 in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the national tour for Bill Kenwright, but got fired after five weeks, and she then played Dinah at the age of 18 in Starlight Express (a 1984 nominee), directed by Trevor Nunn.
In 1985, she originated the role of Eponine at the Barbican in Les Misérables for the Royal Shakespeare Company and on Broadway, winning a Tony Award in 1987, and recounted how John Caird was not convinced by the casting although she subsequently married him in 1990! Apparently after poor opening reviews, her singing on Terry Wogan’s TV show had them queuing for tickets to see the show!
In 1994, she sang ‘Lonely Symphony’ for Britain’s Eurovision entry, finishing in 10th place. In 2013, she sang Piaf for Leicester’s Curve Theatre and sang for us “Je Ne Regrette Rein” .
Nowadays, she want to be a writer/director rather than leading lady and in July this year, she will open her new musical play I Can Die Too at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, created with Alan Cumming and Sally George. It’s a tragi-comedy about an actress struggling to rehearse a show. She sang the title song, and we may have to wait to see if it transfers before catching the production.
For more info on Cunard’s ‘Theatre at Sea’ cruise, please click here.