Buckley For Broadway?

Forget the prestige, glitz and glamour of London's West End, just 18 months after losing out on I'd Do Anything, it looks like Jessie could making her way to the bright lights of New York's Broadway and it would seem that losing out on the role of Nancy could be the best thing that has ever happened to her.

It has been confirmed today, a month in to its West End run, that A Little Night Music will be playing on the Broadway stage by the end of this year, directed by Trevor Nunn and retaining the production team that have caused the Sondheim show to have been a sell out at the Menier Chocolate Factory and successful at the West End's Garrick. However, before you start booking your flights to JFK International Airport it has not been confirmed that Jessie will be moving with the production. Casting will be opened out to anyone who wants to try their luck.

Nevertheless, this is something we will keenly be keeping an eye on over the coming months and as ever, I will keep you updated on any news.

Do you think this would be a good thing for Jessie? Has not winning I'd Do Anything been a blessing in disguise? If you have any comments or opinions on this do let us all know by posting in the comment section.

Praise From A Fellow West End Actor

Paul Spicer, a West End actor, has given an interview with website Broadway World and speaking about how he has recently seen A Little Night Music, he had some good words to say about Jessie. Here is the small snippet;

"...casting someone like Jessie Buckley - she's absolutely perfect for her role - and good for them. I was surprised, I thought that as she'd come from a TV show, and they might not go with that, but they've got their finger on it. She looked like she'd been doing it for years."

It's great to see that Paul Spicer has no qualms with the TV casting phenomenon especially as many traditionalists and critics aren't exactly fans of this casting method. Afterall, if you can find truly talented actors and actresses from TV shows then surely it must be a good thing for theatre. I think Paul Spicer may have just become our favourite new person.

So Jest End

You may have heard of 'So Jest End', the hit musical comedy show lasting just 3 nights which parody's some of the hit West End musicals in aid of charity and this year featured none other than Rachel Tucker of We Will Rock You and I'd Do Anything.


Last night saw 'So Jest End's' star-studded Gala performance attended by one particular guest, our very own Jessie Buckley. Here she is enjoying herself at the New Players Theatre, Charing Cross.

The Big Interview: Jessie Buckley

This interview is courtesy of the Offical London Theatre Guide and is a really good read, so enjoy!

First published: 15 Apr 2009

It may have taken slightly longer than she had hoped, but I’d Do Anything’s Jessie Buckley has just made her West End debut. Matthew Amer found out exactly how excited she was.

When Jessie Buckley was thrust into the public eye, it was as an 18-year-old with no professional theatre work to her name, no post-school training and seemingly no fear. Week after week the young Irish performer auditioned for an audience including Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Barrowman and Denise van Outen, not to mention millions of television viewers, in the BBC’s search for a Nancy, I’d Do Anything.

Though her bubbly charm did not win enough of the voting public’s hearts, as she finished runner up to Jodie Prenger, it was not long before she made her professional debut in A Little Night Music, which recently transferred from the Menier Chocolate Factory to the West End’s Garrick theatre.

She plays young wife Anne in Sondheim’s charming, witty musical about confused love affairs and midsummer madness, which received much acclaim during its winter run at the Menier.

That she came to fame in a show entitled I’d Do Anything seems strangely appropriate, as Buckley has determination coursing through her. Not in a ‘trample all those who stand in my way’ fashion but in a way that sees her give everything of herself to chase a goal if she wants it enough.

She also has enthusiasm in bucket-loads. In fact, you would probably need larger receptacles entirely to hold Buckley’s enthusiasm – swimming pools maybe, or Loch Ness.

When we meet, she has just returned to the Menier Chocolate Factory after two weeks off, but there is not the merest hint of back-to-work blues about her. As we sit and chat about her experiences of the last 18 months, I get the feeling that if she didn’t speak, the excitement might just build up inside her until she exploded.

“I can’t imagine being any luckier than this being my first job,” she begins. “I don’t have training and I know I have things to learn and I’m excited about learning those things and I’m willing to go and make mistakes and learn. Literally, I’ve stood in the wings and I’ve watched [the rest of the cast]. They’re inspirational to me. I really look up to them with the highest respect because they’re so professional yet they’re so willing to help you.”

As first jobs go, she really couldn’t have done much better. The cast around her includes West End regulars Hannah Waddingham, Alexander Hanson and Kelly Price, and theatrical royalty in the shape of Maureen Lipman. The director hasn’t got a bad pedigree either, as Buckley points out: “I really wanted to learn and I wanted to learn from the best, and who better to learn from than Sir Trevor Nunn?” Who indeed?

“It’s very different from stepping on the stage in front of 7, 8 million viewers,” Buckley says of performing in the intimate Menier Chocolate Factory, which holds only 150 audience members. For a young actress in her first job, there really was no place to hide, the miniature nature of the venue allowing every eye to scrutinise her. The Garrick is a touch larger, holding nearly 800. It might give her more breathing space, but being her West End debut, the transfer has set her nerves a-jangling. “I won’t lie,” she smiles, “I’m absolutely terrified. I’m just going to try and relax and enjoy it and do my best. Sometimes I’m going to hit home runs and sometimes I’m not, but I’m going to strive to get those home runs every night. We’re doing it for a paying public and they deserve to see your best performance every night.”

"I wanted to learn from the best, and who better to learn from than Sir Trevor Nunn?"

It is hard not to enjoy Buckley’s company. She has the same warming effect as a log fire in the depth of winter; the world outside could be grinding to a frozen halt but her happiness would still be comfortingly infectious. There is a touch of the young puppy about her; boundless energy and a willingness, eagerness even, to be moulded and shaped to fulfil her potential.

But behind the more obvious attributes lies a confidence in herself and her ability, and a conviction to stick to her beliefs. After finishing second to Prenger in I’d Do Anything, she was actually offered a position in Oliver!, understudying her victor. It was a solid job offer and would have seen her make her professional debut in a safe ensemble position. She said no. “I think there comes a point,” she explains, “when you have to say ‘You know what, I didn’t win this, I didn’t win this for a reason and I need to go and do my own thing. I just want to go out and get a job because I’ve auditioned for it and I’m right for the part.’

“That’s what’s so good about doing something like Night Music,” she continues. “There was no connection with Cameron [Mackintosh] or Andrew [Lloyd Webber] or anybody on the panel. I went to this audition on my own terms and they could have equally said ‘No, you’re just not good enough for this.’ But I went through the rounds and I got it.”

She nearly didn’t. When she met Nunn, she “gave one of my worst auditions because I was just shaking from head to toe”. Tenacious and determined, she asked for a second chance and was lucky enough to get one. Maybe the TV exposure helped, maybe Nunn had seen her potential, maybe she was just brave enough to take the bull by the horns.

“I’m always looking for a challenge,” she explains. “I don’t like the easy option. I want to be able to take risks in my career and I want to make good choices and equally bad choices, because you don’t learn if everything is easy. I wanted to do something that I knew at the end of it I would have really grown as a performer and as a person, and this was the perfect opportunity.”

This was not the first time she has so philosophically approached the theatre industry. Her appearance on I’d Do Anything arose through twisted misfortune. Originally in England to audition for drama school, she heard she had failed to secure a place but still wanted to get more audition experience. The I’d Do Anything auditions turned up at exactly the right time and led to her becoming a Saturday night TV regular. “I was living my dream,” she beams with delight. “I was getting to sing in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh. To be honest, I didn’t even dream I would ever meet people like that.”

"I think there comes a point when you have to say ‘You know what, I didn’t win this for a reason and I need to go and do my own thing.'"

Meet them she did, and, some might argue, won their hearts more than the show’s eventual winner. Yet there is not a hint of bitterness about her loss. She talks of Prenger with genuine affection; why would she begrudge her anything when she too is now on a West End stage?

Buckley is also very down to earth about reservations put forward regarding reality TV casting and the effect that it has on performers who have trained and worked hard but never got their big break. “I understand why people might feel stand-offish about it,” she says, “because people have worked for ages and toured and never got their chance to be in the West End, but either way, this business is all about being in the right place at the right time and I was accidentally there at the right place and the right time, not expecting anything from it, but, you know, I was just really lucky and I worked hard during it.”

Luck may have played its part in thrusting Buckley into the limelight, but there was undoubtedly a great deal of quiet hard work put in behind the scenes. She is not the type of person to sit around when some effort could be expended. At school she played the piano, clarinet and harp to Grade 8 level and was also a talented swimmer, rising at 06:00 to train before school. Music may run in her family and she may have a natural talent, but if ever there was anyone who was going to put the work in to maximise her potential, it is Buckley. “I’m not a person who just likes sitting around,” she says, mastering understatement. “I need to be doing things and I need to be learning. I need to be growing as a person all the time and I’m not happy unless I do.”

This is why it will be so exciting to see her career progress. She has already proven that she doesn’t take the easy choices and isn’t afraid to take a chance. She has also had her eyes opened to the many different opportunities which lie ahead through a summer course at RADA, where she “just fell in love with Shakespeare and I fell in love with scripts and I love reading scripts and going to plays. It really just opened my eyes and I want to do everything. I want to do Chekhov and I want to do musicals and period dramas and films.” It could sound precocious or pushy or greedy, but in actual fact it is just the voice of an emerging talent who has an insatiable thirst for performance. She goes on to say of her next job: “I want to be choosy and I want another challenge, I want something that will be tough. I want to work with another great director and great cast. I want a long career and I don’t want a flimsy thing. I want to do this for the rest of my life and I’m going to work hard at it.”

It has already been a long journey for the girl whose description of a family playing harps, singing round the piano and living at the bottom of a mountain could only be more stereotypically Irish if she added that they were wearing green and had cousins who were leprechauns. She puts her success down to parents who gave her every opportunity they could. Undoubtedly this helped, but without her tenacity and self-belief she would not be making her West End debut in yet another musical to successfully transfer from the Menier Chocolate Factory. With the producing theatre’s history, no-one would blame any of the company for keeping one eye firmly on the 2009/10 theatre awards season.

That, I imagine, is far from Buckley’s mind. It would be one hell of a story to come from nowhere to starring in a Laurence Olivier Award-winning production in just two years. For now she is merely focusing on getting to grips with life as a professional actress. “Now I’m worrying about taxes,” she smiles, “whereas before I was worrying about who would change my sister’s nappy. It’s been scary at times, but I think, in a way, being thrown in at the deep end has been the best thing in the world for me, because you just swim, don’t you, you don’t let yourself drown.” If Buckley’s thirst, drive, enthusiasm and commitment has anything to do with it, before long she won’t simply be swimming, she will be breaking records.

Cast Interview [Video]

Watch this video interview with Trevor Nunn and most of the cast of A Little Night Music to hear their thoughts on the production at the press night after party. As if you didn't already need any more excuses to go and see it, even the cast do a pretty good job of persuading you as well!

Broadway World West End: 'A Little Night Music' Meets the Press!

Irish Newspaper Article: "What Jessie Buckley Did Next."

[Taken from the Country Life section of the Farmers Journal.]

One year after wowing Andrew Lloyd Webber on hit BBC 1 show I'd Do Anything, Kerry girl Jessie Buckley is London's leading lady. Maria Moynihan talks to Jessie about her West End stage debut.

Jessie Buckley might be a West End starlet, but on a recent trip home to Kerry, she was quite happy to stay out of the spotlight.

"I went to see my two sisters in Oliver Twist in the Killarney Musical Society, so I was in the front row cheering them on for a change," she laughs.

It's hard to believe that, just 12 months ago Jessie, was gracing the very same stage as the leading lady in the local production of Carousel. But after making the BBC talent show I'd Do Anything - and winning over Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber - the sparkling 19 year old from Killarney has just made her West End debut.
"I'm still pinching myself," she admits. "Little did I know this time last year that I'd be doing what I'm doing. It's a dream."

Musical Background

Music is in Jessie's blood. The eldest daughter of Tim Buckley and Marina Cassidy - a professional harpist and singer - she started playing piano when she was just four years old. She blossomed into a natural performer, whether on stage with Killarney Musical Society or in school productions at the Ursuline Convent in Thurles, where she credits her teacher Mary Butler as an inspirational mentor.
"I was lucky enough to realise I had a passion that needed to be fed from really early on," she explains. "It didn't matter what knockbacks I got, I was just going to do it."
Indeed, she was "gutted" last year to make the final round of auditions for the prestigious Guildford School of Acting in London, only to miss out on getting a place.
But true to form, she picked herself up and joined the queue of hopefuls auditioning for I'd Do Anything, a BBC talent show searching for an actress to play Nancy in a new West End production of Oliver! The rest is musical history.

I'd Do Anything

Jessie soon found herself singing live every night before an estimated audience of 8 million viewers and a judging panel chaired by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who compared her to a young Judy Garland.
With voting only open to UK residents, she made it to the final two on talent alone, and was named by Lloyd Webber, director Cameron Macintosh and actor Barry Humphries as their Nancy.
And while the public vote eventually swung in favour of Blackpool's Jodie Prenger, Jessie has no regrets.
"I've gone to see Jodie; she's just fantastic, and I know I didn't win that part for a reason," says Jessie. "When you get that far, you're going to be devastated, and you're going to say 'Oh, God, I'm crap' and you're going to cry your eyes out. But, in a way, I think it's been the best thing in the world for me not winning. In the long run, I couldn't have asked for a better result."

West End Star

Jessie certainly didn't crumble when the cameras stopped working. She signed to United Artists, did a RADA Shakespeare course, performed at Andrew Lloyd Webber's birthday concert in Hyde Park and, in one of her first auditions, landed a leading role in the London revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music.
Directed by Trevor Nunn (Cats, Les Miserables) and co-starring the acclaimed Maureen Lipman, Night Music is a complex and sophisticated affair that has won over reviewers and audiences alike. Jessie plays against type as Anne Egerman, a naive and spoilt bride, who discovers her much older husband is having an affair with an old flame. She is revelling in the role.
"To be honest, it is just a present to be given a score and a script like this, because it's just golden," she enthuses. "I'm lucky to be on my first job around really talented actors. I've just stood back and learnt so much from them. They've never been patronising, and they've always been willing to help me."
After an initial run in the Menier Chocolate Factory, A Little Night Music recently transferred to the Garrick Theatre on London's West End until 25 July, with the possibility of an extension until September.
Jessie, understandbly, can't quite believe her luck. "Everyone go out and buy these tickets, because we'd love to be in the job for another month or two," she laughs.

London Life

Jessie lives in South London with fellow I'd Do Anything finalist Niamh Perry, from Co. Down. Off-stage she keeps busy with classes and loves to wander around Notting Hill, visit the National Gallery or grab a coffee and read a script at the National Theatre along the Southbank. Despite her fame, she tries to live "as normal life as possible."
"I'm still a normal 19 year-old girl in London, and I have to worry about water bills and taxes and all that craic," she says. "I always like to learn more and keep growing as a person. London has so much to offer, and you're silly if you don't take advantage of it. Your life is short and you have to seize the moment."
Asked to name her dream role, Jessie is unable to pinpoint just one part. She wants to do Shakespeare and Chekhov, musicals, TV, even film. She would also like to lend her talent and time to an Irish charity. "Ireland has been very good to me, and I'd like to go back and do something for people at home," she says.
But whatever the future holds, one thing is for certain: in Jessie Buckley, a star has been born. "I thank my parents every day for supporting me and encouraging me, because without them I wouldn't be here," she says. "I'm very lucky."

London Theatre Article

The official London Theatre Guide published yesterday an article about the official West End opening of A Little Night Music and spoke to Jessie on her thoughts and feelings about making her West End debut. Here is what she had to say;

"Buckley, making her West End debut in A Little Night Music after coming to prominence as the runner-up on BBC reality show I’d Do Anything, struggled to find words to describe her first West End opening night. “I don’t really know what happened, it was just one of those overwhelming experiences, something I will never forget,” she said. “I feel very honoured to be sharing the stage with the actors that are up there. I bow down to them, I’ve learnt so much from them and they are the most extraordinary people and also to be given the chance to work with a world renowned director like Trevor Nunn. I can’t tell you how privileged I feel.”

The Irish actress said she asked to audition for the part of naïve young wife Anne after hearing that casting was underway. “I was immediately drawn to this. I read the script and I loved the play and I said I have to do this. So went to the audition, I did an awful first audition because I was so nervous, but then luckily they gave me a second chance and here I am today!”

Though I’d Do Anything winner Jodie Prenger beat her to the role of Nancy in Oliver!, Buckley commented: “I think in the long run it’s the best thing for me. Nancy’s a great part but equally I’m having just as much fun with Anne.”


To read the rest of the article follow the link - Lipman and Waddingham make Night Music at the Garrick.

Official London Theatre Guide have also done a 'First Night Feature' so click here if you want to see what they have to say.

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If you are still to book tickets you can call the Garrick's Box Office on 0844 579 19 74 or alternatively make the most Discount London's ticket and hotel package which can be found on the right.

First Night Photo's - What's On Stage

To read the small WOS article and flick through a slideshow of all of Dan Wooller's photograph's from last night, click here - 1st Night Photos

Press Night Review From The Guardian

A Little Night Music

Garrick, London

"One of the pleasures of A Weekend In The Country, the second most famous song in this Stephen Sondheim musical, is that of watching "little things grow". And, like a previous transfer from the Menier Chocolate Factory, La Cage Aux Folles, Trevor Nunn's delicious production of this mordant classic has effortlessly expanded to fill its new space.

Nunn treats Hugh Wheeler's book, drawn from an Ingmar Berman movie, as seriously as he does Sondheim's music and lyrics. In other words, the show is propelled by character as much as by song. Much of the plot revolves around the gradual coming together of the touring thesp, Desiree Armfeldt, and her quondam lover, Frederik, now hitched to an 18-year-old bride. The wonderously Junoesque Hannah Waddingham and the elegantly benign Alex Hanson from their first encounter suggest the laughing complicity of genuine partners. You believe totally in their relationship; and even the show's big number, Send In The Clowns, memorably delivered by Waddingham, here seems less a cry of despair than a brief detour in their inevitable reunion.

To emphasise the drama is not to downplay the wit of Sondheim's lyrics or the ravishing beauty of his score with its echoes of Ravel and Rosenkavalier. It is also a musical that combines midsummer magic and melancholy with a sense of impending death. You see this most clearly in Maureen Lipman's exquisite portrayal of Madame Armfeldt, who starts out as the epitome of patrician hauteur, with her cut-glass vowels and worldy wisdom, and ends as an old woman stoically accepting mortality. Under the show's celebration of sensuous delights, there is, all in good comedy, a silvery sadness perfectly epitomised by Kelly Price's rather overlooked performance as the masochistic wife of a faithless count. Sondheim once characterised the show as "whipped cream and knives"; and both are here ideally balanced, as is the sound through the simple device of having the band placed behind the singers. The result is an evening of refined enchantment."
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Photograph's from the Press Night After Party

More photographs can be found at Getty Images and from Wooller.

Feature On BBC London

Today on BBC London, a small feature about A Little Night Music and the success of the Menier Chocolate Factory on the eve of it's official West End press night was on the news programme.

Click on the link here and fast forward the media player to 21m 34secs to watch the feature which includes clips showing us around the Menier Chocolate Factory and the tiny shared dressing room the cast had to endure as well as rehearsals at the Garrick.

Thanks to Sophie for helping me get it on here!

A Great Ticket and Hotel Deal!

I've recently been told about a great deal offering the best available tickets to see A Little Night Music for Friday evening performances coupled with a two night stay in the 3 star Bloomsbury hotel in London!

Ideal for those of you who don't live in close proximity to London or just fancy treating yourself to a small theatre break, this is a deal that shouldn't be missed. Moreover, Discount-London.com, are offering it for a complete steal at £126 per person!

The dates on offer are: 

17th April 09

24th April 09
8th May 09
22nd May 09
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If you are interested follow the link to the website to get all the information: A Little Night Music with a Two Night Stay in a 3* London Hotel