Viv Hardwick discovers how probation officer Andy Reiss went into showbiz thanks to Les Miserables.

ANDY Reiss is the exception to the rule after forging a career as a performer and director with Les Miserables without any formal theatre training. He is currently spending most of his time either directing and starring in major touring shows or maintaining the success of Beyond The Barricade, the musical production he launched from scratch.

BTB tours to the Sunderland Empire (January 23), Darlington Civic Theatre (Jan 26) and Durham’s Gala Theatre (February 17) this season and Reiss, as singer, musical director and producer somehow also finds time to run workshops and masterclasses as well.

So how did all this start? “It’s quite commonplace now that shows come out of the West End and tour, but back in the early Nineties it was the first time that a show of that scale had gone to Manchester and been a resident show their as well as playing in the West End.

“I’d always sung in the am-dram circles around Staffordshire but I worked for ten years in the probation service in Burton-on-Trent and really enjoyed the job. Somebody said they were going for an audition for Les Miserables, so I logged the details in my brain and turned up in Manchester, not thinking anything would come of it. Then, six months later, after five more auditions, I got offered a job which turned my world upside down. I hadn’t got a clue what I was doing. I’ve never expected people to give me a job and it’s also a fair amount of luck,” says Reiss about his big break.

Far from going along for the ride, he expressed an interest in how the show nicknamed Les Mis had been created on stage, having been taught by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, and was soon assistant director at Manchester’s Palace Theatre before taking the job of resident director two years later.

“The deal I made with Cameron Mackintosh Productions is that I could still act and sing on stage but would take two days out each week to keep an eye on the show,” he says.

Reiss featured as the Paris Pimp in the tenth anniversary celebration of Les Mis at the Royal Albert Hall and was part of the recent massive 25th anniversary celebration in the O2 Arena, which was seen on TV over Christmas.

“You might not have spotted me because I was directing a Lion King masterclass that weekend, but James Powell who was directing wanted me to be involved. So I was invited along to the evening performance and I had a seat on the end of the choir.

If you look carefully on the DVD I’m on the end, but they also cut in some footage from the matinee so depending on which shot you watch, I suddenly appear. But I didn’t miss out on my little sing,” he jokes.

David Fawcett, who played Jean Valjean in Manchester, and Katie Leeming, who has sung the role of Eponine, joined Reiss at the O2 celebration and all three perform in Beyond The Barricade.

“BTB came out of nothing. I used to run a charity fund-raising group and then David Fawcett asked me to put on a charity show in Tonbridge Wells. I couldn’t get the 30 people I was using all that way so we put together a smaller version. David and I met at the West End version of Les Mis and we decided to do some Sunday shows and even when I left to do Evita and Chess, we kept doing the shows. We then started running it as a proper UK tour and I was scooting backwards and forwards to theatres all over the country.

“It’s a very simple equation because our audience wants the big ballads from the musicals reproduced them as you’d hear in the West End. Trying to orchestrate that with four singers and three or four musicians is taxing, but a brilliant challenge, without click tracks or backing tracks. We’re just developing this audio-visual side because everyone is doing it and we’re going to enhance the show with back projection a bit more over the next year,” says Reiss, who reveals that Sarah Ryan has come in over the past few days to replace regular singer Becci Morrell.

Isn’t there a lot of pressure on his shoulders when he’s singing lead roles while also acting as a show’s musical director?

“When everything is going well, it’s absolutely fine because the team of musicians around me is superb. Because it’s something I’ve grown with and developed my own style it’s hard work, but something I enjoy. To be honest, I always thought I’d be back in Burton-on-Trent in my old job after six months,” he laughs.

■ Jan 23, Sunderland Empire, 08448-472-499: Jan 26 Darlington Civic, 01325-486-555; Feb 17, Durham Gala, 0191-332-4041