Turning a corner

DARLINGTON’S Matt Corner can be forgiven for wanting to sing Oh What A Night as he takes his first starring role as Frankie Valli in the tour of Jersey Boys to the Sunderland Empire (September 8 to 19).

He was the understudy for the role when the show visited Wearside last year and says: “I’m really excited about it and the major difference is me taking the full-time part now. I’ve moving from two shows a week to being tasked as the lead and that’s very exciting indeed.”

Corner is aware that he must look after his voice even more carefully now.

“It’s a big ask on the voice singing six times a week and every day it feels like I’ve got a marathon to run because it’s drinking a lot of water and a lot of early nights and not speaking at times. It’s just a dedication thing that you’ve got to employ because the audience have to see the same show every night they come along,” he says.

The performer sees this as his big break and says: “I’ve done some fab jobs seen graduating from drama school, getting on for three-and-a-half years ago and it’s not that long ago. This is the first lead part that I’ve been given so it’s a huge career boost for me and, hopefully, the first of many big challenges because I love a challenge. I want to enjoy it as well and sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe that this is my job and I go out and do this and absolutely love it. This is still all a bit crazy and I don’t ever want to lose that feeling and if you do you’re probably past it.”

Reaction from his family in Darlington, where he was raised and attended Carmel RC Technical College, has been “brilliant”. Corner says his friends and family have always been very supportive.

“I did shows at the school that Zoe Birkett went to and I was also at Stagecoach in Darlington, which she attended. We are both from a relatively small town, and it’s nice for the Stagecoach principal and my old school friends to see this because they helped us get there. I’m very proud to be from Darlington,” he says.

Corner is hoping to one day star in a show in his home town. “One theatre I’ve never played is the Civic at Darlington. I’ve done two tours now and I’ve never played the Civic, but I have been to Newcastle Theatre Royal and the Sunderland Empire. Then again, my family originates from South Shields and all my mother’s side have come along to see me,” he says.

While he’ll have to wait to play Frankie at Darlington, Corner reveals that he was lucky enough to meet the star himself in Glasgow.

“I met him at the Clyde Auditorium and was with him for half-an-hour and hear some real anecdotes about the man himself. Just to shake his hand was amazing because I’d been playing him for 11 months and was going to continue to do so,” says Corner, who had to be personally approved by Valli after hearing him sing on videotape.

“It’s Frankie and Bob Gaudio, who wrote all the music, and I also did a Skype session from a recording studio in Liverpool and sang all the material for Bob and he gives you an insight into things that you can’t find anywhere else. He wrote the songs and there’s no one you can got to better than the writer. That was incredible,” he says.

The advice that Corner got from Valli was to honour the lyrics because the songs are well-written and have heart. “He said all the songs means something and are not there for the sake of singing. Frankie says he knows the lyrics of every song he’s sung. He said you have to commit because they were just four guys from New Jersey and they’d seen a lot and done a lot. He alluded to the fact that he was a naughty boy when he was young and you’ll see that in the show. There is a mention of the Mafia and to Mafia families and I think music saved Frankie and the other boys from a life of organised crime. He said they were singing for their lives, for their souls and it was the thing that helped them and they were eternally grateful.

“He told me, ‘The day that you can step out on stage and you’re making the audience the most important thing because they are the ones that keep your careers going’. And that has really dawned on me lately.”

Corner’s favourite song from the show is Can’t Take My Eyes Off You because I think it’s a ballad that’s incredibly well written and says so much in one song.

“At the point of their career when they broke the song Frankie was just going solo at that point and I think his whole future rode on that song. He was uncertain whether he’d be liked as a solo artist because he’d always had the other three boys with him. Of course, he was always going to hit the stratosphere with Bob writing such good songs. At that point in the show, everyone songs along because they all know it and it’s lovely to hear the audience sing along,” he says.

Corner is aware he follows North-East singer Ryan Molloy – he launched the West End version of the show – into the role of Frankie.

“I don’t know what it is about people from the North-East playing this part. In fact, my alternate who is playing Frankie twice a week is also from up here. Michael Pickering is from Washington and he’s heading for home as well. Sunderland will be the second venue since the cast changed so both he and I will be coming home. It’s very exciting times for us,” says Corner.

He has a six-month contract and intends to live in the moment rather than plan any further ahead.

“I have a lot of ambition and drive and want to do TV, film and Shakespeare and all sorts but for now I want to concentrate on what I’m doing. I love this business because you don’t know what’s around the corner,” he says.

• Sunderland Empire Box Office: 0844-871-3022 or ATGtickets.com/Sunderland