'I'm living my dream'

11:13am Monday 18th February 2008

North-East contestant on Any Dream Will Do, Lewis Bradley, talks to Steve Pratt about his growing stage career

LIKE the Technicolor Dreamcoat he wears on the London West End stage, the Middlesbrough Josephs career is pretty amazing at the moment.

Lewis Bradley didnt win Any Dream Will Do, the BBCs talent show to play the lead in a revival of the musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, but hes still singing his way through the role in front of West End audiences.

The 18-year-old from the North-East is standing in for Lee Mead, who won the competition, on stage at the Adelphi Theatre.

It was absolutely amazing going through the whole TV show and not getting the part but then actually playing Joseph anyway. It was amazing, he says.

He found himself taking over earlier than expected. He was booked to play the part for two weeks in the New Year while Mead took a planned holiday. But the star fell ill, causing Bradley to make his Joseph debut ahead of schedule.

He tried not to think too much about the enormity of the situation. If I thought before I went on oh my gosh, this is the West End and what Ive wanted to do all my life, I think Id just crumble, he says. Its overwhelming, Im living my dream and not many people get to do that.

He and a dozen other hopefuls lived and sung the role of Joseph for three months in front of TV cameras, as they competed for the lead in the revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical.

Bradley came third but it wasnt the end of the Dreamcoat road. He and some of the others were invited to join fellow contestant Craig Chalmers, whos playing Joseph in the touring version, on a new album. The line-up also features Josephs Chris Barton, Chris Crosby and Anthony Hensen.

The songs on the album include two numbers from the show, Any Dream Will Do and Close Every Door, in addition to versions of pop classics such as My Girl, All I Have To Do Is Dream and This Is The Moment.

The Josephs marked the release of the album, Dream On, with a concert at the London Palladium last night.

The idea for the album came from producer Bill Kenwright, a judge on the TV show. He just rang and said were doing the album, do you want to be on it?, recalls Bradley. It was great to be part of something with all the other guys from Joseph.We all have such a great connection, we all went through the same experience on the TV show.

That was one of the great things about doing the Christmas TV special because we got to meet the Marias, who did the same thing for The Sound Of Music.

Bradley left his home town as a youngster to pursue his dream of being on stage and became a student at Italia Conte stage show. The BBC1 talent show gave him his break, although not winning left him with mixed feelings.

I gave a sigh of relief that it was over but was absolutely gutted I didnt get the part, so when I got the phone call to be seen for Joseph when Lee was on holiday, it was great, he says.

He misses it like crazy when hes not playing the role. When I was doing it, I was finding I was tired so much. I wasnt sleeping at night.

The show finished at 10.30, Id get home at 11.30 and couldnt sleep because I was on such a buzz and high. Then Id sleep all day.

Hes contracted to fill in for Mead indefinitely, with several takeover weeks already booked in. Hes going for auditions for other work C Im not really allowed to talk about them C but his Joseph contract limits what he can do.

But he does mention roles in West Side Story and Footloose that hed love to do.

Recording ITV1s The Alan Titchmarsh Show with the other Josephs this week made him unexpectedly nervous.

Im not sure why but it was done at BBC Television Centre, so maybe it was because it was the same surroundings as when we did Joseph, he says.

HE left Italia Conte when he entered the Joseph competition, feeling he needed to get out and learn on the job. After the contest, he toured in a stage show, Chicago And Beyond, which he calls a brilliant experience.

He certainly feels hes learnt from being part of Any Dream Will Do. A lot of auditions you have to go in with an open mind and not want it too much in the sense that youre totally destroyed if you dont, he explains.

You have to be strong about it, thats the one thing I learnt so much from the TV show. You dont ever think its going to happen to you, it always happens to other people C and when it was happening to me, it was a bit overwhelming.

That was the one thing I was pleased about when I didnt win, if theres anything to be pleased about not winning. I could take a step back and absorb everything thats happened.

His Joseph commitments mean he doesnt get back home as much as hed like because hes on call in case Mead has to miss a performance.

He sees himself as a very different Joseph to Mead. People were saying theyre going to compare you but thats only human. Now theyre say but youre so different. And its not just that hes got brown curly hair and I have straight blond hair, he says.

ö Dream On, Craig Chalmers and Friends debut album, is released on BK Records.

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