Theatre Column
Pacific heights
She missed out on Maria by a whisker, but Helena
Blackman is enjoying a star role in South Pacific
HELENA Blackman dubbed
herself Miracle Maria'
thanks to her long pursuit
of BBC1's chance to star in
The Sound Of Music in the
West End, which ended with a runnerup
spot. The Guildford School of Acting
trained performer picked herself up and
landed the starring role of Nellie
Forbush in a regional tour of South
Pacific.
Meanwhile, the How Do You Solve A
Problem Like Maria? winner, Connie
Fisher, has suffered illness problems
and completed a troubled 18 months in
February by cancelling 18 concerts,
including a visit to Newcastle's City
Hall on June 2.
Helena, who was struggling with a
bug when we chatted, was fairly
pragmatic about the rigours of eight
shows a week life as she prepared to
play Darlington Civic Theatre for a
week from May 12.
"I'm better off," she says about
Connie's tough test on stage, "thank
goodness it wasn't me. I think you make
the best of the situation you're in and
it's unfortunate for her. You've got to be
able to deal with all that and, if it was
me, it would be a completely different
situation again. I'm much happier doing
what I'm doing now and I think I'm
reasonably bright and savvy and down
to earth. It would take a lot for anything
serious to go wrong, but I know when to
keep my head down and get on with the
job.
"It must be very different when you're
in the spotlight and you want your
space and you can't have it. I hope I
would have managed eight shows a
week as Maria."
Helena warms to my suggestion of
her runner-up performance earning the
understudy role in The Sound Of Music
and comments: "If they were going to
offer me the understudy, brilliant four
shows a week is fabulous for me. I'd
have been happy to be the alternate.
The difference between professionals
and amateurs is the way you deal with
your voice when you're sick. You get
better quicker if you're a professional.
I'd still rather take a week off and
disappoint 5,000 people than ruin my
career."
Regarding the latest Andrew Lloyd
Webber hunt on BBC1 for Nancy in
Oliver! she feels the format has got
more of a formula now than when ten
Marias battled for one role.
"It's not ideal to select people this
way, but I do believe in talent shows. I
believe we should make stars out of our
musical performers. I don't mind them
looking for a Nancy because I'll never
be a Nancy. I'd be very concerned if they
tried to find Eliza Doolittle. I'd be gutted
because I can't audition for that again
in this way."
ON her role in South Pacific she
says: "I went to see the film when
I was about ten and decided not
to watch it again. I knew Mary Martin
had played the role on Broadway and
Mitzi Gaynor was in the film and I'm
much younger so you can't really draw
that many comparisons.
"I think, in this production, they've
gone for the comedy element much
more so that's been really fun to do,"
says Helena, who had a vocal coach to
Weekendradio
ensure that her US accent was up to
scratch. "I wasn't tempted to stay in
character at all because Nellie is higherpitched
than me so that was too
dangerous vocally," she explains about
an accent belonging to ex-US president
Bill Clinton's home state of Arkansas.
She feels that her portrayal of the
character has changed during the tour,
which finishes in July, and adds: "It's
such a big part that there's always that
chance to experiment and thankfully
I've been allowed to do that."
This is her first experience of working
with Dave Willetts, who plays her older
man' love interest, Emile de Becque, in
the wartime scenario of Rodgers &
Hammerstein's musical, and she jokes
about her co-star being "young at heart,
even though there is about 30 years
between us. He likes talking to all the
young ones and, hopefully, that's what
comes across to the audience.
"This is a very different journey to
any roles I've attempted before and a
very big acting role compared to a lot of
theatre today."
Helena's main challenge is the
"singalong" element of the well-known
hits from the show.
"Sometimes the audience start
joining in, which can be a bit worrying
because my version on stage may differ
slightly as I'm trying to make those
words come alive," she says.
And next? "I feel like a break from
singing and to do a play, something very
straight or do some television. Nellie is
such an amazing role that going back to
sing a couple of lines isn't going to do."
9:16am Saturday 3rd May 2008
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