by Priscilla

Apr.21, 2011, under Cast Blog

A swing will cover any illness and holiday, and all female swings will cover two Divas. I cover Diva 1 and Diva 2. The hard part of being a swing is learning the different tracks, which are the different roles that each character has on stage. We have a swing bible, which is like a cheat sheet. It’s a book that tells you where you stand for each role, which can be really helpful when you have six different tracks running around your head. Often it is the same choreography, but on different sides of the stage, so you have to remember to use different arms.

I’ve had a couple of incidents where I’ve ran to one position on stage for a track which I thought I was on for, only to find Selina, who plays Marion, is already stood in that position, because I’m not on for Marion that day. So I’ve had to run to the other side of the stage! I would say my favourite role is Diva 1. I love the flying and in that role you get to open the show and fly in the middle of the other two fantastic girls.

Lucy Newton

My first role on the West End was here at the Palace Theatre, when I was in Les Miserables. I was cover for Eponine and it’s great to return to the same theatre for Priscilla. My last role was in Wicked as a swing and first cover for Glinda, which was great as I already had flying practice before Priscilla.

I went to theatre school like a lot of people in this profession. It’s a great way to learn how to work in the industry and learn how you should behave. I think that it is a good basis to start from if you want a career performing in the West End. Apply for a few theatre schools and find the right one for you. At the end of the course, performers have a showcase where agents come along to watch and hopefully sign you up. These days with social networking sites like, Facebook and Twitter it is much easier to promote yourself if you haven’t got an agent or haven’t been to theatre school. I’m on twitter if you want to follow me @misslucynewton for lots of fun tweets.

I saw Priscilla when it first came to town and, watching the Divas fly I thought, I’d love to do that. I auditioned for it and it was quite a rigorous process. When you’ve been in this industry for quite a few years you tend to think that you are not going to get the job, but as I went on and on through the process going through the rounds I absolutely had to have this job. I came to see the show a couple more times and I fell in love with it. I love the people that work here. It is such a wonderful company.

I think my favourite story from the show, is that on one night one of the cast was supposed to say the line “it’s better than being poked in the eye with a blunt stick!” But they said,“it’s better than being poked in the stick with a blunt eye!” That made us all laugh afterwards.

The appeal of Priscilla is it is party time. It’s feelgood from start to finish, an absolute spectacle. It’s still amazing to me even after four weeks of being in the show. If you haven’t seen it yet, come and join us for a fabulous matinee or evening of fun and entertainment.