It has been five years since Wicked set up a second home here in the West End and from that very first performance, it quickly cemented itself as one of London’s must-see shows, making stars of many of its cast members. Today marks four weeks since its last cast change, which saw Gina Beck and Busted’s Matt Willis join the Wicked party – along with ensemble member, Chloe Hart.
A graduate of The Guildford School of Acting (GSA), Hart has been singing since the age of six when she would take over the karaoke mike at her parent’s Cornwall pub to belt out Celine Dion tracks. Her love of performing was given direction after watching Elaine Paige in the DVD of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats and realising that was what she wanted to do. She developed her natural talent at the Playrite Theatre School before attending GSA, graduating in 2008. It was during her time at GSA that she was invited to be part of the West End Chorus at the Royal Albert Hall for Chess In Concert, performing onstage with one of her self-confessed idols, Broadway star Idina Menzel. Speaking of that night in her recent interview with lastminutetheatretickets.com, Hart said “I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with Idina Menzel so I couldn’t believe my luck. I think I actually cried a bit! Everything about the experience was incredible.”
For a musical theatre student to perform with one of Broadway’s biggest stars is achievement enough, but landing a leading West End role as your first job out of school is an impressive feat of accomplishment. Hart was cast as Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre which, in 2009, she described as a scary prospect but added that, “at the same time it was a role that sits with me so well – she’s just like me but a few years ago.”
Hart played opposite Liam Tamne (Link Larkin), who is currently performing as Enjolras in Les Miserables; the show which was to become her second West End credit. She joined the ensemble in 2010 as Factory Girl and understudy to Madame Thenardier. It was during her stint there that I first came across Hart, at the Les Mis Gives…Again at the Delfont Room in May 2011, where she sang ‘Somebody To Love’. I was taken aback by the power in her voice and wrote in my personal blog at the time that I thought her to be an ‘underrated talent’, something which I’m pleased to say appears to be changing. Her talents have been sought after by a number of big names in the theatre world, including SimG Productions and American composer Scott Alan, who brought her in as a guest vocalist for Alan’s Divas Sing Scott Alan London concert, where she blew the roof off the Arts Theatre with her rendition of ‘Easy’. She also sung on one of the tracks for Chris Passey’s album and was involved in the A Night For Jennifer gala concert on 31st October 2011, performing alongside a stellar line-up of West End stars, such as Ross Hunter, Steven Oliver-Webb and Gina Beck.
Now she’s sharing a stage with Miss Beck once again at the Apollo Victoria in Wicked, in what is a dream job for her. In a 2009 interview, Hart told how she wore a Wicked hoodie to a Hairspray event and named it as one of the shows she’d always wanted to be a part of (along with We Will Rock You). A proud Wicked ‘geek’, she has seen the musical more than ten times and, when speaking to lastminutetheatretickets.com, said of it, “Anyone who knows me, knows that it is my favourite show of all time. The music and the orchestrations are just phenomenal. It never fails to move me.”
Being able to perform in London’s West End, singing onstage with Idina Menzel and being a Wicked cast member – at the age of just twenty-four, she has already realised a number of her dreams and I have no doubt that she will get the chance to live out a few more in the years still to come. A long, glittering career stretches out ahead of Chloe Hart, remember the name now and you’ll save yourself time later on. Have a read of our interview with Chloe Hart from a few weeks ago.
By Julie Robinson (@missjulie25)
You can follow Chloe on Twitter: @ChloeSJHart
