Sugababe in at the deep end in Birmingham

14 Feb 2014 09:05

Tonight's The Night for two young singers, as Roz Laws discovers.

Jade Ewen as Dee Dee in Tonight's The Night

In the Rod Stewart musical Tonight’s The Night, Jade Ewen has a solo to The First Cut Is The Deepest.
But it might be more fitting to sing The First Dive Is The Hardest (and most painful).
The pop star and Sugababe was one of the first contestants on ITV reality show Splash! – and reveals how terrified she was.
“I couldn’t even swim when I agreed to take part,” she admits.
“I only did it so I could learn to swim, but I had sleepless nights worrying about it.
“It was really painful, the impact of the water really hurt. I wouldn’t recommend anybody do it.
“I went off the five-metre board, which I never thought I would do.
I was so chuffed that I did a dive and didn’t drown.
“It took a lot to convince me to do Splash! and I wouldn’t like to do anything else that dangerous.
“I watched a bit of the Channel 4 winter sports show The Jump and thought that was cruel. They enjoy seeing celebrities wee themselves out of fear!
“I wouldn’t even go there. Maybe I’d do something less terrifying. I love cooking, so I could maybe do Great British Bake Off or MasterChef.
“And I think Strictly Come Dancing would be cool. I don’t like exercise, I don’t like going to the gym but dancing is fun.”
Tonight’s The Night tells the story of a shy young man, Stu, who is too tongue-tied to declare his love to the girl of his dreams. One night he strikes a deal with the Devil to trade his soul for Rod Stewart’s. The story, written by Ben Elton, is told through Rod’s songs, from Maggie May to Sailing via Baby Jane and Do Ya Think I’m Sexy.
“It’s full of great feelgood songs,” says Jade, 26, who shot to fame when she was chosen to represent the UK in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. She performed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s It’s My Time and came fifth.
“They were released before I was born so I didn’t think it was music I knew very well. But you hear stuff subconsciously and I surprised myself by actually knowing lots of the songs.
“I play Dee Dee, the best friend of Stu’s love interest Mary. I’m really anti-him, I’m not a fan.
“My favourite Rod Stewart song is This Old Heart of Mine but one of my solos is The First Cut Is The Deepest, which is pretty emotional. It starts off completely a capello then two guitars come in on the chorus.
Tonight’s The Night comes to Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre from February 24 and Jade is looking forward to returning to a city she knows well.
“I’ve been to Birmingham and the Midlands a lot because my mum is from Wolverhampton and my cousins still live in the area. Plus my best friend, Carlton Sheekey, is from Birmingham. He’s a musician and actor who I met in London when he played for me.
“My mum moved to London in her twenties and met my dad. She’s lost her accent but the rest of her family haven’t. We’d go back for Christmases and so on.”
Jade still spends her free time caring for her parents, as her father Trevor is completely blind and has a guide dog, and her mother Carol is partially sighted.
Jade became the sixth member of pop band Sugababes when she replaced Keisha Buchanan. She had two Top 10 singles with Heidi Range and Amelle Berrabah.
Their last record was released four years ago but Jade insists the Sugababes haven’t officially split.
“Nothing bad has happened, we’ve not split, but the reality is that we are not recording. Amelle left to pursue a solo career two years ago. Heidi and I stayed with the management but we can’t wait around forever.
“I am in touch with the girls, though, I last spoke to Heidi on her 30th birthday.”
But as that was last May, they are perhaps not the closest of friends.

Sinead Long who stars in Tonight's The Night

 
Jade’s castmate Sinead Long has battled back from injury to be playing her home city. She plays Bootie in the musical, as well as understudying both Mary and Dee Dee.
The Birmingham-born 23-year-old, who grew up in Halesowen, could not perform for four months after she had an operation on a torn ligament in her ankle.
Sinead, who started dancing at the age of two at her local Timmins Academy, won a scholarship at 18 to a musical theatre course at Arts Educational Schools in London.
She left two months early when she won the part of Serena in an 18-month tour of Legally Blonde.
But one night she fell awkwardly on her ankle. She took three weeks off but insisted on returning to finish her contract, putting off having surgery until the end of the tour.
“It was very painful at first, but I had constant checks with the physiotherapist and swapped my heels for flats,” says Sinead, a former pupil of Hagley High School and King Edward VI College in Stourbridge.
“After the operation I was out of action for four months and it took a year to retrain myself.
“It was frustrating, but I told myself I would get back on stage.”
Then she won the job on Tonight’s The Night, where her big number, ironically, is Hot Legs.
* Tonight’s The Night plays at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre from February 24- March 1. For tickets ring 0844 871 3011 or go to www.atgtickets.com/birmingham.