Big Interview: Billy Cullum

Billy Cullum is starring as Mark Cohen in the 20th anniversary production of Rent.

Jonathan Larson’s musical will launch a UK tour on 21st October at Theatr Clwyd. The tour includes a Christmas season at the St James Theatre where the show has broken box office records.

Billy recently received huge acclaim for understudying the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. For his performance as Jesus, Billy was nominated for West End Frame's 2016 Understudy of the Year Award.

His credits also include: Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Matilda (Cambridge Theatre), Merrily We Roll Along (Theatre Clwyd), Spring Awakening (UK tour), Godspell (Union Theatre), Hair (Ljubljana Festival), Ten Plagues (Royal Court) and Pieces Of String (Waterloo East Theatre). Billy is also a singer/songwriter and is currently working on his debut album.

I recently sat down with Billy during a break from rehearsals to discuss why Mark is a dream role, his whirlwind experience in Jesus Christ Superstar and his desert island musical theatre songs…

Rent means a lot to so many people, is it a show you’ve always wanted to do?

Yes, and Mark is actually the part I’ve always wanted to play. I think the film came out when I was in secondary school and I remember talking about it with a couple of my friends. The first musical I ever saw was Cats and I loved it, but Rent and Little Shop Of Horrors were the two shows that really got me into musical theatre. I watched the film and said “I really want to play Mark”. I was more into pop music and rock rather than musical theatre, so I guess that’s where my love for the show came from because it’s a different style. Rent made me realise that musical theatre can be cool… although I definitely wasn’t cool [laughs].