Brenda Edwards is currently starring as Motormouth Maybelle in the new UK tour of Hairspray.
Also starring Tony Maudsley, Freya Sutton, Claire Sweeney and Peter Duncan, the show opens at the Leicester Curve tonight (9th September) before visiting 25 venues across the UK including a Christmas residency at the Birmingham Alexandra Theatre.
Brenda famously finished fourth on the second series of The X Factor. She went on to make her West End debut as Mama Morton in Chicago, later reprising her performance for the 10th anniversary gala.
Brenda is well known for playing Killer Queen for five years in Ben Elton and Queen’s musical We Will Rock You. She first played the character in We Will Rock You’s first UK tour in 2009. The following year she transferred to the West End production at the Dominion Theatre where she played Killer Queen until the show closed in 2014.
Her theatre credits also include playing Pearl Pastor in Carmen Jones at the Royal Festival Hall and Diane Steed in The Human Comedy at the Young Vic. Ben Elton also cast Brenda as Mrs Johnson in his BBC1 sitcom The Wright Way, marking her TV acting debut.
I recently spoke to Brenda about why playing Motormouth is a new challenge, how she feels about taking on one of the musical’s biggest songs and whether she would want to step back into Killer Queen’s shoes if We Will Rock You were to return…
Motormouth is such an incredible role! Have you always had your eye on it?
Yes, I actually had my eye on it when it was in the West End. I went to the final audition and was told I was too young! As soon as it first went in to the West End I wanted to play that part. I had my audition with David Grindrod (West End casting director), but I think it was good because it would have been my first role out of Chicago. I was kind of new to the West End scene so there was a lot of learning that I needed to do – but I think I’m ready for it now. Being a mother myself, I can totally relate to the character. I have two very strong minded independent children!
