Gina Beck is currently preparing to star in Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Charing Cross Theatre. The show opens on Saturday 18th October (previews from 16th October) and runs until Saturday 22nd November 2014. Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is a musical revue of the greatest works by one of the most prolific Belgian singer-songwriters of all time.
Gina recently starred as Glinda in the first US national tour of Wicked, after playing the role for two years in the West End production (Apollo Victoria). No stranger to playing iconic roles, the actress has also played Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty's) and Cosette in Les Misérables (Queens). She was a soloist in the 25th Anniversary of Les Misérables at the O2 Arena and appeared in the Les Misérables film directed by Tom Hooper.
Her off-West End and international theatre credits include: Letitia Hardy in The Belle's Stratagem (Southwark Playhouse), Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music (Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur) and Kate Hardcastle in The Kissing Dance (Jermyn Street).
On screen Gina has made appearances in Doctors, The Return of Sherlock Holmes and The Crust and has performed on The Alan Titchmarsh Show, The Royal Variety Performance and The Classical Brit Awards (ITV).
During a break from rehearsals at the Charing Cross Theatre, I recently spoke to Gina about her latest stage project, making her US stage debut in Wicked, what she missed most about being away from London and falling in love with musical theatre after listening to Miss Saigon as a child…
How much did you previously know about Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris?
Nothing! I hadn’t even heard about it! As I found out later, it was obviously quite famous off-Broadway. I think they did a production in 2006 which was really well received and that’s the version we’re doing now. It’s got new orchestrations and they put in ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ which wasn’t in the original version. It’s his most famous song so I think that’s made a good change because people come expecting to hear that. I think the guys who own the Charing Cross Theatre have always been desperate to do it and eventually they got the rights for this 2006 production. I think the rights were quite hard to get hold of, they didn’t want to do it if they had to do the 70s version.
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