Following a successful off-Broadway run, Jim Dale is bringing his one man show Just Jim Dale to the West End next month.
The production will open at the Vaudeville Theatre (where Jim made his West End musical debut in 1965 in The Wayward Way) on 28th May (previews from 26th May) for a limited season until 20th June 2015.
The Tony Award winner, two-time Grammy Award winner and two-time Academy Award nominee is best known in the UK for starring in eleven Carry On films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series and starring in the ABC series Pushing Daisies.
From starting out as the youngest professional comedian on the British Music Hall stage, Jim’s career has been remarkably varied; he is a singer, dancer, comedian, Shakespearean actor, musical theatre star and raconteur. In Just Jim Dale, Jim takes audiences on a journey through an unequalled career in the theatre with a myriad of irresistible showbiz tales, songs and performances.
In 1970 Sir Laurence Olivier invited Jim to join the National Theatre as a leading actor. As well as originating the title role in Barnum opposite Glenn Close, Jim’s Broadway credits include Scapino, Joe Egg, Me And My Girl, Candide and The Threepenny Opera. He also played Fagin in Oliver at the London Palladium in 1995.
I recently sat down with Jim to discuss how he knew the time was right to write Just Jim Dale and why he thinks the show will surprise people. We also talked about his incredible career, how he created Barnum's big entrance and why he doesn't have an agent... plus Miss Saigon's Richard Maltby Jr (director of Just Jim Dale) popped in for a chat...
Is a one man show something you had been thinking about doing for a while? I read somewhere that you first had the idea in 1973!
That’s true! I’ll tell you what, in 1973 I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve been doing this since 1955 so that’s twenty years of experience I could put into a one man show.’ But now I realise I wouldn’t have had much to put in it! I think it would have been nice to do this maybe ten years ago, I was probably more agile and could have done it for much longer… once I get that ramp leading up to the stage for a wheelchair in ten years we’ll do it [laughs]. Anyway, the fact is after all these years there are obviously so many more memories and so many more things that have happened. In 1975 I was not who I am now; I thought I knew it all – that’s what we all think in the early days, but then you realise that you’re still learning.
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