Harry Hill talks about bringing Tony Blair musical to big stage

Harry Hill has accomplished much in nearly 30 years, spending a decade on ITV with his series Harry Hill's TV Burp, being the voice of You've Been Framed, writing a series of best selling joke books and winning British Comedy Awards and Baftas galore.

In recent years, he has begun to tackle the big stage, creating the X-Factor musical I Can't Sing! with his partner Steve Brown and, since July last year, he has been touring a production of TONY! The Tony Blair Rock Opera, a musical comedy based on the life of the former Prime Minister.

The production was something he said had begun as an idea around a 70s bubblegum pop jukebox musical, but had taken on a new form as he started to develop ideas.

He said: "I had some ideas a few years ago and, originally, I thought it would be like a bubblegum pop musical, sort of playing the kind of 70s silly pop music, but doing it over a serious story, but when I put it together, I realised that those songs, one after the other, would make your ears bleed.

"So, over the course of two years, I wore down Steve and he began writing some songs and the whole thing sort of took off from there, with us getting together and saying 'How about a song about New Labour' in the style of the New Seekers or Osama Bin Laden saying how much he hates the west.

"He worked on it and started writing songs and it's become a rock opera, more of a musical, but the band are on stage and it's live, with a drummer, keyboards and electric guitar, so my template for it was two parts, following the Rocky Horror Picture Show and What a Lovely War."

The musical is currently playing in the Leicester Square Theatre in London and begins a national tour at the end of May in Guildford, before heading to the Birmingham Rep Theatre from June 7 to 10.

It describes itself as "A reckless reappraisal of the life of former Ugly Rumours front man and Britain’s first pop Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"The story of how one man went from peace-loving, long-haired hippy and would-be pop star to warmongering multimillionaire in just a couple of decades.

"Throw in a stellar cast of larger-than-life characters – Cherie Blair, Princess Diana, John Prescott, Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, Osama bin Laden, George W Bush, Saddam Hussein and Gordon Brown – it’s Yes, Minister meets The Rocky Horror Show! and a musical like no other."

Harry said his own interest in rock operas and musicals had come from seeing his friend at school appearing in "What a Lovely War" and his own experience of seeing Rocky Horror Show in the West End in the 1980s, which he described as quite daring for the time.

He said the idea of the Tony Blair rock opera was to entertain people, while also saying that it was unusual for him to do a satire.

He said: "The intention is to entertain and we're not out to shock, plus it's an odd mix, me doing a satire, and it's not necessarily what you think it is as we have gone for big laughs, particularly in the first half, but also moments where you have to treat the line very carefully as we never intend to offend anyone.

"Some people might get offended, but there's something exciting about thinking 'How are they going to deal with this?', such as the war in Iraq, and we didn't get it right initially, trying out stuff like a stand-up would and being ruthless about it.

"There's a bit of slapstick in it and the characters are really big, with the likes of David Blunkett, Robin Cook, Gordon Brown and Tony and Cherie, characters you can really get your teeth into and who people really love now.

"If we'd done this show 10 years ago, it might not have landed so well, plus you have a cast of almost pantomime villains like Saddam Hussain and Osama Bin Laden and George Bush, who were sold to us as cartoon baddies."

Harry said the show wasn't about political persuasions or one colour or another, but was about asking the question of whether people ever get the leaders they deserve, saying he wasn't mad about Tony Blair when he was elected in 1997, but has mellowed towards him since.

He said: "He seemed too good to be true in a way, but at the time, I was out doing gigs or mucking about, and I was never particularly interested in politics.

"As I've got a bit older, I've started to think, particularly over the last few years, that there's got to be something better than this, so you think back to then and you think 'Were they all that bad?'

"He's never been to see the show, although we do put two tickets on the door for him, no freebies of course as he has to pay, but we always put two aside in case."

Harry said the musical was just the latest part of a long career that he said he thanked his lucky stars for and was worth taking the risk of giving up medicine for.

He said: "It was a big thing at the time for me to give up medicine and I can't believe I ever actually did that as I'm not really a risk taker, so I think I've been really lucky.

"I'm especially proud of the musical, particularly as I'm not in it as I've never done anything really where I didn't have to be in it as people tell me to do so in order to sell tickets, so it's really nice to just turn up and watch it.

"I'm looking forward to seeing Birmingham and one day, I'll just go for a day and walk around, go to the art gallery and have a beer in the city."

"TONY! The Tony Blair Rock Opera" is at the Birmingham Rep Theatre from Wednesday, June 7 to Saturday, June 10, with tickets starting at £15.

To find out more and to buy tickets, go to https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/tony-the-tony-blair-the-rock-opera/