Aberdeen’s own West End star, Amy Lennox, has been cast in the iconic role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club – the award-winning musical that is the hottest ticket in London just now.
She will star alongside Marvel actor Fra Fee as the Emcee in the acclaimed show in the West End’s Playhouse Theatre, with both taking up the baton from Jessie Buckley and Eddie Redmayne in a show which has been wowing critics and audiences alike.
“It is a bit of a dream,” said Amy, who cut her stage teeth in Granite City youth theatre groups such as Giz Giz and Aberdeen Youth Music Theatre, before her first professional role at HMT’s panto launched her glittering career on stage and screen.
And Amy, who recently bowed out of her role as Chloe Goddard in Holby City, said landing the coveted role of Sally Bowles was something of a whirlwind which all happened in a matter of days, just two weeks ago.
‘Crazy’ whirlwind led to Amy winning coveted role of Sally Bowles
“It all transpired quite last minute, actually,” said the actor, who first started acting in shows at Aberdeen Grammar School.
“I got asked on the Thursday night to audition on Tuesday,” said Amy, adding she was invited to see the show that weekend.
“So, I saw it on Saturday night, I auditioned on Tuesday – I was running out from rehearsing a workshop. Then two days later I had to run out in my lunch break again and video for John Kander (who wrote the legendary score for Cabaret) in New York, as he gets final approval. That was quite intense.
“Then I found out on the Monday I had the role and rehearsals started the following Monday. It was crazy,” said the actor, now in the second week of rehearsals before taking to the Playhouse stage on March 21.
Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club has been hailed as the ultimate theatrical experience, with the Playhouse Theatre transformed into the Weimar Republic nightclub in 1930s Berlin as the Nazis start to rise to power.
West End Cabaret one of the best things Amy has ever seen
Before the show, guests are invited to explore the Kit Kat Club to get to know the “world” where the story is set.
The musical itself – one of the most acclaimed of all times – is packed with songs such as Wilkommen, Don’t Tell Mama, Mein Herr, Maybe This Time and Money.
Amy – who is delighted to be working alongside old friend Fra Fee, who recently starred as Kazi in the hit Disney+ Marvel series, Hawkeye – said she was stunned by the West End production when she saw it.
“It was easily one of the best things I have ever seen. I’ll happily say it blew me away,” said Amy, who received an Olivier nomination as best actess in a supporting role for her part in Kinky Boots.
And she is delighted to now be stepping into the role of Sally Bowles, in Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club.
“What a role, it’s everything you could hope for, a once-in-a-lifetime role,” she said. “I’m just having so much fun getting to figure out my Sally Bowles. It is wonderful.”
Long way from Amy’s first role in His Majesty’s panto
It’s a long way from her first professional role in the HMT panto back in 2003.
“Yeah, my first job as Wendy in Peter Pan… but it doesn’t feel that long ago which is weird,” said Amy, who has returned to HMT since in West End touring productions such as Legally Blonde.
Her early acting stints helped shaped Amy’s determination to be an actor in a career in which she admits she has been “fussy” about what parts she takes on.
“It has to be something I really want to do that I think is going to be good for me, that I’m going to enjoy and I’d want to see myself – which does feel a bit of luxury and high risk,” she said.
“So I kind of held my ground for a few months when I came out of Holby and did some lovely workshops and bits and pieces, which I enjoyed. I was just starting to think ‘gosh, what am I going to do next’ when this came along kind of miraculously out of nowhere.”