The Cast of THE DRIFTERS GIRL On Bringing Their New Musical To The West End

I've been a part of the project since 2019, which was the first initial workshops

So I was already kind of workshopping and researching who the drifters were, what was the story

I'd never heard of Faye Treadwell because I guess she was kind of written out of the story, out of history

through the story again that Ed Curtis has written, you see and understand the magnitude of

how hard it was to keep those boys kind of in check and how Beverly Knight portrays Faye Treadwell

so beautifully. You understand not only were those doors bolted shut, there wasn't even a door to

even like twizzle the knob. There wasn't one. And what Faye had to do was create her own

With the sake of her child and the legacy that her husband, who sadly passed away, had

left, she had to fight. And I think Beverly and I, working with Bev, and what she's done

with the character, it's just beautiful to watch. It a story of people of African descent And I think Michael Jonathan Ed Jonathan the director and Ed the writer I think they all they were all aware from the get that a lot of topics and issues being raised in the show they may have had limited understanding toward

I think it's really easy with actors to go do this and that's what that is and not really care much for their opinion

But I think with Michael, first and foremost, his actors are people that have opinions and have experiences

and he's interested to see what those experiences and opinions do to a show

To have a say, to be at the table and to have an opinion about the story that we were going to tell

That hasn't happened before, especially in the West End. for a black cast to be able to have that opportunity

We also had people of colour on our creative team, Miles Brown, Tyrone Hutley, Maisie Bolden

We had them to look at as well, which was so unique. I know for me, it was so unique to see that on the creative team as well

And it was just something you could relish in. It was something you can go, wow, I'm safe

their openness to open that dialogue is really a great step in the right direction and we really hope when people come and see it the fact that we been able to co it is going to set a president for musicals in the future you know

I love playing, you know, different characters, putting on different hats, and that's what's so, I guess that's what's so impressive

There's something about seeing multi-role playing happening right in front of you that is just infectious

Once you know this character stands like this and has this kind of vibe, this character

stands like that and walks with this kind of vibe, once you're in that space you kind

of know who's who and then you can kind of flip between them

It builds into your muscle memory, so yeah that's been really fun, but finding it and

Using the process in the rehearsal time to find what those characters were

was a great process with everyone. It was collaborative and we all helped each other

You get to push yourself vocally and physically and on a dime, become somebody else

and have an audience member believe that you are somebody else. And I think it's a great skill

It's a great Shakespearean skill that I think Ed Curtis has kind of you know ran with And I think it does it pushes us as performers doesn it It was weird Like we never Yes we heard each other sing but actually we never sung together

I remember the first day that we all came together around the piano

in rehearsals and we sang one of the songs together. Yeah. And we were all like, ooh

Kissing in the Back Row is my favourite song, which he sings amazingly

Mine is Money Honey, which Matt sings very, very, very, very beautifully

There goes my baby, which is the one that Adam sings because he sings his throat out

Because I love to hear him scream his throat out. It's just so fun. It's just so fun

That nostalgic feeling that not only, I guess my thing is when my mum came to see the show, right

she was just singing for the whole show. This morning, my four-year-old son was at Alexa going

Alexa, Alexa, please play Hello Happiness by The Drifters. So, you know, this is a show from four till 99

You'll enjoy it. It's so catchy. Yeah, the songs just stay with you

They do