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A BAFTA-winning leading light in everything from revues to the Ring Cycle, Jeremy Sams visits Australia for the first time in the Cabaret Festival, appearing in his own show with none other than Philip Quast. Peter Burdon spoke to him, as he was packing his bags in London.
There isn’t much that Jeremy Sams hasn’t done, and done well, for that matter. He started out playing piano for anyone who’d give him a gig, and moved on to work in opera houses and on the West End, as everything from a music director to a composer, orchestrator and arranger, and even as a translator, for heaven’s sake, of the Ring Cycle for English National Opera. Whatever is he doing presenting a cabaret show in Adelaide? “Like almost everyone else I know who’s been to Adelaide, I have to say that it was Julia Holt!” Jeremy says with a laugh, “I’d met her when she’s been in the UK and we’ve talked a few times about working in delayed, but when she rang at the start of this year it just hit the spot. I’d just finished a huge project getting the new Lloyd Webber production of The Sound of Music on stage at the London Palladium, and I really wanted a break. So I thought, ‘Right!’, I’m taking a month off’ so I’ll be spending all of June in Australia, before I go back to London to start auditioning for the second cast in The Sound of Music in the second half of the year.”
No doubt he enjoys the opportunity to get on a small stage, after the extravaganzas in the West end. “Well, it’s not just getting back on the stage, it’s playing the bloody piano as well!” Jeremy says with a hoot of laughter, “I mean, it’s literally years since I’ve actually done a show of my own. I’ve been dusting off my fingers, I can tell you. But it seemed like a great opportunity and then when it became clear I’d be able to work with Philip Quast in the show as well, that was the sealer. When he really opens up and sings there’s no-one like him. We did Sunday in the Park with George years ago and I still remember his audition. He opened his mouth and this amazing sound came out and everyone just bowed down before him! So it’s nice to be bringing him home for a visit!”
I wasn’t aware that this represents quite a change for Jeremy Sams. “Absolutely,” he says, “I love what I do with musical direction and the big shows, but it means I never, just never get the opportunity to do things like this. It’s actually the first time I’ve done anything quite like this. It’s a massive self-indulgence, a great big wank! I’m doing some original stuff, pieces of my own, and there’s some Weill songs, some stuff from a piece I was involved in called L’amour fantôme which was a play with music by Michel Legrand, and some opera, a couple of great songs by Jason Robert Brown, whom you all remember in Adelaide. I’m hoping to work with him in the next year or so. And of course there’s some Sondheim and classic pieces. And it’s all strung together with some stories, which will be fun, because working in the theatre is the most wonderful life.”
“I can’t wait to visit Australia,” Jeremy adds, “my neighbour here in London is from Perth, and she’s told me such a lot, but I want to meet as many of you as I can because I’m having a couple of weeks in Australia after the Cabaret Festival and I haven’t made any plans so I need you all to tell me where to visit! So come and say hello after the shows.”
Jeremy Sams is presenting his own show, “An Evening with Jeremy Sams” with special guest Philip Quast for one night only, on 9 June, followed by masterclasses on June 10 & 16. All promise to be terrific shows.
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