The (bath)room where it happens: West End stars on the best musical numbers to sing in the shower

As the BBC celebrates musical theatre, we asked London’s biggest stars of the stage to reveal which song they love to sing in the shower
Giles Terera
Marc Brenner

Is it Some Enchanted Evening that echoes around your bathroom of a, er, morning? Does Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat ring out roundly from the tub? Do the phrases of Don’t Rain on my Parade float fruitlessly up to the shower head? If so, you’re in good Company (geddit?). As BBC Radio 2 and BBC One’s celebration of musical theatre kicks off this weekend, we’ve asked West End stars to tell us their favourite bathroom belter.

Rosalie Craig

Rosalie Craig
Rosalie Craig’s repertoire is at the mercy of her daughter
Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

Show Yourself - Frozen 2

Pre-pandemic I would have used my time in the shower to run through the songs I’d be singing in whatever show I was currently in. A room full of steam and ten minutes away from the family to check my pipes and refresh my memory would be my go-to routine. I might even try someone else’s number on but it would always make me feel a bit funny. This short recital programme doesn’t just include musicals. If filming or doing a play I’ll run through all my dialogue. These days however I’ll most likely be found singing Show Yourself from Frozen 2. Not only is it an absolute stonker but moreover I don’t get reprimanded by our little girl for singing it! She’s part-critic, part-Lord Chamberlain and so it’s a relief that the usual imperative of “DON’T SING” doesn’t apply to that one.

Giles Terera

Broadway Baby - Follies

The Olivier Awards With Mastercard - Show
Hamilton star Giles Terera favours Follies
Getty Images

My favourite song from a musical to sing in the shower is Broadway Baby from Follies by Stephen Sondheim. Julia McKenzie sang a revelatory arrangement of it in the Seventies where she starts really small, with a kind of nervous, excited, coiled energy. She maintains this all the way through the song right up until the final bars: "In a big....time....Broadwaaaaaay Shooooooow!" The first time I heard it at the beginning of my career I thought it was brilliant; so different from way the story of the song is usually told, so I've sung that in the shower ever since as a kind of warm up. It got me in trouble once when i was howling it in my dressing room shower at the National. There was a banging on the door. I opened it in my towel to a furious Clare Higgins who asked me if i wouldn't mind shutting up as she was next door trying to sleep.

Hadley Fraser

"Curtains: A Musical Whodunnit" Ð Press night Ð After Party
It’s always a White Christmas for Hadley Fraser
Dave Benett/Getty Images

The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing - White Christmas

My father was an unstoppable bathroom crooner. Invariably he gravitated towards his own variation on a theme of “Master of the House” from Les Misérables. I don’t remember “cor blimey” being in the original lyric, but Pop certainly had it in his. Having performed in Les Misérables enough in my time, my own go-to song in the shower is The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing from White Christmas. It’s the perfect bathroom number for my money: one simple stand-alone verse. Nothing more and nothing to lose track of whilst performing one’s ablutions. I came across it first thanks to the great American jazz vocalist Kurt Elling rather than through Danny Kaye or the film itself. If I’m feeling particularly cutthroat while shaving I might venture into something from Sweeney Todd, while hoping for a different outcome of course.

Jenna Russell

Jenna Russell can only sing if no one is listening (except the audience)
Matt Writtle

How Glory Goes - Floyd Collins

It’s been almost a year since I’ve sung. I find it really hard to sing around the house, it’s such an intimate act that I’m horrendously embarrassed if anyone else listens to me. The only place I can sing with confidence is onstage when the house lights are down and the audience is in. I do sing quietly to myself at home when I’m sure no one is listening and a song I keep returning to is How Glory Goes, from Floyd Collins by Adam Guettel, about the American cave explorer. It’s a song that comes at the end of the piece where Floyd is contemplating his imminent death and what if anything there might be beyond it. The phrase near the end always moves me: “will my Mama be there waiting for me, smiling like the way she does, holding out her arms and she calls my name, she will hold me just the same.” It’s an absolutely ravishing song.

Kerry Ellis

Wicked Celebrates 10 Years In London's West End - After Party
Kerry Ellis was the first British actress to play Elphaba in Wicked
Dave Benett

Defying Gravity - Wicked

I sing all sorts in the shower - I'm always singing, and it's fun stuff, upbeat stuff. I do sing Defying Gravity in the shower, now and again [Ellis was the first British actress to play Elphaba in Wicked] - I think I love it more now because I don't have that pressure of doing it in the show - [though] to be honest, after this year, I'd sing anything eight times a week! To sing it for the BBC concert was such a treat; I think we all felt the magic. And also quite a double-edged sword - it was amazing to be there amongst the orchestra and other artists, but my heart did go out to our industry. It made me quite sad because obviously the theatre was empty, and it was kind of nostalgic. This is what we do, and this is what we can't do at the moment - so it was mixed emotions.

Amy Lennox

The Olivier Awards With Mastercard - Red Carpet Arrivals
Amy Lennox’s choice is apt for the moment
Getty Images

Time Heals Everything - Mack & Mabel

This is my go-to belter in the shower - it's so fabulously self indulgent and dramatic, there's nothing more satisfying than marinating in sadness and frustration while giving the neighbours a treat (or driving them insane, depending on their tastes). And I can’t help but think the lyrics are very apt for our current situation: “Time heals everything/ Tuesday, Thursday/ Time heals everything/ April, August/ If I’m patient the break will mend/ and one fine morning the hurt will end/ So make the moments fly/ autumn, winter/ I’ll forget you by/ next year, some year/ Though it’s hell that I’m going through… etc. And when I’m feeling extra spicy I’ll whack out the last two words of the song, “loving you”, on a nice big fat D.

Ruthie Henshall

Ruthie Henshall’s number is a link to her parents
MURRAY SANDERS DAILY MAIL

Someone to Watch Over Me - Crazy For You

My go-to song is Someone to Watch Over Me, a Gershwin number. It's very special to me for a number of reasons. Number one, it's from Crazy For You, which was sort of my breakout show. Number two, it was my father's favourite number, and because he died last year we haven't even been able to have a proper funeral for him yet, and that's what he wanted sung. And the other thing is that it's the one song I sing to my mother. She's in a care home and I sing it to her when I'm allowed to visit, so it's very sentimental to me. And, you know, who doesn't want somebody to look after them, eh?

Layton Williams

65th Evening Standard Theatre Awards In Association With Michael Kors - Inside
Layton Williams always wanted to be Elle Woods
Dave Benett

What You Want - Legally Blonde the Musical

My go-to song to sing just off the cuff is What You Want from Legally Blonde the Musical. It lives in my head rent-free, it's just there. I always just sometimes burst out with “How about love? Have you ever been in love? Cos if you have you'll know”. I think it's the first musical that I fully got into as a kid. It was when I was doing Billy Elliot and all of the kids were listening to Legally Blonde, we were all obsessed with it and I wanted to be Elle Woods, so it would definitely be that. It's a massive bop isn't it, let's be honest.

Tyrone Huntley

The UK Theatre Awards 2018 - Drinks Reception
Tyrone Huntley likes to raise his voice in the shower
Dave Benett

Raise Your Voice - Sister Act

My shower song changes pretty frequently and totally depends on my mood but it’s usually a song from a musical I’ve been in that I didn’t personally get to sing in the show - examples include One Night Only from Dreamgirls, Someday from Memphis and I Loves You, Porgy from Porgy and Bess. I’d say the one that’s most frequent and that’s stood the test of time is Raise Your Voice from Sister Act. The perfect vibe to start the day, it’s an upbeat anthem about confidence and self-belief and it takes me back to my first job after drama school which was unbelievably a decade ago now.

Ramin Karimloo

Ramin Karimloo favours the perfect love song

If Ever I Would Leave You - Camelot

To be honest I don’t find myself singing as much these days. I listen more than sing, but when I do I find the ‘song-cycle’ of my personal repertoire is ever-changing. My current go-to musical theatre song is a classic by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner called If Ever I Would Leave You from a musical called Camelot. It’s such a beautifully written love song with a perfect melody. One of the most romantic songs ever written.

Janie Dee

The Olivier Awards 2019 with Mastercard - Press Room
Janie Dee heads to Russia for her choice
Dave Benett/Getty Images

Stranger in Paradise - Kismet

To choose just one song from all the songs I have ever loved, whether I have sung them myself or just heard them, is a very tall order after so many years of life and love and song! But as I sit here and listen for the melody I love and the words that go together with that melody, I am hearing the Boradim from Prince Igor the opera, which was borrowed for Kismet and became Stranger in Paradise. I saw the opera when I was in Russia at the Mariinsky theatre in St Petersburg. We were there with Shakespeare’s Globe at the Alexandrinsky Theatre doing A Midsummer Nights Dream. It’s a beautiful song and when sung with the gentle chorus behind, moves me beyond measure. My father always played it on the stereo when we were little. I also love everything by Stephen Sondheim, Styles and Drewe, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Connor. But one song?! [Maybe] Rodgers and Hammerstein’s When I Marry Mr Snow - for sentimental reasons I have to admit. And 425,600 Minutes, from Rent, absolutely rocks my boat every time!

Lee Mead

'Lorraine' TV show, London, UK - 29 Jan 2018
Lee Mead would love to sing his choice on stage, as well as in the shower
S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Me and My Girl - Me and My Girl

My go to musical theatre shower song would definitely be Me and My Girl by Noel Gay,  Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose from the hit musical of the same name, which to my mind is one of the best musicals ever written. It’s a really feelgood song with an uplifting melody that Bill Snibson sings to Sally Smith. One of my really close friends David Streams played the part of Bill at the Adelphi Theatre during its West End run in the Nineties. It’s a role that I would really love to play myself if there is ever another revival, especially as I am around the right age now – producers take note!

Clarke Peters

"The American Clock" - Press Night - After Party
Clarke Peters finds his philosophy in On a Clear Day
Dave Benett/Getty Images

On a Clear Day - On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

My go to song comes from a musical I’ve never seen: On a Clear Day, from Alan Jay Lerner’s musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. When I researched the song I found the synopsis of the musical totally in tune with my philosophy of life. I’ve been singing this song since I was a teenager, not knowing how profound the premise of the story was. The song speaks volumes to me and, for me, I think, has guided me to the path in life I follow.

Willemijn Verkaik

Wicked Celebrates 10 Years In London's West End - Arrivals
Positivity and power is behind Willemijn Verkaik’s favourite
Dave Benett

The Story Goes On - Baby

The musical theatre song I always start humming out of nowhere is The Story Goes On from the musical Baby. A few years back I was asked to sing the song at a concert and I fell in love with it instantly. The melody, the lyrics, the orchestration, all of it is really beautiful. The energy in the song is so telling and powerful. It’s weird in a way that I picked this song as I’m not a mother, but when I sing it I feel the positivity and the power of a strong vibrant woman who may be scared and insecure but knows she will overcome and conquer her fears.

Sam Tutty

65th Evening Standard Theatre Awards In Association With Michael Kors - Inside
Sam Tutty made his name in Dear Evan Hansen, but it’s Hamilton that keeps him going
Dave Benett

Non-Stop - Hamilton

Obviously, we've got the Dear Evan Hansen anthems - that's part revision, part leisure - but for me, it's Non-Stop from Hamilton. I love that whole song - the lyrics are so cool, and I love the story of it. You know when a song is so good and you just love how it goes, you love singing a particular part - and it's such a feel-good song. We certainly need that right now! I know all the words, and I defy anyone to try and test me on that as well, because I promise you, I can do it word for word, right now.

Killian Donnelly

Disney's "Aladdin The Musical" - 2nd Birthday - Pre-Show Drinks Reception
The Music of the Night makes Killian Donnelly’s morning
Dave Benett

The Music of the Night - Phantom of the Opera

I’m the type of person who, when I hear a song I love for the first time, can’t stop singing it. Much to the annoyance of my partner, family and friends. Endless “shut up singing that song” rings through my house. But I can’t help it. The latest instalment - and by latest I mean for the past two years - has been The Music of the Night from Phantom. The lyrics are one thing but it’s where the song goes to, both lyrically and vocally, that I love. I hear melody before I hear words so when the key elevates again and again, it is for emotional support and passion, as opposed to a boy band stepping off a stool. Lead vocals, back phrasing, and harmonies are all taken care of, by me, in my studio (ie. shower) or my personal stage (my son’s toy room)!

Charlie Stemp

Olivier Awards Nominations Celebration - London
Charlie Stemp is a Thoroughly Modern man
PA

What Do I Need With Love - Thoroughly Modern Millie

My favourite song to sing in the shower would have to be What Do I Need With Love from Thoroughly Modern Millie. My first theatre production, aged 13, was Millie and I fell in love with this song instantly. I know it best as brilliantly performed by Gavin Creel. My favourite belter would have to be Defying Gravity from Wicked. But my favourite love song has to be The Streets of Dublin from A Man of No Importance. This might be a little controversial as the character is singing about his love for Dublin rather than a person, but, since I am a man who loves the city I was born in, it fills my heart with joy to hear someone sing about the beauty of their hometown.

Radio 2 Celebrates Musicals runs to January 31 - all the programmes are on BBC Sounds. Musicals: The Greatest Show is on BBC One, Sunday February 7 and available on BBC iPlayer for a year

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