Kimberley Walsh says her baby was trial audience for Elf the Musical as she steps out with Nicola Roberts
Kimberley Walsh says her one-year-old son Bobby was her “trial audience” while she was practising for her starring role in West End musical Elf.
After winning a standing ovation for her role in the show, the former Girls Aloud singer told the Standard how she had been juggling the part with looking after Bobby and planning her wedding next year to boyfriend Justin Scott.
“There’s days I come in and I don’t know how I’m going to do it and other days I feel fine,” she said. “But I’m loving being a mum and he’s loving hearing me sing and he sees me dancing.
“He was like my trial audience and used to clap when I sang the songs.”
Her former bandmates Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and Nicola Roberts were in the audience and greeted Walsh’s first scene with shouts of approval.
Walsh, 33, said: “It was the girls, they always do it and people go ‘shush’ but they think it’s just like a concert. I liked it, I can hear every word and it’s almost like they’re saying hi.” Her co-star Ben Forster, who got his big break in ITV talent show Superstar, said he was amazed by the audience’s “astounding” reaction last night at the Dominion.
Outside, audience members were enthusiastic despite earlier complaints about high ticket prices, with the most expensive going for more than £200.
Chris Doswell, 59, a childminder from Maidenhead, said: “I thought it was brilliant. I loved it. It was really funny. We paid £48 per ticket and it was worth the price, definitely.”@RobDexES
Curtain call: Kimberley Walsh with Ben Forster and, right, former Spice Girl Mel C. Inset, ex-bandmates Nicola Roberts and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini watched her
