Welsh Heartthrob Mark Evans on Playing Fiyero in London's Wicked and His New Solo CD

At 6’2”, Mark Evans may not be the tallest Fiyero ever in the London production of Wicked: That honor goes to Oliver Tompsett, 6’3”, who has subsequently moved across town to the lead role in Rock of Ages. But the 26-year-old Evans must be one of the most versatile, moving from international musical blockbusters to personal ventures like his first album, The Journey Home, a collection of songs in both English and his native Welsh that had its UK launch in October. Evans will be dancing through life at the Apollo Victoria Theatre—and taking his growing fan base with him—until December 10.

It was fun seeing Oliver Tompsett at your recent record launch. You guys bring stature—literally—to every role you do.
I know! We look like twins, and we’re such good friends; Olli has been a great inspiration to me. I think the Wicked producers like tall Fiyeros. Fiyero doesn’t come on until a half hour into the play, so that if you have height, it automatically gives you a bit of stage presence; it helps make an entrance.

Wicked has been a huge part of your professional life.
I remember listening to the album seven years ago, thinking, “This is incredible,” and hoping I would get to see it. So, to playing a lead in it feels for me probably the way Michael Ball considers Les Miserables all these years after he played Marius. This will always be the one show closest to my heart because it has propelled me in so many ways.

You were in the show, left it and then came back again.
Yes, I joined the second cast with Kerry Ellis and Dianne Pilkington and spent three years understudying Olli. But it wasn’t until I came back to play Fiyero that I fully realized what a big machine [Wicked] is—a product, in a way, and a successful machine that is up and running and is a global phenomenon now. To be part of that is a real privilege, a real honor.

Now that you’re entering the final stretch of your run, does each performance feel especially charged?
I feel as if my style of acting has shifted, though what I always try to do is listen, just listen to the piece as if I am hearing it for the first time. You try to give it as much weight as possible, because for the actor playing Fiyero, there’s a lot of bridging the gaps between scenes. This has been a long contract, eight shows a week, but I feel now as though I’m enjoying doing exactly what I’m doing. It’s been the perfect length of time.

Are you planning any surprises near the end of the run, like perhaps singing “As Long As You’re Mine” to Rachel Tucker [Elphaba] in Welsh?
Can you imagine Rachel’s face? [Laughs.]

Tell us about your album, The Journey Home, or, to use its Welsh title, Adre’n Ol. It’s not just a predictable survey of musical theater standards.
I didn’t want that. Sure, I basically could have done an album ages ago that would have sat on the shelves of [London record store] Dress Circle, but I kind of consider that to be self-indulgent. I didn’t want to cut a record until it was time to do it and there was a reason for doing it, as well. But once Sain Records [Wales’ leading record company] came along and said they would produce the whole thing, that took a big pressure off me. I knew then that I could make it semi-autobiographical and very personal. I am 50/50 bilingual Welsh and English, and it was thrilling to know that I could go from a Welsh ballad to a mid-tempo English song into an up-tempo Welsh song while keeping the autobiographical thing going from beginning to end.

So, it’s not about reprising your own greatest hits?
I did have a moment or two of doubt, thinking, “What if people really don’t get me or what I’m doing here?” But I felt it was important to remember that people are buying not just my voice and my music but my personality, in a way; you see a lot of pop stars and familiar faces out there who do what they do, which is fine, but I wanted to make this album very personal to me. We’ve got Craig Carnelia and Jason Robert Brown, but we’ve also got a song called “Dal I Gredu,” which is Welsh for “Keep On Believing.”

Your background certainly doesn’t suggest the West End leading man you have become.
[Laughs] I grew up on a dairy farm in a male-dominated household in a town with a school and a church, where the nearest supermarket is three miles away. My dad is one the top breeders of Suffolk sheep in the country even though, believe it or not, he doesn’t actually enjoy eating lamb! But the thing about Wales is that it is the land of song, and everyone in school is brought up singing in a choir; considering how small Wales is, there is an incredible amount of music.

London must have felt like a great, seething metropolis when you first got here.
I had a dance teacher back home who told me about summer school at Laine’s [the theater arts performing college just outside London]. She said, “Maybe you should try it,” and since I’m the sort who’s very much about doing something and thinking of the consequences after, I found myself on a train from Rhyl [in North Wales] to London and crying most of the way. I do have an uncle who lives in London and he took me down to Epsom, in Surrey, where Laine’s is located, where I found myself in a house with 16 other people. I was really upset, although I also found myself growing up very quickly [laughs].

I’m also impressed by the blog you are able to sustain every week at http://markevansonline.blogspot.com/.
What’s funny is that I was inspired to write it by watching [the film] Julie and Julia. I was touring with Oklahoma! and thought, “I want to write a blog,” so I got in touch with a website designer and started writing it every couple of days, though right now it’s more of a weekly diary letting everyone know what I’m up to. One of the main reasons I do it is to show that life as a West End performer is not all tits and teeth and show biz glamour; you also have to work your ass off and you have to be a strong person because you are going to hear the word “no” more than “yes.” It’s therapeutic in a way.

Do you ever look around the West End at what other shows might be right for you?
I’d really love to play Sam [the male lead] in Ghost, and Rock of Ages would be fun, though I think it might exhaust me vocally; I literally wouldn’t be able to have a life. But I think I’d kind of like to do some straight stuff now. We’ll see what happens.

What about returning yet again at some later date to Wicked?
I’m going to be Madame Morrible, and Rachel is going to play the Wizard!