Casandra Compton
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Age: 20
Currently: Embracing her first adult role in the West End, as Eponine in Les Miserables. The multi-faceted young actress is also a singer/songwriter and recording artist in her own right, with an album presently in the works. None other than rocker Ozzy Osbourne told her she had a “million dollar voice,” and there can’t be too many other musical theatre actresses who can boast that kind of recommendation. “I’ve got a picture on my wall from that night,” she says, “and I look at it and think, how very surreal. How very strange.”
Hometown: Crouch End, North London. Compton’s mother was a professional singer who performed regularly when her daughter was little, and who frequently took her to the theatre as a matter of course. But it wasn’t always set in stone that Compton would set out in show business. “My mum wanted me to have a normal childhood," she notes. "If I wanted to sing and act that was fine, and if I didn’t, that was also fine. When I was 10, I went for an audition at the Milford Theatre for a little amateur dramatic show called House, which I got. Then when I turned 11 we saw an advert in The Stage for an open audition for Whistle Down the Wind, and I went along and queued with the other million girls around the corner of the Aldwych Theatre and that was it, really. Sylvia Young came to one of the shows and said, would you like to join the agency—I didn’t go to school there or anything—and it just went from there.”
Early Stages: The journey to her teens offered both opportunities and insights into the profession for the budding star. At 14, she bagged the leading role of Mary Lennox in the RSC’s production of The Secret Garden in the West End. “I loved doing Whistle Down the Wind. I went to a normal comprehensive school in North London and that kept me really grounded, so it was like going off to play in the evening for three or five nights a week. It was brilliant. I just took it as it came, but I was obviously one of quite a few children in that. All of a sudden, playing Mary Lennox, I was the lead, and a lot of the show relied on what I was doing," she recalls. "It was then that I realised that, this is really what I want to do. At the same time I also realised, this is really important. I was learning all the time. The adult company were amazing. They were very helpful to me, and I think that was the main thing.”
Straight Outta Compton: Compton has also developed a burgeoning sideline as a songwriter. “I didn’t have that much belief in it at first. It was about three years ago that I first thought, actually, not only do I quite like it now, other people do too!" she laughs. "I love Joni Mitchell—she’s fantastic and tells really wonderful stories. I write a bit like that. I have to start editing stuff out or I’d be up there singing a song for like, 10 minutes.” Is there a difference between musical theatre and performing her own work? “Yes. Performing my own work is a part of me. To stand on stage as myself singing about something I have felt is quite nerve-wracking. That’s really opening yourself up. which is great, but if people don’t like it, you take it more personally.”
X Marks the Spot: After
The Secret Garden, bar the occasional stage or TV role, all was relatively quiet on the Compton front for a few years. Then she spotted an advert for auditions for the first series of TV talent show
The X Factor. Ultimately, she was runner-up and embarked upon an arena tour of the show
. “I didn’t have an agent and there weren’t many auditions, and I was getting a bit frustrated. I was doing ‘A’ Level Drama and Music but I wasn’t performing. My mum said, 'if you want to do it, do it. If you don’t, either do your ‘A’ Levels properly or go out and get a job.' So I thought, sometimes I agree with Simon Cowell, sometimes I don’t. I’d be quite interested to see what he has to say about me.”
Cowell’s a Howl: The X Factor might look like trial by telly, but Compton kept her cool. “You see, I’m really weird. I really like auditions," she says. "It was just a bit of fun at the start. And then my relationship with Sharon Osbourne grew. She became my mentor, and she did so much for me. I can honestly say that she really believed in me at that time, it wasn’t just because she was doing a TV show. To have someone saying, it’s all right, you can have a bad week, I believe in you—it was good. And Simon… I actually really like, which is very funny.” As for that endorsement from ‘Prince of Darkness’ Mr. Osbourne? “What a wonderful thing to have him say. I remember it was week two of The X Factor, and I was singing ‘Without You,’ and I realised halfway through that I was having a one-on-one music session with Ozzy Osbourne! It was very weird. But you can walk into their house and it’s like walking into your best friend’s house. They’re lovely.”
Cassandra Compton in Les Miserables
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Heaven Knows I’m in Les Miserables Now: To play Eponine is an ambition of many an aspiring musical theatre actress, and Compton was no exception. After a tough audition process and initial rejection, she’s now delighted to be discovering the character. “It looks on the surface that she’s a girl that loves a guy and that’s it,” she says. “But it’s not. She’s got a very complex, very tough background, and I think I’ve really grown in this last year, coming back to audition for the role and getting it this time round. I love playing her, because it isn’t just ‘Oh, I love him.' It’s so much more than that. Her journey, up until her death, is so selfless. She never once feels sorry for herself. The trick is, it’s so difficult to want the audience to feel sorry for you, but not feel sorry for yourself. The fantastic thing is that I don’t feel miserable when I play her. She’s got so much energy, and she doesn’t feel sorry for herself—she’s tough.” And then there are the beautiful songs. “‘On My Own’ is a wonderful song,” she exclaims. “I love singing it, and I get nervous every single time the intro starts. To go out and sing a song that’s been going for 22 years, but make it your own as well, is quite scary.”
In The Hands of Fate: Compton is excited about her future and philosophical about the circumstances that led her to Les Mis. “It was a very strange beginning to the year. I had the most horrendous audition for Les Mis. I thought, no, I’ve blown it. Then I got the call saying, you have to come and see Cameron Mackintosh tomorrow. I suddenly went, 'Oh, great!' It was something that I was meant to do. I really believe that things happen for a reason, and it was obviously meant to come full circle and come into my life at some point.”