Craige Els
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AGE: Turned 30 on July 18. “Too bad they didn’t drop my name down in the rain—‘Happy birthday, Craige,’,” he says, laughing, of his show, the musical
Never Forget. The production at the Savoy Theatre has garnered attention for its stage curtain made out of water droplets that spell out words, starting with the musical's title.
HOMETOWN: Liverpool, where his mother worked in human resources and his father was an electrical engineer.
CURRENTLY: Playing Jake Turner in the West End show, Never Forget, inspired by the music of the boy band phenomenon, Take That. Els plays the brother of the girlfriend of the central character, Dean Chisnall’s Ash, as well as the show’s resident philosopher. “The journey is just as important as where you end up," Jake remarks well into the second act. “I suppose that’s the only prophetic thing you’ll ever hear out of Jake Turner’s mouth,” Els notes, deadpan. Although the production wears such comparisons both lightly and cheekily, Jake is the nearest equivalent the piece has to Robbie Williams, who remains the one bona fide breakout star from Take That. “It was hysterical, really,” Els recalls. “Every time I said to people that I was playing Robbie Williams, I had to chuckle to myself, since I look nothing like Robbie Williams.” To start with, Els is 6’4”—though, he adds, “I’ve had various reports that Robbie is actually 6'2"." (Note: this journalist has seen Williams up close, and he isn’t.)
The Never Forget cast
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CLASSICAL CHOPS: Els’s musicals-heavy resume somewhat surprises him, since he trained at the Drama Studio in Ealing, west London, immersing himself in the classical repertoire. “I didn’t take a singing or dancing lesson. I guess I’ve just been very lucky getting some of these jobs; I’ve been right for certain roles.” His first musical was Mamma Mia!, in which he covered the various fathers—“they obviously thought I could get away with it. I was 25 and was understudying the dad, and the actress playing my daughter was actually 26.” He laughs: “It’s amazing what you can do with a fake tan and a full beard. ”There’ s been the option, he reports, of fake tans on Never Forget, as well, since the show bares ample quantitites of male flesh. “I might have to start taking them up on the offer; I haven’t seen a lot of natural sun.” He then appeared in the original West End company of Monty Python’s Spamalot, as first understudy to the King Arthurs of both Tim Curry and Simon Russell Beale and several other roles, as well. “I went on about 40 times as Arthur, 11 times as Galahad and 35 times as Lancelot.” He pauses. “There were no fake tans in Spamalot."
WHAT’S IN A NAME?: Or, more precisely, in that final E at the end of Els’s first name, Craige? “It was actually my father who said it didn’t look right without at E at the end,” Els says. “People get it wrong more often than not.” The actor’s father is Afrikaans, though he brought the family to England from South Africa when Craige was just a baby.
HOT TOTTY: How does Els respond to the adulation that pours forth from the (largely female) crowd eight times a week at Never Forget en route to the inevitable Take That mega-mix that brings the audience roaring to its feet? “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be in a boy band, so to get that response at the end is fantastic. We had great success on tour and our worry when we came to town was that there might be a slightly different response, but it’s just taken off again. The West End is notorious for a slightly more highbrow or different audience altogether"—for what it's worth, Never Forget opened the night after the totally antithetical Marguerite—"but it’s exceeded our expectations. We’re just thrilled night after night.” As for the mixed reviews (some raves, a few flat-out pans), “we always knew we were going to get some great ones and some not so great ones. You can’t please everybody all the time with every show. We know who we’re aiming for.”