Girls Aloud's Nicola Roberts to make West End debut in Josie Rourke's City of Angels revival

Acting debut: Nicola Roberts appears in the revival as Mallory
Niklas Haze
Robert Dex @RobDexES2 December 2019

Former Girls Aloud star Nicola Roberts is to make her West End stage debut — and admits it’s “a bit of a head-twister” because she’ll be playing two roles.

The singer, who sold millions of records as part of the hugely successful group, will star in a revival of the musical City of Angels.

Inspired by the glamorous world of post-war Hollywood and gritty film noirs, it brings to life a Forties Los Angeles inhabited by hard-drinking private eyes and wise-cracking femme fatales.

It weaves together two worlds — one of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay and another made up of black and white scenes taken from the film he is writing.

Roberts plays young cinema starlet Avril as well as Mallory, who is a character in the film. The musical is directed by former Donmar Warehouse boss Josie Rourke and is a revival of one of the first shows she put on while in charge at the Covent Garden venue.

Roberts said she did not want her acting debut to be “an obvious choice”, adding: “I think one of the great things about City of Angels is that I get to cut my teeth on something so critically acclaimed and to work with Josie who is just so passionate, someone who I’m hugely inspired by. The character of Mallory just fits and it works for me.

“I feel like Mallory is almost second nature because of being in a girl group but I think the second part is slightly different, so it is a bit of a head-twister.”

Roberts, 34, signed to an acting agent a year and a half ago but said she took her time choosing the right role. She describes herself as “quite a closed book”, adding that she did not talk about her plans and did not ask friend and former bandmate Kimberley Walsh about how she made the move from Girls Aloud to West End success.

She continued: “Kimberley is made for musical theatre, she just has that smile that beams and lights up the stage. I’m a bit more of a quiet, more serious girl so I wouldn’t necessarily lend myself to the kind of roles she does, so something like City of Angels, which is very much a play with music rather than a musical feels more true to me.”

She joins previously announced cast members including Rosalie Craig and Desperate Housewives star Vanessa Williams in the show at the Garrick Theatre, which runs from March 5 to September 5 next year.

December's best theatre

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