Lizzie Gee and Ricky Rojas are both part of Sasha Regan's Wilton's Music Hall transfer of the Union's celebrated all-male Pirates of Penzance. Experienced choreographer Lizzie has been with the project since its inception, while Ricky has replaced American Alan Winner in the role of the Pirate King.
How did you get involved with Pirates of Penzance in the first place?
Lizzie: I had a phone call from my agent that Sasha was after a choreographer. We had a meeting, and she said 'do you want to do the job?' I'd just had a baby and he was literally only a month old, so I had to make a [difficult] decision. He was ten weeks old when I started rehearsals, so I had to make that decision as to whether it was worth coming in and leaving my bambino at home. But my mum came down, which made it all very easy, and Sasha being a female director and understanding motherhood made the whole experience a lot easier for me, I think.
Sasha and I have talked before about juggling motherhood and work. How did you find that, Lizzie?
Lizzie: Well, you might not want to write this down, but it was like a military operation regarding feeding him. I was still wanting to feed him at home, so I would literally leave the house at ten past ten, get to work for 11, have to express in my lunchbreak, then leave the theatre quarter past four to get home for five. It was down to a fine art so that I only missed one feed a day. We'd scheduled it all round so that I could feed him! Sasha understands all that, so it was fine. I only live 45, 50 minutes from the Union, so it wasn't too far away.
When the show announced its transfer to Wilton's, were you already involved?
Lizzie: I think we knew it was going to do this transfer quite early on, I think. I was always going to be involved in it, so long as I wasn't booked up in something else. The fact that we've got new cast members means we can recreate, rather than just doing a carbon copy of the last show. Also, it's a totally different theatre, so you get something from that alone. The new company - it's like doing a new show. I quite like it that way.
What were the main challenges of adapting the choreography to Wilton's from the Union?
Lizzie: They were better challenges! The challenges were in the Union, with it being the smallest theatre I've ever worked in, so I suppose the challenge for there is now making my life easier, because I'm going large-scale. It's harder to pull things in than it is to develop things and make them broader. The only slight problem we've got here is the split level stage - the drop from the first stage to the second stage - you can't just step off it. There are two sets of stairs coming down which we use, but it's hard because you have to split your focus sometimes. But then it can work in your favour because not every theatre's like that, so I'm trying to make it my advantage, not my disadvantage.
Ricky, tell me a bit about you, your background and your experience.
Ricky: I was born in Chile, grew up in Australia and now I live in London. I started doing musical theatre over here, my first show over here was the Buddy Holly Story and then Fame, Grease, Joseph and then I went to Broadway for a bit with Burn The Floor.
You were a vocalist in this dance-focused show. How was that?
Ricky: Originally in the show, the singers took more of a backseat, but they reworkshopped the production when they took it to Broadway, so we were more involved. The two vocalists were more featured in the production, in the numbers and stuff. We got some choreography, which was cool. That was loads of fun.
Was that your Broadway debut?
Ricky: Yes! It was awesome, it was really cool, because it doesn't happen often that you get a call: 'You want to do a show on Broadway?' I was like yeah, nice, alright! Where do I sign? What show is it? Doesn't matter. I was out there six months.
You're a bit of an international jetsetter...
Ricky: A little bit. It's quite nice, though!
