Mark Evans

Evans has a string of musical theatre credits to his name, including Spamalot and Wicked in the West End. He played heart-throb Troy Bolton in High School Musical and was runner-up in the BBC’s Your Country Needs You, the search for a singer to represent Britain in the Eurovision song contest.

To book tickets for Oklahoma call 01323 412000.

Is there a performer who made you think “I want to do that?”

There wasn’t one particular performer who inspired me when I was growing up. I was inspired by lots of people. Now, I would say that to have a career as successful as John Barrowman would be incredible. To be able to do recording, screen work and theatre work as well as hosting and TV presenting would be great.

I’m not bothered about being famous, but I would love to have a choice of work as diverse as his.

Do you remember the first record you bought?

The first CD I bought was Janet Jackson Together Again. I had no idea what the song was as it was my cousin who told me to buy it. I loved it though and still do. It was after I got a CD player for my 12th birthday.

Tell us about any guilty pleasures lurking in your CD or film collections – something you know is a bit naff but you can’t help yourself.

I confess I bought the first two singles of the pop group Steps when I was 12.

They were 5,6,7,8 and Last Thing On My Mind. I then (because I’m business minded) decided I would buy every one of their records as I thought they’d be worth a lot of money one day. I own every Steps single and album ever released.

I now realise it won’t ever make me any big money.

Never mind.

Do you have a favourite film? And why?

My favourite film is The Notebook with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. A great story, beautifully shot and acted perfectly.

Is there a TV programme you couldn’t live without?

This Morning. It’s good company during the morning, particularly on tour. It’s nice to eat your breakfast and watch it.

Favourite album ... and why?

My favourite album is the soundtrack to the film The Reader starring Kate Winslet. I’ve not even seen the film but I was given the album by a good friend of mine and it’s the perfect chill-out music.

But I always have a different favourite.

Is there a song or individual piece of music you always come back to?

I love the song Empire State Of Mind by Alicia Keys. I am going to move to New York when the time is right and I find that song excites and inspires me – the thought of being in such a great city.

What are you reading at the moment?

I’ve just finished The Art Of Happiness [by the Dalai Lama and Howard C Cutler]. I’m researching Buddhism at the moment. I’m very curious and I’m a very positive person and love life. I love the simple things and it seems to be an ideal way of thinking for me.

What’s your favourite book and why?

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. The woman is a legend.

It taught me a lot and it’s a bit like my manual for life.

Is there a live music or theatre experience that stays in your memory?

I saw War Horse at the New London Theatre last year and that literally took my breath away. I also saw Hair a couple of weeks ago which has the entire Broadway cast in it. That was an incredible show. I see a lot of theatre and I am finding it hard to be really impressed nowadays, but those two are the best I’ve seen in a long while.

You have some great musical theatre credits behind you already – is there a role you’d really love to play?

There are so many roles I would like to play, but I never put any pressure on myself or my career. I wait and see what job opportunities come my way and make decisions there and then as to whether or not I should do them. Every decision I make work-wise is always to progress my career further and not for financial reasons.

Tell us a bit about your character in Oklahoma!

I play Curly. It’s a great role. He is a happy-go-lucky, slightly arrogant, yet lovable, cowboy who is madly in love with a farm girl – Laurey, played in our production by the wonderfully talented Gemma Sutton. They’re both too young and inexperienced to control their feelings for each other, so they are very sarcastic and sometimes quite nasty to each other. It’s the ultimate young love story. Without giving too much away, it has some very dark moments, particularly with the character Judd who is Curly’s rival for Laurey’s affection, but all’s well by the end of the show.

As someone who’s had some experience of the Eurovision machine, do you think we’ll ever win again? Or are we just too unpopular as a nation?

I would like to think we could, but realistically, after the effort the BBC put in, together with Andrew Lloyd Webber, all the campaigning around Europe and Andrew’s fan base globally, plus Jade Ewen’s incredible talent, I don’t think there is any way we could possibly do better than fifth place, which was the result in 2009. We can live in hope though, I suppose!