Craig Berry
Craig, 30, is a salesman from Ware in Hertfordshire. He's married to Lindsay.
Why did you enter Musicality?
'Because I love singing, acting and musical theatre. I've come to terms with the fact that I don't have a very commercial sound, so I never entered any of the TV talent shows, but I always said if they did a musical theatre version (especially after hearing about Operatunity) that I would give it a go – a fact my friends and family reminded me about incessantly when Musicality came up.'
Was it your first audition? Can you describe your feelings during the auditions?
'I had been to a couple of West End open auditions, but never sung beyond eight bars of a number. In fact I remember being number 762 or some such at one audition, waiting four hours then singing four bars and going home. During the auditions for Musicality I experienced almost every range of emotion, from fear through frustration and back again. The waiting was the worst, waiting for your turn, waiting to hear if you were being kept, waiting to see if your friends were being kept. That was so weird too, meeting people you'd never seen before, or had only seen across a room, and sharing all these fierce emotions with them. It created strong bonds very quickly.'
Have you ever appeared on stage before? If so, when?
'I am very heavily involved with amateur dramatics, and have been for about eight years, so yes I've been lucky enough to appear on stage in some truly fantastic parts.'
What has been the best part about being involved in Musicality?
'It's hard to pin down just one part, the experience has been fantastic all the way through. Meeting a great bunch of people – from the other entrants to the panel and the crew – and having all this great tuition and advice has all been fantastic. But if I had to limit it to one thing I'd have to say that the fun I've had throughout is the best thing.'
And the worst?
'The waiting.'
Do you always sing at parties?
'No not always. I always sing at Karaoke, and if the party is right for it and other people are singing then I may join in, but not in a "Listen to me" kind of way. I hate that.'
What has been the hardest thing to master – singing, dancing or acting?
'Ha ha ha – watch the show and you won't need to ask that question. The dancing, definitely the dancing. I always knew it was my Achilles heel, although in my case I have two Achilles heels and they are both left ones.'
What have you learnt from the experts?
'That confidence goes a long way. If you are, or appear to be, confident and enjoying what you are doing the audience will relax and be shown what you want them to see. And I was given lots of other individual hints and tips, too many to detail here, on getting the best from any performance.'
Tell us your most embarrassing moment so far on stage – either in Musicality or during another performance?
'I haven't seen any footage yet so this may change, but up until now it was at a school concert, and I was singing a solo, 'Love Changes Everything' by Lloyd Webber. My voice at that point (I was about 12) couldn't cope with the high note at the end, so we had practised dropping down at the end, but in the performance the pianist went up and I tried to follow him. I hit the note bang on and I was elated for a nanosecond, but then it cracked badly and completely vanished into my throat. It was awful and the audience were dead silent.'
Do you hope to carry on with performing?
'I will certainly carry on performing, probably until they nail down the lid on my coffin. I would love to do this for a living. I think I have to try to make a go of this as a career now or I will forever wonder, "What if ...?" Musical theatre is such a big part of my life and getting a bona fide West End role would be my dream come true. So if there are any agents reading this ...'
