A chat with Lancashire actress Leah Jamieson who's in Grease The Musical at Blackpool Grand Theatre next week
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00:00I'm from the Blackpool Gazette, so I'm speaking to you because you're coming to Blackpool
00:11with Grease next week. So can I start, Leah, by asking how you're feeling about that?
00:17I am so excited. I am from Southport, so it's kind of like coming home a little bit. At
00:24the moment, I'm in Pitlock Creek, which is the co-producer of Grease that we're doing
00:29in Blackpool. So I'm up in the Highlands of Scotland and we're going to be in Blackpool
00:34from the 4th to the 14th of June. Can't wait to come back. The Grand Theatre is absolutely
00:40beautiful and also it means that I get to go on Valhalla again at Pleasure Beach, which
00:47I can't wait for. So you have been to Blackpool before?
00:50Oh, yeah. I used to go when I was a kid. I used to go and see Mucky the Clown at the
00:56Tower. It was great. But yeah, no, we're super excited to bring Grease to Blackpool because
01:01it kind of feels like if there's any musical that's made for Blackpool, it is Grease.
01:07That's the one.
01:10I just, I think because we've got all the lights and the party and the fun at Blackpool and
01:16that's exactly what Grease is. And I mean, it's nostalgic for everybody, I think. The
01:20musical and all the words. I mean, you can't end a night without having the Grease mega
01:25medley playing, can you?
01:27And you said you're from Southport. Have you performed in Lancashire before?
01:33I've actually performed at the Grand a couple of years ago. I was on tour there, which is
01:38why I'm really kind of really excited to go back because the people at the Grand are really
01:44wonderful as well. And the people that we've been able to kind of meet and work with and
01:48collaborate with have been great. And also the audiences in Blackpool are great. It's
01:54just, you know, you're going to have a fun night.
01:57And I heard whispers that you have other links to Lancashire as well. Can you talk me through
02:01what connections you have?
02:03Yeah. So I went to Sixth Form in Leyland and that's where my mum lives at the moment.
02:11And my grandmother lives in Garstein, which isn't too far from Blackpool. So I'll be making
02:15a lot of trips over there. I've got family in Shirley. I've got family in Lancaster.
02:20I've got family all over the shop.
02:23Starting in Blackpool, where you have so many local connections, is that more nerve-wracking
02:27or comforting?
02:30A little bit of both. I mean, I'm really, I mean, what's nice for me is I'm going to get
02:36to be able to say it in my family's for a little while while I'm there. So that's nice
02:40that I get to be able to kind of sit for a bit. And I've got lots of friends and family
02:47come in. But I think I'm more excited than anything because there's people in our cast
02:51that haven't ever been to Blackpool. And I've been going, well, we can do this and this
02:55and this. And we kind of have a whole little schedule sorted out of all the places we're
02:58going to stop off while we go there for the two weeks. So I think it's going to be really
03:02fun to start in Blackpool. It feels like the right decision for Greece.
03:05Could you tell me some of the places you want to show your colleagues?
03:08Oh, well, we have to go to Pleasure Beach. And we have to go on Valhalla. And also the
03:17Wallet and Gromit ride there is really good. I went on that a couple of years ago. And I
03:22mean, just kind of spending time going to the Silcox Amusements and going down the beach.
03:26Love to be able to take a trip out to like Lidham and go and see kind of like Thornton and
03:31all that kind of way. And yeah, just really kind of experience everything. Everyone's very
03:36excited to go on the trams as well down the promenade. That has been a big kind of selling
03:39point of Blackpool for us. So you'll see us on the trams singing Grease is the Word.
03:44I was going to say, can we expect you to break out in a song? You will. Okay.
03:48Oh, yeah. You can't stop it.
03:51And why should people in Langshore, generally in the Northwest, come to see you in Blackpool
03:56next week with Grease. I think if you want a good night out, if you want to have a bit
04:03of fun and if you want to kind of tap into the nostalgia of Grease, you should come and
04:08see it. But also, I mean, just the integration of the instruments and the kind of new things
04:15that we've added. There's a few surprises along the way whilst kind of keeping true to
04:19that story that everybody loves. It's going to be really special. It's going to be a really,
04:25really special performance.