BRIAN CONLEY | INTERVIEW
Phoebe Davies talks to the comedian, presenter, singer and actor Brian Conley about taking on the role of history’s greatest showman, Phineas T Barnum, as the musical Barnum heads to the Wales Millennium Centre.
Did you know much about Phineas T. Barnum before taking on the role?
Not really. All I knew was that he had something to do with the circus but that was it. I didn’t know anything else about him until they asked if I would be interested in the part. He’s a very interesting character. People think it’s a circus show but it’s not really. It’s a story about the first entrepreneur, the first spin doctor. He really knew how to manipulate the press to get his way and to build up a show to make it sound bigger than it probably was. He was a very clever man. He was the world’s second millionaire and when he died he was the richest man in America.
Were you surprised about anything when you looked into him?
Just what an incredible life he did have. He started off with these sort of freak shows and built that up, then he bought the American museum, but he very much loaned the money. He was obviously a real charmer because he managed to get the money out of the banks and pay for the American Museum which went down as a huge hit.
I suppose when you think of Barnum you think of ‘Barnum & Bailey’, the guys that created the three ringed circuses, but there’s a lot more to him. He went into politics; he didn’t really get into the circus side of things until much later on his life.
This show is very much a love story between him and his wife and her trying to control him because he is a bit of a live wire and wants to take over the world. It’s about her cleverly sort of manipulating him and pulling back the reins. Everything we talk about in the show really did happen. He paid $150,000 in advance for a singer called Jenny Lind, that’s a colossal amount of money in the early eighteenth hundreds, but he very cleverly made $5million out of her. When you talk about Barnum & Bailey and the 3 ringed circus (a giant tent with 3 rings), the reason he had the 3 rings was so that the audience couldn’t see the whole show the first time. They’d have to buy more tickets to go and see it, and that very cleverly was his idea. That’s a clever man to have thought of that.
Was it daunting to be taking on the role?
Of course, it was physically a very demanding role. There are so many skills you have to bring to it and have to learn. You’ve got to be good at comedy, then there’s acting, singing, dancing, stilt walking, juggling, there’s magic, there’s fire eating, there’s walking on a tight wire. For me to walk on a tight wire was a huge undertaking, I had to train for around six months, going to circus school twice a week. So I had to take on all those challenges and I was aware it’s probably the biggest and toughest role you could ever take on in musical theatre, which was pretty daunting. I’m on stage all the time. I’m on for the moment it starts. All of the first half and all of the second half – there’s no let up. The one consolation is I can eat everything I want and never put on any weight!
So would you say it’s got a bit of everything in the show?
Yeah, it’s enough to please anyone. What I would say to anyone is don’t think it’s a circus show, it’s not. It’s a love story and a story of the greatest showman on earth who just knew how to put a show on, how to present and sell it.
If Barnum was alive today, and had a TV show, what one would he have?
I think he’d be the Simon Cowell. He would also be the Sir Cameron Mackintosh – the biggest, most powerful [theatre] producer in the world.
Why, if so, do you think it’s important to tell Barnum’s life story?
I think the biggest buzz I get is when people go “I really want to find out more about this man”. Obviously in America he’s a lot more famous and well known than he is over here, but it’s an interesting story and it’s a love story. He eloped and married his wife; they were married for 44 years. It’s the story of their life and their relationship as well as all his dreams. One of Barnum’s quotes is “the noblest art is that of making others happy” – and he is still making them happy because we are doing this.
photos JOHAN PERSSON
Barnum, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Tue 11-Sat 15 Aug. Tickets: £17.50-£44.50 / £53.50-£54.50 premium seats. Info: 029 2063 6464 / www.wmc.org.uk