If you’re from the generation that grew up with martial arts morality tale The Karate Kid, you’ll remember the weight of expectation on the shoulders of Daniel, the movie’s lead character. Imagine, then, the sort of pressure that comes with playing him in the new musical adaption! That’s what Gino Ochello is doing, in a touring production that’s about to open in Cardiff, so Oliver Howells chatted to him.

“Breathe in, breathe out…” Following the sage advice given to The Karate Kid’s title character, Daniel LaRusso, by his mentor Mr Miyagi is all well and good – but when you’re trying to sing and perform karate moves at the same time, it’s easier said than done. Then of course, there’s the flesh wounds to contend with.

“I’m full of bruises every night!” says 19-year-old Gino Ochello, who’s making his professional acting debut as Daniel in The Karate Kid – The Musical. ‘‘We do actually make contact with each other. Obviously not to the extent that it looks like on stage, but we’re making contact with the floor and with our fists and stuff. There’s some things that are inevitable – and it’s live theatre, so things are bound to go wrong…”

The show premiered in late April before touring the UK; with several performances now under his gi, how has debutant Ochello found it? “Rehearsals started on March 16,” he recalls, “and within two days we’d learnt the whole thing – which is crazy, given it’s a brand new show and there’s 15 songs.

“It’s been a whirlwind of emotions. I mean, the nerves from that opening night – I wish I could bottle it up and relieve that experience, because you just have so many emotions passing through your body at the same time. You’re super grateful to be there but you’re so nervous because it’s everything you’ve wished for and there’s this pressure because all the sacrifices you’ve made come down to this one performance.”

And with Ochello’s family members flying over from Gibraltar, his home country, to watch the opening night, even more was at stake. “I know I have nothing to prove because my family love me regardless. But you want to show your family that this is exactly what you’re meant to be doing.”

Amusingly enough, as regards the actor’s upbringing, I thought I’d picked up a distinctly Welsh lilt to his accent. Not so! “It’s funny – everyone I’ve ever met thinks I’m Welsh because of my accent. But I think everyone from Gibraltar sounds a bit Welsh, because we’ve got that singsongy thing.”

The original Karate Kid, from 1984, has spawned various sequels and spinoffs, the latest as recently as last year. The musical adaption – written by Robert Mark Kamen, who also wrote the original – is largely based on and faithful to it, though features a few surprising extras. “You do have glimpses of other things,” says Ochello. “You get to meet Mr Miyagi’s wife, for example!”

Speaking of which, was the teenager an established Karate Kid fan? Recalling the excitement of his father on hearing he got the role, Ochello says he’d seen several of the films, thanks in part to that paternal enthusiasm, yet had been unsure this role was right for him. “I don’t think it’s my kind of casting,” he’d told his agent, who eventually succeeded in persuading him otherwise. Ochello recorded an audition on tape at home, and ended up getting the part.

Still, he says now, landing such an iconic role was “daunting”, and posed challenges beyond acting and singing. “I’d never done any type of martial arts in my life – but not only was I going to have to learn karate, but perform it live on stage every night!” Ochello signed up to a local dojo for two months, prompting questions as to where his sudden interest in the discipline had came from and why the temporary basis; obliged to keep his iconic role a secret, he had to stay schtum.

Grateful to have others alongside him for this new journey of his, Ochello speaks well of his co-stars: Adrian Pang, who plays Mr Miyagi, and Sharon Sexton, Daniel’s mother Lucille. “I feel like they really take on not only the fatherly and motherly figure within the show, but also outside of the show – and, you know, on a personal level. Working with them is genuinely a gift, and they’re such giving performers. Being in scenes with them, I know I’m able to relax.”

The Karate Kid – The Musical, Wales Millennium Cente, Cardiff Bay, Tue 28 July-Sat 1 Aug

Tickets: £19-£71. Info: here

words OLIVER R MOORE-HOWELLS