In rehearsal with Jamie Trick for Jesus Christ Superstar

As ‘Jamie Sinatra’ he’s a familiar face in the pubs, clubs and casinos of the Thames Valley, entertaining audiences with his Rat Pack tribute act. But now Jamie Trick, the real man behind the microphone, is preparing to take on a very different persona – that of Jesus Christ in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar.

“When I heard Basingstoke Amateur Theatrical Society was going to stage JCS I knew I had to be in it,” says Jamie. “I’ve been absolutely obsessed with the show since I saw the DVD of the West End production when I was 14. It’s such an honour to finally play my dream role.”

Jamie Trick in rehearsal | BATS, Jesus Christ Superstar

In fact you could say Jamie’s life has been building up to this performance. The actor who played Jesus in that London production was the brother of Jamie’s friend Michael. Jamie also worked backstage on the touring version of the musical when he was at university.

“But a big moment for me was performing Jesus’s song 'Gethsemane' at a charity night at the Grand Theatre in my home city, Swansea,” says Jamie. “It’s such a powerful song. It demands so much vocally and emotionally.” Indeed, Basingstoke audiences are in for a treat - his performance of the song creates goosebumps.

Jamie juggles singing with running his own recruitment company for social workers. He’s also a dad to two-year-old daughter Eva with wife Charis. But his biggest challenge hasn’t been managing his time, or even losing a bit more weight before appearing topless on stage.

“Put simply, how do you portray the Son of God?” asks Jamie, himself a Christian. “He isn’t just any other character. I’ve been reading Biblical texts and studying other productions. Our director Ray Jeffery has very clear ideas too. It’s been a fantastic experience. The entire cast are so committed to making this a truly stunning show.”

Six peformances of Jesus Christ Superstar run from Tues 13th - Sat 17th May 2014 at the Haymarket, Basingstoke.

Peter Francis talks about his role as Captain Von Trapp

Peter Francis has a lot of sympathy with Captain Von Trapp, the character he plays in The Sound of Music. While the Captain has to deal with seven unruly children, Peter has a menagerie of ducks, geese, goats and 40 alpacas at his farm in Up Nately.

"They keep me busy," laughs the father-of-two, whose own two children are at university. "But there's no way I wanted to miss the chance to be in The Sound of Music."

Peter Francis in rehearsal | BATS, The Sound of Music

In fact, it was the first musical Peter ever saw: "My parents took me to the film when I was about five years old, and I was completely entranced. I remember wanting to be Rolf, the post boy, who sings 'Sixteen Going On Seventeen.'"

That was in 1966, and Peter admits he's rather long-in-the-tooth to be Rolf now. Instead, he takes on the role of the stern patriarch played by Christopher Plummer in the film, who falls in love with Maria, the children's governess. In the BATS production, Laura Newborough has the Julie Andrews role.

"I'm six foot three and Laura is...slightly shorter!" smiles Peter. "But love triumphs, despite the height difference!"

Working with two teams of seven children is challenging. "Usually I get the gist of my lines first, paraphrase a fair bit in rehearsal and gradually work towards getting the words right. You can't do that with children. They're waiting for their exact cue! It's keeping me on my toes!"

'The Sound of Music' is the BATS debut for Peter and his real-life partner Joy, who plays one of the nuns. They met through amateur dramatics.

"I'm most looking toward to hearing the reaction of the audience to those wonderful songs," says Peter. "'Edelweiss', 'Climb Every Mountain', 'My Favourite Things' - they mean so much to people. It's going to be a great show."

The Sound of Music run from Wed 13th – Sat 23rd November at The Haymarket.