Mikey hits the West End

Mikey hits the West End

9 March 2016

LESS than two years ago Mikey Jay-Heath watched the award-winning West End production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as an enthralled member of the audience.

Now the talented young Crossgar man is part of the cast.

Four years ago Simon Cowell said “a hundred million per cent yes” to his Britain’s Got Talent dance audition and since then Mikey has carved out a career in UK musical theatre, including playing the role of Tom Thumb in a UK tour of the energetic circus-themed musical Barnum.

But his ensemble position on Sam Mendes’ Charlie and the Chocolate at the famed Theatre Royal in Drury Lane is his first West End role.

And it is just in time as this is the final year of the production, where it has broken all records with the Theatre Royal and been seen by nearly two million people since it opened in June 2013.

Roald Dahl’s deliciously dark tale of young Charlie Bucket and the mysterious confectioner Willy Wonka has been described as “breathtaking” and “so vivid you can taste it” by the critics, and Mikey agrees.

“For those who have enjoyed watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on TV, it is an amazing spectacle when it is live,” he said. “The theatre really brings it to life.”

Mikey plays one of Roald Dahl’s famed small and orange Oompa Loompas in the production as well as a reporter.

“The kids are played by kids and the adults can be aged 60 or 70 so there is nothing really in between,” said Mikey.

“But finally my height has come in handy and I’m an oomph loompa.”

Mikey, who attended the Urdang Academy in London following his schooling at St Colmcille’s High School and St Joseph’s Primary School in Crossgar, said he had been a fan of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from a young age.

“I remember watching it on TV when I was nine or ten and thinking wouldn’t it be amazing if something like that was real,” he said.

“I remember coming to see it in the West End when I was still in college training and thinking I would to be in something like that. I did not think two years later I would be in the show in Drury Lane. It is an amazing opportunity for me to be in the final cast.

“This is a Warner Brothers production and it is the most attractive thing I have seen. You move through all these rooms in the chocolate factory and the glass elevator itself goes right out into the audience.”

Following 12 gruelling rounds of auditions Mikey was one of around 12 selected out of 800 people applying to take part.

“After the first audition I didn’t hear my name being called out as I was in the toilet being sick,” he said.

“The last was in front of a panel of 16, then it took even longer as Sam Mendes had to sign off on the process. It was good to get his seal of approval though, so it was worth the wait.”

Mikey starts rehearsals next week and will be on stage from April 25.

“I will be flying my mum and dad over to London,” he added. “I always said when I got my first West End role I would be putting them up in a nice hotel.

“The Theatre Royal can contain 2,500 to 3,000 people, so it is going to be a fantastic experience.”