Royal Variety Performance a 'surreal' experience for NI singers

Three Northern Irish amateur dramatics performers said it was "a bit surreal" to be invited take centre stage at the Royal Albert Hall alongside West End stars.

Karl McGuckin, Samuel Moore and Boyd Rogers are featuring as part of the cast of the 40th anniversary celebration of Les Misérables at the Royal Variety Performance on Sunday.

A barrister, a lecturer and a teacher by day, they were excited to have what they believed was an opportunity to perform as part of the chorus.

But the production company had other ideas in mind.

Out of a chorus of more than 300, they were selected to join stars like Matt Lucas and Michael Ball in renditions of the musical's most famous solos.

Their journey to the Royal Albert Hall started in summer 2024 when renowned theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh launched the Let The People Sing project.

Performance rights for Les Misérables were released to amateur dramatics groups for the first time as part of a UK-initiative to mark the show's 40th anniversary.

Community-wide productions were staged in 11 parts of the UK: Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham, Norwich, Porthcurno (Cornwall) and Swansea.

Primary school teacher Boyd Rogers, from Lisburn, and barrister Karl McGuckin, from Dungannon, were cast as Javert in the Belfast production, which was staged with two rotating casts at the Grand Opera House in March.

Ulster University lecturer Samuel Moore, from Newtownabbey, shared the role of Jean Valjean.

Months after their show finished its run, the professional production company announced that it would be selecting 30 people from every group that staged the show to take part in a mass chorus for the show's feature at the Royal Variety Performance in the Royal Albert Hall.

The three performers were told they had been selected as part of Belfast's delegation.

"After that production was over [in March 2025] we thought it was in our back mirror," Mr McGuckin added.

"It was certainly a surprise."

During three days of intense rehearsal in London, they found that their roles would be quite prominent.

Mr McGuckin said they were "pretty bowled over" when they realised the actual extent of their part.

He and Mr Rogers were selected to join a small group of Javerts, including West End icon Michael Ball, in a featured rendition of the song Stars.

Mr Rogers said it was "quite surreal" to sing alongside such prolific performers, but they were very welcoming.

"They are just normal people who obviously have a shared love for theatre and they just happen to be doing it for their jobs," he said.

Samuel Moore joined a similar group of Jean Valjeans to celebrate the infamously difficult ballad Bring Him Home.

"It's a bit mental really. It's not how I thought 2025 would pan out," said the computer science lecturer.

The March 2025 production of Les Misérables in Belfast marked a return to performing for him after nine years.

"Even if I was a professional performer, it would be immensely fortunate to get any of these experiences, much less be able to do it as an amateur."

The prospect of performing at the Royal Variety Performance was daunting to the Newtownabbey man, but he said the support from the production company was "absolutely incredible".

The men were very excited to work with notable West End actors like Bradley Jaden and Irish tenor Killian Donnelly, who Mr Moore said were "the most genuine, friendly and supportive people".

Mr McGuckin said musical theatre legend Michael Ball was happy to offer some advice to the group which made the intimidating performance slightly easier.

"He had said to me, look, when you walk out onto the stage, if you just keep your eyes level, it's like a hug that people just wrap around you," said Mr McGuckin.

"That sort of mitigated the magnitude of the event for me and gave me a new focus."