 As he's the first to point out, Jason Donovan is "not the first person you'd think of to play Sweeney Todd". The former Neighbours star and chart-topper may have moved on to musical theatre since the days of Too Many Broken Hearts and Especially For You, but his roles in Rocky Horror, Joseph and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang have all been on the 'lighter' side. Until now. The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, whose victims were turned into meat pies by his accomplice Mrs Lovett (played here by Harriet Thorpe) isn't exactly a role you'd associate with Donovan - but then that's just he wants: "I think it's time I sort of left the boy tag behind and started to become a bit more of a man," says Jason. "I'm 37, and of course I wanted to try different things, it doesn't mean to say those family shows I've done in the past haven't developed my skills, it's part of the process. "After this I do a play called Festen (which concerns incest), so it's part of a pretty heavy year for me. "[Sweeney Todd] is a great show, it's a very sophisticated piece of theatre," he adds. "It's a story driven by romance, passion and love - with a little bit of blood and guts; it's certainly not Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, that's for sure," he laughs."It's a play set within a play, all the actors play musical instruments - it's not all doom and gloom, it's not all about people cutting each other's throats." From Frank N Furter to Caratacus Potts, Donovan has made a good name for himself in musical theatre, though admits he is still tinkling with pop music and may put out a record next year: "Would I love to write, sing and record hit songs? Definitely, who wouldn't?" he says. "I'm working on some recording material at the moment that's pushing itself away," says Jason."The thing with my recording side of stuff is it's been more of a hobby recently, rather than someone trying to achieve enormous [success]. "The word 'comeback' springs to mind and I don't like it - I haven't really gone away, I've just decided to do other things." For now Jason's full attention is on Sweeney Todd: "It is demanding, it's not a walk in the park 'cos you're on stage all the time, you don't get time to go to the dressing room and think about what you've done; in one way it's tough, in another way it's really a quite easy thing to do because you keep going - I tell you it flies by, it really does," he says. "There's not really moments to sit at the back of the stage, put your feet up and go: 'time for a cup of tea...' "Theatre is a really nice place to be, it's grown-up, let's be honest," says the singer. "Playing your songs at a small venue at the age of 37, with 30 or 40 fans and hangers-on is not my idea of having made it - whereas getting on stage and actually playing a great piece of musical theatre with some great actors with a story to be told is like watching a good film." * Sweeney Todd The Musical runs from April 10-15 at the Alexandra Theatre; for tickets call 0870 607 7535 or go to www.getlive.co.uk/birmingham or www.sweeneytoddthemusical.co.uk
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