Phillip Schofield Interview
The curtain came down. The audience left the theatre delighted. And Phillip Schofield’s West End run as Joseph had come to an end. As the auditorium was swept and the wardrobe department tidied up backstage, something was missing…
“For the one and only time in my life, I was a thief and I stole the technicolor dreamcoat. When I finished in Joseph, my last night in the Palladium doing Joseph, I thought, “this is going to end up in stores and they won’t know which one was mine”, so I thought on this one occasion it was better to act first and ask later. As I left the Palladium for the last time I put the coat in the boot of my car. The next morning, my phone went and it was my management company saying, “Phil, have you got the coat?” I said yes and they said, “Oh my god, they are going mad! You’re going to have to bring it back.” I thought “Oh well, I’ve had it for 12 hours”. Then, the geniuses at the Really Useful Group, who are an extremely lovely bunch of people, said “Here’s a compromise. You’re about to go on the road and touring with Joseph, so you use your coat on Blackpool beach and in Edinburgh out on the streets to promote the show, and your pristine new touring coat will be kept in the theatre and you don’t get that dirty.” I said “absolutely!” So, I used my Palladium coat to promote the tour which meant that I could keep it and that coat has been with me ever since!”
The coat is going to get its first London airing since that night at the Palladium when Phillip performs at the New Wimbledon Theatre this Sunday (30th) in The Knights of Music, which celebrates the Knights and Dames on the entertainment industry. 17 years since he was last singing, Schofield admits, “It had to take something special to get me back on the stage. I loved those days and had the best time ever but it’s really hard to fit in with telly.” The show was an idea of Phillip’s friend, who, along with a couple of pints, convinced him that this project would warrant a return to stage. “The more I heard about it, I said that it’s such a great night out and a brilliant idea.”
The evening takes audiences on a journey across all genres, and of course musical theatre will be well represented, complete with a certain costume…