Celebrity Profile: Craig Revel Horwood

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CRH (or Craig Revel Horwood off Strictly Come Dancing to the rest of us) is stressed. Stressed big time. I was trying to catch up with him as he was in the throes of the launch of the world premiere of Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show starring Brian Conley and Darren Day. The show, a celebration of Neil Diamond songs, is directed and choreographed by Craig and presented in a Big Top style venue (‘a bit like Neil Diamond at Glydebourne’ Craig jokes). It features many of Neil Diamond’s best-loved hits, including Sweet Caroline, Cracklin’ Rose, Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon, Love on the Rocks…

And this is just one aspect of a very hectic schedule… Just because he’s not on the TV every Saturday judging celebrities’ dance routines doesn’t mean he’s taking it easy. As he explained on Fern Britton’s show the other week: “Strictly is literally my Saturday job darrrrrling, I rock up, slag people off and then go and do my theatre stuff. I do have a life apart from Strictly, I’m a director and choreographer in the theatre and that’s what I absolutely love doing the most, that’s what I was born to do. I adore it.”

Craig has two shows on the rounds at present, Chess, which is on a world tour, as well as the latest, Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show.
He told Fern, “I thought it was such a great premise to put together a show with all Neil Diamond’s hits. Brian Conley plays the Brother Love character. He has a fantastic resonant voice, he gets everyone going with all the gospel numbers. Darren Day is singing all the torch songs; he does them justice like you wouldn’t believe. His Love on the Rocks is absolutely superb.

“I did my first pas de deux ever to Love on the Rocks… That’s what made me want to do stuff with Neil Diamond songs. My mother used to put that record on until it scratched.
“It’s a high energy show for spring with a wonderful cast."

This month Craig is also fitting in a special lunchtime visit to Christchurch Harbour Hotel, mingling with guests for pre-lunch drinks and treating them afterwards to a chat revealing Strictly stories and gossip. Definitely one for the diary.

He likes to escape London and is often to be found working just over the county border at the Watermill, Newbury. This was a collaboration that started in 2007 when he directed Martin Guerre for them. He works with their Tony award-winning orchestrator Sarah Travis.

"She is a-ma-zing; she is fan-tast-tic, without her the whole backbone of these pieces that we do together would never come to fruition,” he declares, breaking down each word into syllables in a way so familiar on Strictly. These words have become his catchphrases and, along with ‘dull, dull, dull’, ‘absolute disaster’ and others, can be downloaded as ringtones. (Yes, he’s that popular.)

Together the duo have gone on to produce Sunset Boulevard (which transferred into the West End), Hot Mikado, and Spend Spend Spend! for which he won the prestigious Olivier Award. He enjoys nurturing talent and, perhaps ironically for someone made famous through his role on a reality show, he is an advocate of trained theatrical ability.

He has said that he wants to encourage people to come and see live theatre and see what real talent is: “It’s better than anything you’ll actually see on Britain’s Got Talent for instance; come and be blown away by how multi-talented these people are; it’s what these people have trained all their lives to do.”

Originally from Australia, he discovered dance after being teased at school for being flabby. He developed a career in musical theatre in Melbourne then moved to Paris to dance with the Lido du Paris and latterly became principal singer for the Moulin Rouge. Numerous credits in the UK have included the UK touring production of Cats, and Crazy for You and Miss Saigon in the West End. It was Cameron Mackintosh who kick-started his choreography career when he offered Craig the position of resident director on one of his productions, But it was his role on Strictly which brought him to the attention of the public. He’s the one the audience likes to boo.

So perhaps it’s not surprising he made a return to the stage a couple of years ago in his panto debut as the Wicked Queen in Snow White, a role which he reprises yet again this year. This time he’s performing with Ann Widdicombe – one of the Strictly Come Dancing contestants in the last series who became both notorious and popular for her total inability to move gracefully or show even a modicum of rhythm. Having been one of those he had slagged off, as he expresses it, he was initially a little concerned about how they'd get on.

He told Fern the other week, “I danced with her on the Strictly Come Dancing tour. I thought it was going to be handbags at dawn, but actually it was really good fun, although I haven’t been out of traction since. We get on like a house on fire, I was really surprised. I’m looking forward to throwing her about in panto… She is a love and I never ever thought I’d say that. But actually she is a delight. She’s flowered. She’s the antithesis of herself as a politician.”

For a judge who built his reputation on being fastidiously harsh, we’ve taken him to our hearts and perhaps his views are given more weight because they’re hard won. Certainly when Craig gives top marks you know the dance performance was special. And when you see one of Craig’s productions you understand the determination and dedication of the man.

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