Unscripted Moments: Our Gala Performers Share Their Best Backstage Stories

The wonderful cast of the upcoming Gala took a little time out of their very busy schedules to speak with our very own Patricia Ninian… Have a read below for the full scoop before the show!

Tricia: "We're all fascinated to know how you actually know each other. Do you all know each other, or is it just that you've brought people together? Where did the connection start?"

David: "I'm not sure if we all knew each other beforehand, but certainly most of us have crossed paths. Claire and I go back 15 years to a production of La Bohème at the Cock Tavern in Kilburn. I was Marcello, and she was Musetta. And then, of course, we've performed Carmen together. Will and I met during the wild ride that was Ian Knowles’ drive-in La Bohème in 2020. It feels like a fever dream now. And Ali? We first met at Guildhall, but honestly, we were at the same parties more than the same rehearsals. Our first time singing together was only 18 months ago, though it feels like I've known her forever!"

Will: "Ali and I actually went to the same school—well, sort of. We grew up in the same town. I was at Guildhall when she was on the opera course, so our paths kept crossing. But I think the first time we properly met was actually at Nikki Spencer’s wedding in 2022."

Ali: "Yes, and Clare and I were at Guildhall together. It’s funny how you can work in the same circles and somehow never quite sing together until years later!"

Tricia: “There must have been lots of times when things didn’t go to plan, or you found yourself in a tricky situation on stage – who’s prepared to share a story or two?”

Clare: "I remember when we did Carmen, our Escamillo fell through a chair. He stepped onto it, and it just gave way beneath him. His trousers ripped, and we had to stop the show. Everyone backstage was in a panic because we were performing at Neville Holt, and people were worried about missing the last train home from Market Harborough. Then, when we did La Bohème, I misjudged my Act IV entrance. When I finally burst onto the stage, I saw the looks of panic on everyone’s faces—they’d had to improvise in my absence!"

David: "I completely forgot about that chair incident. He jumped up on it at the start of Act II, and it just collapsed under him. They had to stop the show and bring down the curtain."

Ali: "When I was doing Follies at the National Theatre, everything was built on this huge revolving stage. The whole show relied on it moving correctly. One night, right before my duet, the revolve just stopped working. We had to carry on as if nothing was wrong, pretending to move through different spaces when the scenery was supposed to be doing it for us. And then in Magic Flute, my last show as Pamina, I fell down the steps. My ankle was a mess, but the show must go on!"

Clare: "I was in Japan doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I was supposed to get married the week after the contract ended. We were performing on a raked stage, and as I ran off chasing Helena, I felt my foot twist under me. I pointed at my foot, yelling at the stage manager, ‘Get my shoe off!’ They yanked it off, and my ankle was already swelling. I had to be carried around to the other side of the stage, where I still had to sing. I ended up doing one show in a wheelchair, two on crutches, and by the final show—just in time for the DVD recording—I was hobbling. But I made it down the aisle at my wedding!"

David: "I had to wear a full suit of armour for Lohengrin in Vienna last year. I was in it for six hours each time. It was brutal!"

Ed: "I spent a lot of time prompting for Angela Gheorghiu at Covent Garden. She’s legendary, but also slightly unpredictable. I was her safety net. One night, I tried to deliver a line, only to realize she wasn’t even on stage yet."

Tricia: "It’s always stressful as an audience member to know too much about a production. I was watching Turandot and knew one of the singers in the Ping Pang Pong Act 2 part had a habit of dropping his skull prop. This time, he didn’t, but someone else dropped a cane, and I watched it roll towards the orchestra pit. My heart was in my throat."

David: "Outdoor performances come with their own challenges. In Tosca at Crystal Palace, there was this heavy, dramatic silence as a character had to make a life-or-death decision. And then, from the back, we heard, ‘Number 26!’ Someone had just picked up their pizza order from the food truck behind the audience."

Tricia: I know people are always fascinated to know why you got into opera in the first place – that ‘Aha’ moment – Nicholas, you must have a special one to share?

Nicholas: Oh my ‘Aha’ was when I was at ENO, and I was working on the Ring cycle for the first time was, was absolutely life changing. And now I'm like, oh, yeah, that's Wagner. It's part of life. but, but, you know, just to come across that music and play it and put it under your fingers and encounter it from within, that was just extraordinary. And some of the other big scores as well. Like there was a fantastic production of Lulu, which Richard Jones did at the Coliseum. I don't know if any of you, you're all bit younger, but it was just incredible that that was another great moment. And actually, that edge the Ed Gardner, Richard Jones, Meistersinger at the Coli which came from Welsh National Opera.”

Ali: "My ‘aha’ moment for opera came late. I originally wanted to do musical theatre. I even left Guildhall after my first year, convinced it wasn’t for me. But after auditioning for La Traviata at Holland Park some years later, something clicked. I realised I could actually sing these roles. That’s when everything changed."

David: "I fell into opera by accident. I dropped out of university and was working odd jobs, singing in the Liverpool cathedral choir. Someone suggested I audition for RNCM. I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got nothing else to do.’ I got in, and a few days into my first term, I realised, ‘This is what I’m meant to do.’"

Will: "I stopped singing when I was 13 because my voice dropped, and I thought it wasn’t cool. At 17, I rejoined the choir, had a few lessons, and someone suggested I audition for conservatoire. I didn’t even know what that was. But I got in and never looked back."

Clare: "I started singing lessons at 14 – I thought it would help me as an actress. Two years later, my teacher suggested I audition for the junior programme at the Royal Academy. I asked, ‘What’s opera?’ She explained that I could act and sing at the same time, and I thought, ‘That makes sense.’ And here I am."