Nathan Taylor

Nathan received a Cameron Mackintosh Scholarship to train at the Guildford School of Acting, and graduated in July 1995.

His first professional job took him to Northampton, to the beautiful Royal Theatre, where he played one of the Alter Egos in Marvin Hamlisch and Neil Simon's "They're Playin' Our Song," and "Wun Sung Hi," a Chinese policeman in the traditional Victorian Pantomime, "Aladdin." 

Then came Nathan's first show in the West end: a thirteen month stint in the multi-award winning "Miss Saigon," at the world famous Drury Lane Theatre, followed almost immediately by nine months in the original West End production of "Martin Guerre," both from the pens of Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Alain Boublil. 

Next came the start of what was to become a very long association with Richard O'Brien's "The Rocky Horror Show," originally performing as one of the phantoms, while understudying (and frequently playing) the roles of Frank N' Furter, Brad Majors, and even Riff Raff!

After a year of touring the UK, and taking the show into the West End's Victoria Palace Theatre for a short spell, Nathan took over playing Brad full time, and continued touring with the show for another nine months. 

After "Rocky UK," Nathan could be found playing the title role at certain performances of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," back in the West End, this time at the Playhouse Theatre on London's Embankment. Although the show's run came to an untimely end after a mere 6 weeks, this wonderful show is something Nathan will be forever proud to have been a part of. 

Soon after finishing "Hedwig," Nathan was asked back to "Rocky," this time to play the leading role of Frank N' Furter, and eagerly said yes! This was to be for the ever-successful European touring production of the show, and has taken Nathan to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and Sicily, occupying much of the year 2001. 

During the tour, Nathan flew back from Germany to perform in a self devised cabaret show, with close friend, Kate Roberts, entitled "An Evening With Kate and Nathan," at the Riverhouse Barn in Walton-on-Thames. The show was first presented in the January, for two nights only, but was such a success, that the Barn asked them to return in the April, which they did, selling out a further three nights. 

In October of the same year, Nathan was once again in Germany, this time not with "The Rocky Horror Show," but with the English Theatre Frankfurt's production of the West End Hit, "Spend, Spend, Spend!" - playing a variety of roles, including Matt, (The first husband), the Estate Agent, and the Bank Manager. 
Not everything went according to plan though, and Nathan felt that it was best to leave the show, which he did, returning to England in December 2001. 

A bit of a break followed, during which time Nathan appeared in a one off Charity Concert, "From Hollywood to Broadway," with fellow West End Singers, Lisa Hayes, Alicia Davies, and Jason Nolan, singing with a 35 piece band classic songs from Hollywood Musicals, and Broadway Hit Shows.
The evening was a great success, and raised a lot of money for the South Norfolk Symphonic Youth Band. 

In September 2002, Nathan opened in Taboo, Boy George's hit West End 80's retrospective musical. Initially, he was in the ensemble, covering the roles of Billy, Marilyn and Guru Dazzle, but moved up to play the part of Steve Strange (covering Marilyn and Philip Sallon, as well as becoming Dance Captain) in February 2003. 

Two Months after "Taboo" closed, Nathan was offered a job as a swing on the London production of "Les Miserables," a show he had always wanted to be a part of. Performances in the show started in August 2003. Then in April 2004, after nearly nineteen years at the Palace Theatre, the show transferred to the Queens Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, giving rise to a very exciting period of rehearsals; exciting because the show's original creative team, including co-directors John Caird and Sir Trevor Nunn came back to re-stage the new production, and send it on its journey. 

Three weeks after finishing in Les Miserables in June 2004, Nathan started rehearsals for the World Premier production of Cameron Mackintosh's and Disney's Mary Poppins. It was Nathan's first opportunity to take part in an original cast of such a large-scale show, and he was very excited about seeing how the process evolved. 

Nathan created the roles of Northbrook (A nice Yorkshireman, who asks Mr Banks for a loan, in order to give the people of his hometown a factory to work in, and hope for a brighter future), and Valentine (A scary doll, who comes to life, and with the help of all the other toys in the nursery, teaches the children a valuable lesson about keeping control of their tempers).

The show opened at the Bristol Hippodrome in September 2004, and after an eight-week run there, transferred to the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End, opening there in December 2004.
Nathan stayed with the show for a total of fifteen months, finishing in October 2005. 

Immediately following Mary Poppins, Nathan travelled North to Leeds, to work at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. The show was Alice in Wonderland, and Nathan played the Knave of Hearts. (Oh, he also played a Monkey!). 
The show ran until February 2006, and featured a score by composer Carl Davies. 

In July 2006, Nathan began rehearsals for the West End production of the smash hit Broadway Show, Spamalot, the Monty Python musical, based on the cult film, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." With a book by legendary Python member, Eric Idle, and a show-stopping score by John du Prez, the show is currently making audiences laugh at the Palace Theatre, where Nathan worked not so very long ago, prior to Les Miserables' transfer to the Queens Theatre.

He was understudy to the role of Lancelot, which also includes the parts of the Ni Knight, Tim the Enchanter, and the French Taunter, and involves both flying and stilt-walking. Nathan played the role three times, and loved every minute of it. He left the show on the 21st July 2007. 

Quite a long period off the stage followed until early Summer, 2008, when Nathan joined the cast of Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, performing an 80-minute musical, made up entirely on the spot, based on suggestions taken from the audience. After a couple of London previews at the Hen & Chickens Theatre, and at the Wheatsheaf, the show opened at the George Square Theatre in Edinburgh, as part of that year's Fringe Festival. The show went down a storm, and on its return to London, embarked upon a long-running residency at the King's Head Theatre in Islington, playing to packed houses every Monday night.

Nathan took a little sojourn down to Brighton in November 2008, to perform as one of Definitely Not The Fraser Hayes Four in Round The Horne - Unseen And Uncut. The show was only on for a week, but proved to be very popular with the Brighton crowd, most of whom seemed to remember every line from the original 1960s hit radio show. The Fraser Hayes Four were a close-harmony singing quartet who appeared regularly on the show.

May 2009 saw Nathan taking his clothes off in front of delighted audiences in the King's Head's Production of Naked Boys Singing, along with six other brave Naked Boys. It was an exhilarating and empowering experience, and one that Nathan and his fellows all thoroughly enjoyed. After a successful run at the King's Head in Angel, the show transferred to the Arts Theatre in Leicester Square, and closed in August 2009.

Whilst the show was running in the West End, the Naked Boys appeared on This Morning with Fern and Philip, and performed several excerpts from the show, as well as being interviewed with strategically-placed items of kitchenware. The ITV lawyers were sweating profusely...

During the run of Naked Boys Singing, Nathan appeared in the play F**king Men by Joe di Pietro, also at the Arts Theatre. He played the role of Jack, an HIV-positive, successful banker who supports his young porn-star boyfriend, behind his long-term partner's back.
It was Nathan's first opportunity to perform in a play, as everything else he had done to this point had always involved singing, so it was a great chance for him to flex his muscles as an actor for a change.

The latter half of August saw Nathan once again up in Edinburgh with , performing at the George Square Theatre, to full houses and rave reviews: the show won Mervyn Stutter's Spirit of the Fringe award, and was nominated for two Musical Theatre Matters awards.

After the success of Round the Horne in Brighton the previous year, a full-scale tour of the show was mounted, and Nathan found himself once more performing as one of the Fraser Hayes Four to audiences in Colchester, Guildford, Richmond, Plymouth, Malvern and Windsor.
 
January 2010 saw the return of Naked Boys Singing to the Arts Theatre, running in rep with another show,Nunsense A-Men, featuring the same team. Nathan was delighted to be back with the old gang, as the NBS run has given him some of his fondest professional memories to date. Sadly, Nunsense wasn't a big hit with audiences, and closed after only a few weeks. Naked Boys Singing became a victim of management politics, and was closed very abruptly in May 2010, even though audiences were healthy, and loving the show.
 
Nathan played the role of Bill Tompkins in The Day Before Spring by Lerner and Loewe, as part of the Lost Musicals Season at Sadler's Wells Theatre in Islington. The show was a great success, and was the first time that many of the songs had been heard since the show closed on Broadway in 1946, as the score had been lost, and only came to light in the Autumn of 2009.
 
For the Christmas Season in 2010, Nathan could be seen playing the Jaguar in Just So, at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick. The show is by Stiles and Drewe, the team behind the new songs in Mary Poppins, so it was lovely for Nathan to be back in the Stiles and Drewe family.
 
A new departure for Nathan came in March 2011, with a new production of Naked Boys Singing, and the newly renamed Charing Cross Theatre.  As well as appearing in the show every night, Nathan is also the Resident Director, and the Dance Captain. The show continues to go from strength to strength, and is so much fun, that Nathan is delighted to be able to further his association with it.

Source: Nathan Taylor