BWW Interviews: Nathan Amzi Talks IN THE HEIGHTS And THE VOICE!

Nathan Amzi is on a break from rehearsals for the London premiere of In The Heights when we speak - and he is very much enjoying the challenge of creating his own version of Piragua Guy for a British audience.

In fact, he hadn't seen the Broadway production, so the material is all new to him.

"My character sits on the corner and observes the world go by - so I get to see all these amazing performers!"

He doesn't think there's a problem with it translating culturally. "I've been thinking about it a lot. We watch The West Wing, and that's all about American culture in the way this is, and we embrace it and understand it. The themes of the show are universal - aspiration, dreaming, a sense of home, community. You get that everywhere around the world."

He's enthusiastic about the variety of music in the show - and the variety of shows on the London fringe at the moment.

"I couldn't think of a better place to do this than Southwark," he says, talking about a plan to subsidise tickets for local residents. "They're not your traditional audience - they probably wouldn't engage with The Sound of Music, but with this kind of show, there's something that might connect, not just for young people, but all ages."

He talks about the importances of attracting a new audience to musical theatre.

"Young people can afford 75p on iTunes but they can't necessarily afford £75 for a theatre ticket. I've worked at The Globe previously, and that's what's brilliant about their tickets - they can get people in to see new work as well as Shakespeare. It's a hard market commercially for producers to make money."

Of course, Amzi was seen most famously on The Voice earlier this year, as one of Ricky Wilson's team.

"The Voice was nine months of my life but it gets boiled down into a couple of weeks on television," he explains. "I was completely in that world, and what I took away from it was incredible. I went in thinking, 'I'm a performer, I know how to perform,' but it's so different."

He's critical of the mindset that "musical theatre" is somehow different to any other kind of performance.

"We're all entertainers - Pharrell, Simon Callow, me, we all want to entertain in whatever sense we're doing it."

He says he's still in touch with the judges and fellow contestants, and describes it as "the best time", which made him realise his own vocal capacities.

"I've always written, but I've never had the confidence to step up at the front on my own. When you walk out to sing, there's no script or score. You've not had a week of rehearsals.

"But I would do it again in a heartbeat."

In the meantime he's concentrating on In The Heights, and urges people to come along and see the show, regardless of whether or not they consider themselves fans of musical theatre: "There's something special about this that's unique."

In The Heights runs at the Southwark Playhouse from May 9th.