Nicolette Roeg

Whenever Nicolette Roeg's name appeared in the cast list of a musical, one could be confident of a strong and heart-felt performance. She had a resilient voice, strong and direct, and a pleasing stage presence. It was a pity that most of her musical appearances were in short-lived flops. Never mind: Miss Roeg held her head high, and never let the side down. If managements wanted forthright singing and a voice to waken the dead, she was probably one of their best bets.

Of Dutch extraction, she was born in London and educated privately in Brighton. Her first West End appearance in a musical was as Grete in a revival of The Dancing Years at the Casino Theatre in 1947. Various pantomimes, some films, straight plays and a tour of Careless Rapture followed, but it was almost fifteen years later that she again played in a West End musical. Belle opened at the Strand Theatre in May 1961 to a generally shocked press - how could anyone have been so tasteless as to write a musical about Doctor Crippen? They didn't realise the brilliance of the piece. In sturdy soubrette mode, Roeg played Jenny Pearl 'the Bedford Theatre's principal lady', whipping up a genuine air of the music-hall with her big number 'Meet Me At The Strand'. Not many people did meet her at the Strand, and Belle folded with speed.

The following year she played the faithful secretary to New York's mayor in the American musical Fiorello!, but it was an unlikely candidate for success and - despite a fascinating female cast (the men were a bit less inspiring) - Fiorello! was marked down as another flop. When Judith Bruce had to leave the cast of Oliver! before her contract was up, Roeg stepped in as the fourth actress to play Nancy in the original production. In many ways it was the part of her career, and when in 1966 a cover version of the songs was issued on the Music For Pleasure label, Roeg was invited into the studio. Her breathy version of the show's great hit 'As Long As He Needs Me' finds her in great form in a no-holds-barred performance that reeks of its theatrical origins.

But there was to be only one more musical, and that happened because Joy Nicholls dropped out of the cast of Two Cities, the musicalisation of Dickens's A Tale Of Two Cities, en route to the Palace Theatre in 1969. It was a pretty miserable affair, but Roeg's portrayal of Mme Defarge was nothing to be ashamed of, and her vocal contributions were refreshingly direct. Sadly, the show seems to have marked the end of her career in musicals. Like several others of her kind, there is no doubt that Roeg was under-used by the British musical. She deserved better.

Select Discography
Original British cast recordings of:
Belle
Two Cities
Oliver! (British studio cast recording)

 

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