Olivier-Winning Beautiful Star Lorna Want on Playing Strong Women & Why Bad Reviews Are Good For You

Lorna Want has appeared on the London stage in Parade, Footloose, and as Peron's mistress in the Michael Grandage production of Evita, but has reached a career high this year, winning an Olivier Award for her fresh and feisty performance as Cynthia Weil in Beautiful at the Aldwych Theatre. Broadway.com caught up with the delightful performer to discuss awards, long runs, and taking a marital leaf from the half-century marriage of Weil and her husband and songwriting partner Barry Mann.

Beautiful seems to have settled in for a nice run. Did you think a show about Carole King would find a British public?
I did, just because Carole King’s music is timeless. It really is the soundtrack for a generation, and as well as the music being great, you also get to see a true story which is moving and heartbreaking. I would imagine the show would do well globally.

Had you seen the Broadway production?
I did see the show on Broadway, but only once I had gotten the role. I saw [2014 Tony nominee] Anika [Larsen] do it and she was incredible, so those were big shoes to fill. It was great for me on the one hand to watch it [in New York] but it also made me a bit more nervous. But you don’t often get to see something that you’re going to be in, so I just wanted to get an idea of what the show is and what it’s about.

Were you aware of the show beforehand?
I actually wasn’t aware the show had happened in New York and it wasn’t until I was called for the audition that I realized how successful it had been. Interestingly, I went in originally for the role of Carole, which I’m not right for, but the audition panel was great and decided they would rather see me for Cynthia, and when I read through the entire script, it became clear to me how much I wanted to play this part.

So you’re not looking at your co-star Katie Brayben, as Carole, thinking, “you have my role?”
[Laughs.] Not at all, goodness me, no! Katie is astonishing—it’s like she was born to play this role. And we get on so well offstage and on. The truth is, Cynthia sits better on my voice, much more than Carole.

What was it like to have Katie to go through the Olivier Awards process together?
That really was incredible. We had no idea we were going to be nominated and just went along to the nominations event to support our show and before we knew it, our names had been called out. At that point the potential of winning hadn’t really occurred to me.

How did it feel on the night itself?
When they called my name, it did take a while to process. And I remember at the party thinking that it was very loud and that I should leave pretty early. It was so overwhelming that I just needed to sit at home on the bed and look at the Olivier and process everything that had just happened.

What were your thoughts the next morning?
I remember looking at the Olivier and saying to myself, “yes, it’s still there; I didn’t dream it!” [Laughs.]

Cynthia Weil herself has been quite an avid supporter of the show—and of you.
I was overcome with emotion when I met her because I had hoped she liked the performance, especially because here she was watching British performers playing what was essentially her life. She was so kind and generous and Barry was just wonderful. I love that they have so much invested in the show.

Did Cynthia give you any tips?
You know, she didn’t actually! I was fully prepared to have some notes from her, and of course she and Barry had loved Jarrod Spector and Anika on Broadway, so I hope they didn’t feel as if they were somehow cheating on [the original performers] in London.

This is a different sort of role for you, isn’t it?
Very much so. Most of my career has been as the young ingénue and that’s been wonderful but this has been great to have a new challenge so that people can see me doing something different. Playing Cynthia has helped me as an actress, I think, because she’s such a sassy, tenacious woman: it’s made Lorna a bit wittier, which is nice.

Barry and Cynthia will have been married 54 years this month—does that have a certain resonance for you?
Yes, especially because my fiancé [James Turner, a percussionist on the West End show Sinatra] and I are getting married next year! We met on High School Musical and I thought, “Oh yeah, he’ll do.” And it’s been eight years so far! [Laughs.]

You’ve had a varied West End career from your debut at age 15, starring in a musical version of Romeo and Juliet, which I remember seeing!
You may be one of the few since a lot of people have forgotten that production! It was an amazing experience to have that role at such a young age and it was kind of where I did my training because I didn’t go to drama school. I learned by other actors and by absorbing, and I was younger so I was less afraid of things.

The show didn’t do very well—how did that feel at the time?
The critics didn’t like us, and we closed after four months but I remain forever grateful for the experience. It was good to have that negativity so early on because it kind of shaped who I am: it gave me strength so that I tend not to worry what the critics say because it can’t really get much worse!

Playing Peron's mistress in the Michael Grandage production of Evita was presumably a different matter.
That was really wonderful! We were blessed with such a great company between Elena [Roger] and Philip Quast and I just had an incredible year; we all did. And to sing such an iconic song ["Another Suitcase in Another Hall"]—all 2-1/2 minutes of it—was amazing. I’m so glad the production went to Broadway because it deserved every success.

Does Beautiful mark a career highlight to date?
Definitely! This show has brought me so much success, and for that to happen in a musical featuring such strong, inspirational woman is the icing on the cake. I’ve now signed to stay on until November, 2016. I’m not quite ready to let her go!