London Les Miserables Star Killian Donnelly on Kinky Broadway Memories & Getting Tips from Colm Wilkinson

Killian Donnelly has stormed the West End in such diverse shows as Memphis, The Commitments and Kinky Boots, in which he also starred on Broadway. Now, he’s returned to the U.K. in no less an iconic role than Jean Valjean in Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre, so what better time could there be to check in with the London stage’s favorite Irishman?

How does it feel to be back, and in a show you’ve been in before?
Pretty special, I have to say! Les Miz has been running here for 33 years, and I think they’re just so happy on this production to see people come back. This show has always been somewhere you want to work.

Presumably your prior memories are happy ones?
I spent my 25th birthday going on for Jean Valjean ! How much better can things get? It was during that time [in London] where we had done the 02 Centre 25th anniversary concert and there were two other productions running at the same time, including the original one: it was like 24 hours of Les Miz all the time.

Did that feel like an out-of-body experience?
The strangest thing was that I had played Javert only the day before: I was the first-ever Javert and Valjean to perform back-to-back! The hardest thing during Valjean’s big soliloquies was not to fall into Javert’s solos.

Was that doubling of roles a baptism by fire?
The thing about starting in a show as a swing, as I did on this one, is that you have to be ready for anything. I think the only male role I have never sung in Les Miz is Thenardier. When I first joined Les Miz in 2008, I don’t think I even knew what a swing was. Before I knew it, there I was covering all the male ensemble roles and rattling off all these names, and because I never trained back home in Ireland, this became my training.

How did you then get access to the two starring roles?
When I let them know that I’d love to stay, they began looking at me to take over the role of Grantaire, and out of that, they gave me cover Javert/Valjean. That was fine because I wanted more and felt like I could do it. But it wasn’t until the end of the second year that I actually got on [as a lead]: that was my real deer-in-the-headlights moment.

How was it taking on Valjean for real this time around?
It’s amazing how it all came back to me lyric-wise. It helped, too, that the original fight director, Malcolm Ransom, keeps changing the movement to suit the performer, and because I’m a younger Valjean, we can make it more physical; we’re able to have a proper creative process.

What is it like taking over this of all roles, given that Jean Valjean was created by your fellow countryman, Colm Wilkinson?
You know, when I was 10, I asked my dad about what kind of music he listened to, and he banged a CD into my hand and said, “Play track seven,” which was [the song] “Bring Him Home,” sung by Colm. That was a proper moment in terms of opening my eyes to musical theater, and when I saw him at our 25th-anniversary concert at the 02 Centre [in London], I was, like, “Keep talking.” I couldn’t get enough.

What advice did he have for you?
I remember Colm telling me, “You’ll want to have a drink of water at this point here, and there will be a person with a cloth to wipe your face there,” and all I could think was: “I’m getting tips off Colm Wilkinson?!”

Do you have any theories about the ongoing power and longevity of Les Miserables?
I think my answer changes with time and each time I see it. I went to see the show once again at the Saturday matinee before I started this time out and what really struck me is that there’s something in the material that you can take—that you can connect with—no matter where you are in your personal life. There’s something timeless about a piece of work that resonates with people in that way.

Was it difficult wrapping up your time on Broadway as Charlie Price in Kinky Boots?
The timing was certainly tight: I finished Kinky Boots on a Thursday and flew back to London that Saturday to start in on this. I loved things you have there like the entrance applause. The first time I got it, as Charlie, I thought Cyndi Lauper had walked onstage; it was the warmest feeling ever.

How do you look back in general on your time on Broadway
What was most incredible was the sense of community there, which is just amazing. I saw Andy Karl smash it [in Groundhog Day] with this brace on his leg, and I got to see Come From Away, which absolutely stole my heart: it had this Celtic air about it and made me want to go out and do random acts of kindness.

Did you?
There were all these cupcakes making the rounds on 45th Street that would be given from one show to another, so I began sending donuts to the Come From Away company. I thought, “I have to do something; I’ll give you donuts.”

Did you hang at all with recent Anastasia's Ramin Karimloo, who has, of course, played Jean Valjean on both sides of the Atlantic?
I actually saw Ramin as Valjean and we’ve become good friends. What I learned from him is that you can just throw on a jacket and shoes and sing “Bring Him Home”; it’s not like you have to pretend to be old or anything. His Valjean was pretty damn amazing.

Do you think Broadway will figure again in your future?
I hope so since I certainly got a taste for it! My time there was above and beyond what I expected, and I’d like to think it opened up doors. And here I am back in London playing Valjean seven times a week, which I can’t believe is happening to me. I am on cloud nine!