A Conversation with Madeleine Morgan
We speak to the winner of the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year 2024
On June 9 this year, Madeleine Morgan was crowned Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year 2024. The competition’s grand final, hosted by Bonnie Langford, saw 12 remarkable young performers light up the stage at London’s Sondheim Theatre. You can read our write-up of that day by clicking here, and you can read our interview with Bonnie by clicking here. It was wonderful to talk to Madeleine a few weeks after her win! Our conversation begins below:
We’re speaking a few weeks after your SSSSPOTY win. What are your main reflections as you think back to that day?
I don’t think it’s quite set in yet! I don’t think I’ve had a proper chance to really reflect. It was such a goal of mine throughout the entire year to get to the final, because I’d guest performed with NYMT [National Youth Music Theatre] last year, and I’d loved that experience so much. I set it as a milestone: right at the beginning of the year, I set it as something I really wanted to achieve. And then to get to the final in itself was just an amazing experience—to be in the theatre, and to meet everyone else doing it, and to meet the judges. I don’t think I ever expected to win, but it was amazing and I’m really proud of myself that I did. I’m sure I’ll find time to celebrate soon.
There are all these different links that have come together, which is amazing. I was first exposed to Sondheim properly in university. I did a production of Gypsy and I played Louise. I had a friend who was in NYMT, who said, “You should audition. You’d really enjoy it.” So I did, and I got cast as Mary in Merrily, which was amazing. We’d done the first Easter week of rehearsals, and then Chris, who’s in charge of NYMT, emailed us all to say, “We’ve got these two opportunities that are coming up. We’ve got this amazing masterclass at the V&A with this incredible panel, including Jenna Russell. And then later on, we’ve been invited to guest perform at the SSSSPOTY final.” So the V&A masterclass was first. I sang “Old Friends” with the two guys playing Charley and Frank, and then I got the chance to workshop “Like It Was” with Jenna—so that was the first tie that was brought in. It was amazing to meet her then, and obviously she was so lovely, and just so much wisdom. And then at SSSSPOTY, we performed “Like It Was” and “Our Time.” We got around to performing Merrily last August, and Tina from the Sondheim Society came to watch, and she urged us to enter SSSSPOTY. She was like, “This was an incredible production. We have this competition every year. I really would urge you to enter.” And obviously it’s another chance to worship Sondheim, and a chance to perform in general. So I went for it, and here I am!
The Sondheim number you chose for the competition was “Moments in the Woods,” and as we speak, you’re about to perform the role of the Baker’s Wife in full at RAM [Royal Academy of Music]. Tell me a little about your route into that character.
Growing up, I didn’t have much exposure to Sondheim, but I did have exposure to Into the Woods. My sister, in Year 7, was cast in the secondary school version of Into the Woods, and she was somehow playing the Witch as an 11-year-old. The production was cancelled because the arts program in our school had absolutely no funding—but I’d love to know how that would have worked out. So I was only really aware of Into the Woods from that until the film came out. Emily Blunt was actually my first point of reference for the character, so that’s what I had in my head.
It was announced that RAM were doing it, along with Spring Awakening—and I kind of already knew, based on my casting and my voice type, that I’d be doing Into the Woods. I definitely had my eye on the Baker’s Wife, just because it’s such an incredible part—but I also really didn’t want to latch onto it, because I didn’t want to disappoint myself. But luckily I was cast as the Baker’s Wife, so then I went head-on into research. There’s the original production that has the professional film on YouTube, which I watched quite a few times; there are snippets of Imelda Staunton in the London production that you can watch; and then lots of reading too. I really enjoy reading about the character—doing my own analysis, but obviously there’s what Sondheim says in his books too, and then there are the Sondheim books not written by him. Our director, Bruce [Guthrie], has been really great at encouraging us to, yes, pay respect to previous people who’ve played the roles, but also just to play and come up with our own characters and our own choices. And also not to go for the obvious. In so much of Sondheim, the initial meaning is not all of the meanings, because there are always so many layers. Really, just delving into that and pulling out different ways of interpreting the text also helps to inform the character, which I’ve really loved.
There’s this thing that my friend, who’s playing Cinderella, brought to me one day. It’s probably common knowledge, but I’d never come across it. Into the Woods could be interpreted as Into the Woulds—so the woods, or woulds, hold all of the potential, all of the what ifs. And what happens if you do explore those what ifs and you take the chances that you otherwise may not have done? I’m also obsessed with the song “Maybe They’re Magic.” I think it’s so fun: it shows a character with so much humor, but also so much determination. And she’s just so stubborn. She’s brilliantly stubborn, and I love it. I also love playing with the reactions. I’m just really enjoying this character. It’s a challenge too. Playing with the humor has been probably the biggest challenge for me—I haven’t really done a lot of comedy before. I think she does have a great sense of humor, so I’ve really loved exploring that.
In the SSSSPOTY competition, each finalist performs a Sondheim number and a piece of new theatre writing not written by Sondheim. The song you chose, “Running On Empty” from Mayflies, was such a brilliant choice. Talk me through the process of choosing the non-Sondheim number. And the composer, Gus Gowland, was there in the audience, wasn’t he?
Yes, he was. He’s amazing. I got in contact with him before the competition, and he was so supportive the whole of the way through. I texted him saying, “I just want to make sure I do your song justice. Any advice?” And he gave me so much background knowledge about where the character was at that point in the story. But in terms of my process of selecting the song, the Sondheim Society had given us advice that our second song should be contrasting with the Sondheim one, so that was the first point of call. I knew I didn’t want this song to be too upbeat, or scattered with lots of different thoughts. I thought that probably more of a ballad or more of a heartfelt song would be the best to contrast “Moments in the Woods.” There were about 400 songs in the [New Musicals UK] collection that suited my voice bracket, and then half of them were out of the way just from clicking play and hearing an upbeat tempo. I ended up with a shortlist of about 20 after my first listen through, which took about two days. But “Running On Empty” just grabbed me. It was so beautiful. I really enjoy songs that aren’t just about the notes—that aren’t about, “Okay, we’re building to a big money note now, and this is going to impress everyone.” Songs can still have that, but I think it’s important that it’s justified through the text and the actual meaning behind the words, which is obviously what Sondheim does so well. That’s really what “Running On Empty” had, and that’s what gripped me the first time I listened to it. It was this slow descent into being so lost, and not knowing what to do—and knowing that you’ve given your entire heart to someone and this relationship, and having lost yourself in the process. I was in tears, and I sent it to my parents straight away, like, “I need to have this one! I must!” We had to select three as our top choices, and I had my fingers crossed for a week, hoping they’d choose it for me.
Your first degree was in law. I’d love to know more about that journey…
I come from a very academic family. My parents are both medical professionals, my sister did chemistry and now does law, and my brother does aerospace engineering. But my parents have always been very supportive of us pursuing extra-curricular interests, so growing up I did a lot of am-dram after school. I fell in love with it. I was always obsessed with it and looking forward to the next show. When I was 16 or 17, I was in a production of Summer Holiday, of all shows, and I experienced the most intense post-show blues. I knew that I wanted to chase the feeling that I got when I was performing. I talked to my parents about applying for undergrad courses, and they were supportive but aware that it is very competitive, so another option could be wise. So we compromised, and I auditioned for undergrad but also applied for universities, to see what offers would be on the table, and then make a choice. I had a few auditions booked. I went for my first audition, at ArtsEd. I was in the dance round and I tore my ACL, so I couldn’t walk, and I couldn’t finish the audition. I had to go straight to hospital, and I had surgery later that year. But essentially, undergrad then was off the table—so, law it is! The universe kind of made the choice for me. I went to university in 2020, so it was very limited. I couldn’t really get involved in theatre for about a year and a half. I got involved in a cappella instead, via Zoom rehearsals, but I had to wait for a year and a half before I got to perform again. But the first show I did was Gypsy. And I knew then, me waiting for three years, doing law, pining after the feeling of performing, that it was right. And my parents could see that too. So I chased RAM, and I’m set to graduate two weeks from today!
And there’s certainly an element of performance to law, isn’t there?
I got involved in the law clinic when I was at university, so I had to do lots of arguing on behalf of people who couldn’t afford their own legal aid. It is a performance. It is an art. You do have to remember your argument, keep referring back, make sure you keep it coherent throughout—and always appear confident. It really is a performance.
And dare I ask where you’d like to be five years from now?
This experience, encouraged by our director and really exploring the text, has made me excited about doing new work—about making a new character, interpreting it in different ways and really seeing how you can bring it to life. Sondheim is the dream—of course it is—because you have so much to work with. But any musical that is text-driven. That’s so important to me. I want to be excited by the words!
Didn’t catch our write-up of the SSSSPOTY final? Click below to read in full: