Jonathan Ansell, star of Whistle Down the Wind, tells Laura Davis about his rocky road to fame

“I think we all broke down at one point or another in the very early stages of the show, because it was such a huge change to all of our lives.”

The contestants were expected to check in with management every time they left their apartment block – an uncomfortable task for four students just getting used to their independence.

But it was being recognised on the street that Ansell disliked the most.

“All of a sudden, half the country is aware of who you are and you can’t go anywhere without some scenario kicking off,” explains the Bognor Regis-born singer.

“I didn’t feel that I could do anything without people prejudging me but I got a cap and sunglasses and a hoodie and just wandered around with my head down.”

His natural optimism kicks in, however, as he points out it was “the time of my life” and has given him opportunities, such as Whistle Down the Wind, that he wouldn’t otherwise have had.

Originally set in Lancashire, as it was in the 1961 film version starring Hayley Mills, the musical has been transported to Louisiana so Ansell has to adopt an American accent.

He is The Man, the convict a group of children find hiding in a barn and mistake him for Jesus Christ.

“He’s a vulnerable character but powerful – it’s been fascinating to explore,” says the tenor, who first watched the show about nine years ago with a girlfriend obsessed with musicals.

He performed opera and Gilbert and Sullivan at music college, so the singing doesn’t daunt him, but, he adds, he is relieved he doesn’t have complicated choreography to learn.

“There’s no dancing for me,” he says.

“But I’m working on my big solo at the moment and there are huge dramatic moves in that.

“I’m running around the stage and grabbing a gun and attempting to shoot myself and the intense energy of that and the movement of it is going to be hard enough.”

You can bet, though, that should the director suddenly add in a few dance moves, Ansell would tackle them with the same Pollyanna attitude that he brings to everything else.

WHISTLE Down the Wind is at the Empire, from January 20-30. Tickets £10.50-£34, 0844 847 2525.

laura.davis