Jade Wright talks to Melanie C about her award-winning performance in the Willy Russell musical

WHEN Melanie C took to the West End stage, she was wracked with nerves. The Whiston-born singer who made her name as Sporty Spice feared she’d be laughed off the stage.

“It was my first ever professional acting role, and there I was in one of the best West End shows there is,” explains Melanie, 36.

“I felt so sick before I went on that first night,” she laughs. “I was terrified of the critics. There’s always a worry that when you come from a background like mine and then you go into a theatre show that is so well loved that critics will pan you for it.”

But Melanie needn’t have worried.

Her performance as Mrs Johnstone (or Mrs J, as she calls her) was nominated for an Olivier Award for best actress in a musical and promising newcomer in the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

“I really couldn’t believe it,” she giggles at the thought. “Mrs J, she’s really an acting role. When you think about the actresses who have played her over the years, I had some big shoes to fill.

“But the cast and Bill (producer Bill Kenwright) supported me all the way, and so I was really working on not letting them down. I knew I had this amazing group of people around me, so that got me through.

“But there were times when I stood there and I thought ‘Why am I doing this to myself?’. I really was terrified. I loved it too, though. So when the chance came up to come to Liverpool, I knew I had to take it.”